Kingmeow

Some history. I come from a 97 Maxima SE which has 55 series tires and 16" alloys. Tire noise/vibration has never been an issue throughout it's 270,000 mile life other than the one time when I got new tires and the shop had a malfunctioning wheel balance machine. In that case, speeds above 70 MPH caused the car to start shaking.

Anyway, I have a one month old 09 AWD no Tech with stock rims and tires (Michelin Pilot). It has less than 2000 miles and I maintain the tire pressure religiously. Last night I drove a 5 mile section of an interstate that was *just* repaved asphalt. It was so new that it looked wet due to the oil floating to the surface (this was at night).

The logical thinking is that it should be smoooooth. But no, above 70 MPH I started to feel, well I don't know what it really is. It felt like high frequency minute vibration and at the same time it feels like road noise but then I'm starting to think maybe unbalanced wheels? So as you can see, I don't know what I was feeling!!!! What I do know is that I felt it on the steering wheel, any solid surface and to some extent through the seat.

After some more thinking, I'm thinking that new asphalt should not be as smooth as one would think because there are lots of nooks and crannies that need to fused together as the asphalt cures and melds together. BTW, this was in the Boston area where temps were hovering around freezing.

So what's all this rambling???? Do you guys think I have a balance problem or it's just the nature of the AWD's suspension plus the Michelins (are these quiet tires?)? I tried driving around the same speed this morning on an "old" interstate and although I didn't feel nearly as much vibration/shake/what have you, there still is a lot of road nuiances being transmitted to the car. Can the wheels come improperly balanced from the factory (yeah I know, anything can happen)? I checked all the weights and they are still there on all four and it doesn't appear that any have come off (revealing a clean spot).

Why am I noticing this after nearly 2000 miles? I don't know but before now it has been mostly local sub-45 MPH driving.

Sorry for the rambling. Hoping to hear some advice and reassuring words. I could bring it in and ask for a rebalance but I hate going to the dealer as my work schedule is incrediblely hectic.

mlb11

I've got an '09 AWD base with 1600 miles on it and have driven over a brand-newly paved (asphalt) 4 lane road several times. When I drive this road at about 50mph, the tires "sing" - sort of a mid-frequency whine. I don't feel much vibration at that speed, but it seems to me like the tread pattern of the tires is creating the noise and this may go away with time. This inly happens on this newly paved road.

I came from an RDX and while the TL is much quieter in wind noise and rides much, much smoother, I also still hear a fair amount of road noise. It is surprising to me since there is so much material (foam in the pillars, coatings underneath) to block it, but then again I detect road noise in nearly all cars except maybe a lexus LS400.