Tires
 

Anybody have any stories about sound dampening by switching tires? I have heard stories of Continental Extreme DW making a big difference in sound and I read one story of some guy really dissatisfied with a serious degradation in performance. Anyone share some thoughts on this?

I recently got my vehicle dynomated and it really helped but as far as i am concerned while the engine sound is music the less tire noise I hear the better.
Keep in mind the roads in RI are really not very good..IMO ..compared with the roads in the states in warmer climes where they dont have frost damage to contend with and the colder states where they spend the money on better surfaces able to stand up to the winter.

yah, the dunlops i had on my last MINI was very quiet. i can't remeber which tire it was but it was a high perf summer tire and gripped very well (tire made at the sumitomo plant in Japan)

did a quick search over at TR. it was the SportMaxx...but unfortunately does not offer our size.

I switched to Hankook Ventus V12 and there was minimal difference from the RE050As.