npolite

Yesterday I rotated by tires. Front to back and back crossed to front. After rotating the tires I am noticing that there is a louder amount of road noise. This hasn't happened to me in years of rotating tires. I have the OEM Primacy MXM4s (replaced the original ones a few years ago). Tire pressure is 32 in front and 30 in the rear. The only thing is that the rear tires which are now in the front had 7mm while the front ones which are now in the rear have 5mm. Could that be what is causing the louder road noise? It doesn't sound like a wheel bearing going bad as the noise is different and would be very bad luck if that happened after I rotated the tires. I may have to reverse everything just to see if it goes away. Does anyone believe that the noise would lessen if I let it run a few weeks?

npolite

Researching a little bit it seems that I probably waited too long to rotate the tires. Hopefully in a few weeks it will go back down.

Simba91102

I realize that the latest thoughts on the subject are that it's no longer necessary to keep radial tires on the same side (assuming they're not directional), but years ago, that was the recommended practice (my guess is that at your age, you're right on the bubble of remembering that or not). Supposedly, the steel belts developed a "set" that required they always rotate in the same direction. I've stuck with that practice, and haven't any experiences like the one that you describe. As long as the wheels are in alignment though, theoretically anyway, swapping sides shouldn't buy you anything as far as wear is concerned. I would agree with your theory that you may have gone too long to swap sides without it reminding you of that with some extra tire noise. You could give it some time, or just return the tires to the side they were on before, your choice.

npolite

Swapped the front two and it helped a little but it's still there. Oh well I'll have to live with it until it hopefully settles down.

SeaJay

If they are loud with tread then it sounds like they developed some Cupping.
Uneven spots on the tires.

It might clear up from normal wear after you rotated.
I had this problem on a set that I didn't rotate often enough. A slight alignment issue accelerated the issue.