I have General Grabber 255/60R18 AT (Not AT2) tyres on my car. They are 2 1/2 years old and covered 30,000km and are about 1/3 worn. They have been great on the road - good grip and great offroad in the mud - BUT.

The tyres are really stating to howl at 80-90kph on smooth bitumen roads so much so that the car is a chore to drive and is extremely tiring - as well even though they are fully balanced you can feel the hashness through the steering. There is no noise if driving on concrete roads or speeds above 100kph.

To confirm that the noise was coming from the tyres and was not something mechanical like a failing wheel bearing this morning I put on a set of BMW X5 17" wheels on that are fitted with worn Michelin HT tyres and went for a drive on road that has caused me issue and they are totally quiet.

So it is the GG ATs that are causing the issue.

So does anyone else have GG ATs (different to the AT2) fitted to their car and what have been your experiences?

Also is there anyway to reduce the howl from the tyres as this cannot continue and I will have to throw them away if there is no way to fix this.

Thanks

Garry 07MY RRS TDV6
Arctic Frost
Aspen Interior

I have ATs on my TDV8 and they are noisy. I too feared it might be a mechanical issue but stories of noisy ATs are common so we're not alone.

I have also found them to be a bit puncture prone - and that's not even off road. As you say, they are great off road but...

I'm seriously considering dumping them for something else, perhaps going over to two sets of wheels and swapping over for "days out". Not what I want to do but my current commute means the tyres are doing much more tarmac than mud at the moment.

Perhaps the Cooper LTZ would be a better AT choice? I hear that Pirelli might be bringing the ATR back in for 19 inch. If they do, I'll go back to them. Wish I'd kept the part worms I took off a couple of years ago. If you can get them then they're a good tyre - robust and quiet. Not so good in mud but anything else off road they're fine. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Thanks for those comments - sort of reflects my experience. I have the BMW wheels as I was going to put mud tyres on them to use when going offroad - the ATs were for those impromptu times when you are somewhere and want to explore and these tyres were good for that.

The noise is getting beyond a joke and I might just cut my losses and get the muddies for the 17s and a Highway Terrain for the 18s.

Cheers

Garry 07MY RRS TDV6
Arctic Frost
Aspen Interior

Mine were getting noisy so I got a 4 wheel alingment done and rotated them. Turns out the fronts were out of line by a fraction which caused the insides to get quite jagged causing the noise.. Have been much better since, I certainly don't notice any noise any more. It will be interesting in the spring when I swap my winters over (which are a road tyre) to see if there's any difference now I'm used to a different tyre.

The wear pattern on my tyres is perfect - no abnormal wear and no feathering on the inner or outer edges.

I am going to put the fronts on the rear but on the opposite side so the tyres will be turning the opposite way and reduce tyre pressures for around town and when not towing - in theory should reduce noise but I will see.

Cheers

Garry 07MY RRS TDV6
Arctic Frost
Aspen Interior

Hi all, I am interested in this as I have General Grabbers on my 07, but at 25 -50 mph I have a light whirring sound which is driving me mad. Its not got any worse and not got any better, and it sounds like its underneath the car. Could you tell me what sort of sound you are all experiencing please  2007, HSE, Cairnes Blue, Factory tints, Love it !!!

Firstly what General Grabbers do you have - the AT or the AT2 - completely different tread pattern and the subject of this thread is the AT.



The noise I get is a loud humming on smooth or wet bitumen between about 70 and 100kph and then it dies down above 100kph.

Garry 07MY RRS TDV6
Arctic Frost
Aspen Interior

I spoke to the dealer who sold my tyres and he suggested I rotate the tyres with front right going to back left etc so the tyres will be rotating the opposite direction and reducing the tyre pressure.

After doing exactly that and setting tyre pressure to that on the placard - ie 33 front and 36 rear I went dot a drive and absolutely no difference - screams like a banshee between 80 and 100kph and dead quiet above 105kph.

So I guess I will have to live with it.

On a side issue the issue with the stainless steel covers on the wheel nuts arose. What a bloody stupid idea - why not just chrome the nuts?. Any way two of the covers spun on the nuts so I could not tighten or loosen the nuts. I took the punch and grinder to the covers to expose the nut underneath and was able to remove the wheel nuts.

The cover and nut after I butchered the stainless cover

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

The problem with the wheel nut covers is that just about every garage / tyre place uses air tools on the nuts to undo them (and to do them up in some cases!). This just them up so quickly. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Mine was done with the hand socket wrench.

Garry 07MY RRS TDV6
Arctic Frost
Aspen Interior