OK, I installed my wheels on Sat. and have had the opportunity to drive my xb a few times. There just seems to be a awful lot of road noise/ wheel noise coming from the front end. I have to crank up the stereo to try and drown it out. The specs of the wheels are:
BSA C2, 17 x 7 w/ 38mm offset and 205/40/17 nangkang tires. Is the the tires giving me that bad wheel bearing sound?? The weather in NY is the pits, so I have not been able to get down on the ground and check it out .

 

hey your tire size is way off.... you should get 35 or 30

 

Actually I think you would get less road noise from a 40 than either of those because there is more sidewall to it.

 

I thought that I only needed to go 35 series if I was running a 18" or 19" rim :?:

 

you have the right size tires

road noise could be from the wider tires(more contact patch with the road) and the thread pattern of the tires

have you ever been on 45 inch swampers? now thats road noise!

 

There are few post here about nankang being noisy tires to start with. Might try so other kind of tire.

P.S. Where did you buy your wheels, I have been looking at a set of BSA wheels and there aren't exactly alot of dealers.

 

uhh, no. 40 series is fine. if anything they are a little skinny. I run 215/40/17 40mm offset and they are perfect. What brand are your tires? Is the tread really aggressive?

 

www.victoriatire.com for BSA rims

Second, i have 17x7.5 BSA 259s with a 40MM offset. I am running 215/45R17s Nankang NS-1s, and truthfully, i can ride with the radio off, and talk to my wife, or she can talk on the phone with no little to no road noise at all. I would check for rubbing issues ASAP.

 

You may want to check if your tires are directional. If they are installed backwards, this could make a lot of noise.

Also, I've noticed noise transmits through alloy wheels much more clearly. You hear every pebble in the road.

 

Make sure you are not rubbing on your calipers. You might need spacers.

 

Try getting your car aligned. And yes wider tires with less sidewall will be alot noisier than the factory set up.

 

Im telling you guys and gals, i have a wider tire, and i have little to no road noise. Im also running the Nankangs, but i installed them correctly in the correct direction.

 

The Nankangs are directional. We have installed at least 8 sets of these tires here including the one I drive on a daily basis and have no problems with road noise.