F31 road noise question

sward · Post by **sward** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:25 pm

Hello all! I'm currently without an Alpina, though enjoyed owning a B10 3.3 for 7 years, followed by a D3BT coupe for another 7 years. At the moment I have an F31 340i M sport (dog-related purchase!) and although it's a really fast car, with a superb engine, it is annoying that the road noise is so intrusive. I am wondering whether that is down to a combination of 19" run flat tyres, and stock BMW suspension, or whether it is just that F31s are noisy. Does anyone have experience of an Alpina F3* in comparison with a BMW F3* on the same radius wheels to give me an idea? I know Alpina don't use ruflats. I'm sort of tempted to try and find and Alpina again, maybe F31, but unless it would be noticeably more refined than the BMW then I don't think I will. Help please!

PhillV8S · Post by **PhillV8S** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:44 pm

I donâ€™t think runflats are helping reduce the road noise, have you thought about ditching them for non runflats?
I find cars with wide low profile tyres tend to have more road noise on certain surfaces than cars with fat squidgy narrow tyres. I canâ€™t comment on F3x specifically but canâ€™t see it being much different. Alpina donâ€™t add noise reducing parts to their cars to my knowledge bar a different exhaust system.

Arvi · Post by **Arvi** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:55 pm

Can't help with the F Series but I know when I was originally looking at a E90 M sport the noise and handling on the 18" M Sport wheels was horrible, in compairson to the 30 profile, 19" Alpina D3.

I'm on Runflats for the winter set up and they don't seem to be overly noisy. How old/what brand are the tyres?

E24man · Post by **E24man** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:50 pm

Simon Rose · Post by **Simon Rose** » Fri Jan 25, 2019 2:05 am

Youâ€™re most welcome to sit in mine and decide for yourself Iâ€™m often in Birmingham and Iâ€™m there next Wednesday watching hockey at Birmingham uni

sward · Post by **sward** » Fri Jan 25, 2019 6:28 pm

Thank you all for your thoughts.

Phil, yes I have thought about ditching the runflats and maybe getting Michelin PS4s instead. My current tyres are the 19 inch staggered Pirelli P Zero runflats.

E24 man, I'm pondering getting a complete set of 18" wheels with PS4s or similar, but that would be a considerable outlay. (Mind you, not as considerable as chopping this car in for an Alpina F31!

Simon, thank you for your kind offer. I'll PM you about that.

Regards
Simon

gIzzE · Post by **gIzzE** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:34 am

Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetricals are a very quiet tyre, not quite as good as the Pilot Sports, but not far off and better than any run flat.

Look for a tyre with a noise rating of 67-68db and noise class A.

I love my estates, but the rear does amplify any tyre roar far more than any saloon or coupe ever does.

simon13 · Post by **simon13** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:48 am

gIzzE wrote:Goodyear Eagle F1 asymmetricals are a very quiet tyre, not quite as good as the Pilot Sports, but not far off and better than any run flat.

Look for a tyre with a noise rating of 67-68db and noise class A.

I love my estates, but the rear does amplify any tyre roar far more than any saloon or coupe ever does.

I've got them on my E46 i can tell they are a touch quieter than the old Michelins

Post by **Charles** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:38 am

gIzzE wrote:I love my estates, but the rear does amplify any tyre roar far more than any saloon or coupe ever does.

In proper Touring style, I find a boot full of Labradors tends to dampen the noise

sward · Post by **sward** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:31 pm

Thanks Charles. I'm sure that would work. I don't have labradors to fill the boot - my dog is not an acoustic damper, so I'll concentrate on trying to address the tyre noise in other ways

Gizze - thank you - Goodyear Eagle F1s are on my radar.

galczych · Post by **galczych** » Tue Feb 05, 2019 11:44 am

I have an alpina d3 and it is a very loud car inside.
I have a decibelometer and checked it compared to my old e91.
E91 330d is 2.5 Db quieter than f31 D3.
F31 is very loud, and if you care about silence, then you have to wait for the G20 - there is an option for thicker glass.
My wife has a BMW F21 and I have the impression that it is quieter than in f31, but I did not measure it.
My brother has a g31 and it is a very quiet car, despite the fact that winter tires are much more louder than summer tires. Therefore, in my opinion, if you want silence, then buy quiet tires especially in so loud car like F30 .

Simon Rose · Post by **Simon Rose** » Wed Feb 06, 2019 3:07 am

Sward and I met up and drove each others cars and concluded that his 340 was slightly quieter than my d3 on winter tyres. However when I was driving home I realised that on good road surfaces at speed my car felt quieter than when we tested it at 30 on crap roads and bumps. I need a noise meter ... but my feeling is the run flats may be noisier at speed even on good roads.

Post by **Charles** » Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:33 am

Simon Rose wrote:... but my feeling is the run flats may be noisier at speed even on good roads.

Bear in mind the way that run flats are designed, with a much stiffer side wall to allow for ... running flat! As such, rather than the sidewall absorbing energy (and hence, noise), this will be transmitted into the cabin.

pete · Post by **pete** » Mon Feb 11, 2019 7:05 pm

Hi all just seen this thread my 2 cents

My F30 30d bought new ,the runflats were awful either bridgestones or contis cant remeber which.Anyway the crashiness and road noise were ridiculous after 3 weeks put Michelen PS3 NON runflats on and all was well .After 3 years of these thought I may be handing back the car re PCP so decided very reluctantly to put back runflats.
I did so much internet forum and website research looking for clues on the best runflat out there and I went for Goodyear Eagle F1 assymetric 3s

The trepidation I had pulling out of the tyre place had I blown Â£600

Anyway they are good ,very good so good I wouldnt bother going back to ordinary tyres ...there you go

Simon Rose · Post by **Simon Rose** » Mon Feb 11, 2019 11:46 pm

Good to know , what you getting instead now the d has gone?