Help!!

We purchased a low mileage used 2006 XC90 about 8 months ago. It was from a lease fleet, as clean and polished as if its first day of life. One big problem though, over these last months we've grown to HATE this car because the excessive road/tire noise is so loud it gives us headaches on trips longer then a few minutes and at speeds greater then 40mph. We have already been through a set of new, expensive, Perelli tires and still loud as can be. This is the first time I've researched and to my terror, there appears to be complaints just like mine about this vehicles road noise ALL OVER THE INTERNET! My wife and I are now concerned we spent all this money on a "luxury" SUV and now we discover it has a critical design flaw we may not be able to live with. We took it to the dealer where we bought it and they said that just how it is, that its loud. Well thank you very little! It's our misfortune that we didn't drive it at speed for an length of time until just recently, so now a return to the dealer for refund is not possible.
Has anyone had success getting any action out of Volvo over this or is that like fighting city hall? Are we stuck with a lemon? Our test drive did not reveal the issue. It was only after a few long trips where we had to maintain speeds over 40 mph did we discover the problem.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
-Mike

ps. please feel free to email me directly with any advice as well. mjb7383@comcast.net

Doubtful you'll get Volvo to replace the tires because of noise. I would first get an alignment done if you haven't already. Then check tirerack.com, IIRC you can even filter tires by noise level.

Maybe call Keystone Volvo in Berwyn since you're in Philly. Even if there's nothing they can do, I would still use them. I pass closer dealers to go there, that's how good they are.

Thanks. Yup, we already did the alignment thing, new tires, etc etc etc. To me, it almost sounds like transmission bearings or something but the dealer ruled out anything mechanical. It's got that high pitch whine as we increase speed. Just curious if anyone has had any progress either directly w/Volvo, or perhaps via Lemon Law, or something. At this point, if there's no remedy, we just as soon dump the vehicle then keep driving it. My wife is connected to a major media outlet in Philly, so we're thinking about getting this story out into the public in a big way if no olive branch from Volvo. This is quality at its worst and it appears they don't/won't stand behind their product.

Thanks for the comment.

You should be able to tell tire noise. Do they keep putting the same tires on? If the diff tires are quieter, then obviously there's something else going on. Then the issue is narrowing down where you hear it from.

Some dealers are horrendous too. Again, I suggest calling Keystone Berwyn. I don't go anywhere else.

Hi XC90noisehell.

I am really sorry you are having no joy from owning your XC.

I have a 2004 D5 with aftermarket 20" wheels which I fitted along with wider, lower profile tyres.

I have never encountered tyre nois at any speed.

It is a UK spec model & I do live in the UK, however I have not heard any other owner comment on the noise.

Hope you resolve the matter soon as I can appreciate the stress it is causing.

All the Best mate.

as borgi posted, my brother and brother in law both have xc90's and neither one had ever reported tire noise. you also have to understand that a vehicle of that size will have tire noise. i don't care if you are driving a range rover, you will have tire noise, but for it to still do so after new tires means that it is not the tires. i would take the suggestion of trying another dealership and/or trying one of the online tire centers and see if they can figure it out. another thing that you might want to try, log on to cartalk.com and type in your zipcode and find an independant mech in your area. have them take a listen and see what they say. if they say it is a secondary, non-tire noise, at least you have some ammo for you to contact volvo n/a to complain about the dealership. good luck and please keep us posted.

First, your not going crazy, the noise is real, I had the same problem when I purchased a 2003 XC90 AWD, ( noise is like a constant roar/hum) I changed tires but the road noise continued to the point where I would have headaches. Took it to the dealer on numerous occasion’s but they could not find anything wrong, including the bearings. I was so disappointed with the car, I traded it in for a 2006 XC 90 and noticed a dramatic noise reduction. Also you will quickly find out the Pirelli tires are not a good match for the suspension and weight of this vehicle. Even on my 2006 model the tires wore out in under 10,000 miles, and the dealer replaced them for free, with another set of Pirellis, they lasted another 10,0000 miles, I finally put on a much less expensive pair of Yokohama’s and they are doing great.

My suggestions go back to the dealer and try and work out a swap, your are going to have to be very persistent with them, or your going to be miserable that you spent a great deal of money for a vehicle that’s louder then the one you traded in,

I had the issue with my 2007 XC 90. It turned out to be the Pirelli tires. They were quiet for the 1st 15k and then i thought the front bearings were defective. Replaced with Bridgestone tires and the result was amazing - very quiet. I got NO satisfation from Volvo or the dealer - but all new XC90's seem to have bridgestone tires on them. - good luck

Here in the UK Volvo generally fit pirelli as standard to all there cars with the exception of the XC90 with the 235/60/18 tyres they use continentals on these as they have a less aggressive tread pattern and are more road biased. Have you had rear wheel bearings checked as these go wrong on a fairly common basis and howl like mad.

We've owned a Volvo for 10 years and just purchased a 2006 XC90 2.5T. I did a lot of research and learned that the OEM Pirelli tires are not suited to this vehicle and cause excessive road noise in addition to poor tread wear. They are fine for the first few thousand miles but the soft tire combined with the weight of the vehicle causes premature wear. I had a Saab convertible with the same problem - the OEM michelin tires were awful for tread wear, noise, and handling particularly torque steer. I put Bridgestone Potenza tires on the car and it was like a new car again. We test drove our XC90 with the OEM Pirelli tires and requested the wheels be swapped out prior to buying and we now have Hankook AS which have a very smooth, quiet ride and according to reviews will have good tread wear.
Once tires develop a poor wear pattern you pretty much have to toss them as rotating, balancing and alignment won't help with the noise.
There's nothing wrong with your vehicle that the right tire won't fix.

Gents

Agree with your comments, had to change out my wife's 04 T5 tires at 35k and put some michelins and this brought noise level down from OEM tires. yes rotating every 5k also helps.

Thanx
Eon

I have an '05 Xc90 AWD. I'm running Kumho KR21's and it's as quiet as a mouse. Tony P (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif)

A few things I will mention, although this appears to be a semi-old thread.

Pirelli Tires are more performance tires than anything else, typically with a shorter lifespan and better grip (they are a harder composition I believe), as such their design intentions are for theese qualities, not so much smoothness and quiet. So, my suggestion would be to move away from Pirelli for that vehicle (it will probably help some, although any SUV is going to have some road noise typically). As mentioned before some tire site will let you look upi tires by noise level, by traction and by tread life.

I will also mention, that my experience in PA,is that a large portion of the highways (at least the ones I have been on) are concrete, not asphalt. Concrete highways produce alot more road noise, not to mention the constant "thuds" at the concrete seams, which isnt going to help your situation (maybe this isnt the case where you are).

My suggestion(s) would be the following:

1. Find a good local tire dealer (seek out the reputations of ones in your area, dont just go by company name). Talk to the tire guys there (sometimes the ones who actually put the tires on is the best to talk to). Explain your situation, and they can usually suggest a good quieter alternative tire, and if concrete highways are common where you are they will be familiar with that (unlike your standard tire company just listing noise level, which is usually compared to asphalt...and concrete will create a different noise frequency than asphalt will...generally a higher pitch which people are more sensitive to).

2. Possibly inspect your shocks, struts and springs. If they are overly stiff, softening them up with differnt types might help. I dont have much experience with the Volvo SUVs (would like one though), but if its like my wagon, they have a semi-stiff suspension to adopt a slight performance feel over the cushiony all luxury car feel.

3. You can look into the use of materials like Dynomat to reduce inbound road noise, but you would need to use it all over (mainly doors, floor panels). That would be a big job and the Dynomat sheets are not cheap stuff, but it does work and can help eliminate a fair bit of inbound road noise.

All 3 mentioned items would be at your expense and not something a warranty or Volvo would do.

I had this same problem with other Volvos - older model, noise drove me crazy, but could never find a solution. Regarding PIRELLI tires - they are god awful!! Stay away from PIRELLI tires on your Volvo, I replaced two full sets due to manufacture issues - the second set had three of the four tires with manufacture faults on them before I even installed them! I dealt with the Tire Rack and they were fantastic - I finally went to a BF Goodrich tire and have never looked back. I have a summer and winter "20 on them and they perform like a dream!

If it's indeed a tire noise, you may want to try a different tire. Pirellis are noisier than average, especially as they a age, although it never bothered me too much.
I once installed Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza tires on my XC90, and they were so much quieter. You don't get the same soft sedan-like feel with them, but they give you a feeling of a brisk and quiet ride, and many people like it, especially if noise is such an issue. They are also premium SUV tires, only with a different character than Pirelli. Check out the tire review on tirerack.com.

Although the original inquiry was several months ago, I am writing to help anyone with a similar problem in the future. When the original tires on my 2004 XC90 wore out around 45,000 mi, I replaced them with a set of Michelins from Costco. Although a little pricey, they came highly recommended. Within 1,500 miles, I detected what I thought was road noise. Costco rotated the tires, but it didn't help. They said is was a rear axle noise. The local Volvo dealer confirmed that the left rear hub bearing was noisey and needed to be replaced. That solved the problem, and the car is very quiet now. My point is that sometimes a rear hub bearing noise sounds a lot like road noise from the tires.

check the rear wheel hubs...Seems to be an issue with the XC's.

I have the same road noise issue with the Pirellis on my 2007 Xc 90, started at 20k, plenty of meat on the tires just noisy, tried rotating them, still loud. My 2003 xc90 came with Michelin Pilot on 17 neptune rims, no problem except for the price to replace them.

I owned a 2003 XC90 and had the same problem, the noise was unbearable. It turned out to be the rear bearings not the tires.

Old topic, new reply for anyone else. '06 XC90 V8 AWD 100,ooo kms. Like was recently said, it could definitely be wheel bearings. Dealer denied it was the problem when I first started to notice it a couple of months back but the problem progressed to be VERY loud. I know now it is definitely the wheel bearing. Unfortunately, like many new cars (not just Volvo) the wheel bearings are now "unserviceable" and the wheel hub is replaced. I do most all of my own repairs and the parts from dealer are $315/side here in Calgary AB but found new aftermarket part for $130. The job only takes a couple of hours. Don't know what the dealer charges for the whole job.