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I have a set of factory p2656518 Bridgestone Dueler AT tires on a chevy Z71 with about 2/3 tread left on them. The road noise is almost unbearable. Can anything be done to quiet them down?

We had some issues with a similar less aggressive Bridgestone on a Nissan Pathfinder we bought. I couldn't figure out why the dang things were so loud and it ended up being an issue with the tread hardening and some slight cupping. Had to replace them to get rid of that awful racket. I've read that this is common on the low end high mileage rating tires also.

sounds like the truck needs an alignment .... usually when regular all terrain tires make lots of road noise its due to the treads getting cupped/whipped out .... look on the inside treads of the tires and see if the are more worn down and have a cupped feeling to them ... or the outside edge but i would assume you would have already noticed if it was outside edge.... could be a bad hub or wheel bearing and you just think its the tires

The tires can be "trued" but I'd rotate them LF to RR and RF to LR first. That way you get the tires going the opposite way they have been worn in on. This is usually an immediate fix for tires that were relatively quite to begin with. I try to have mine rotated this way every other time to avoid the noise.
If there is a decent amount of tread on them, no use throwing them away when you can fix the issue.

I called Bridgestone and talked to them. They also recommended cross rotating LF to RR RF to LR. I tried that and it cut the noise in half for about 500 miles, but now they are back to making the same noise as before. Took to my auto repair guy and he drove it and said I could have a wheel bearing bad. That would be about $350 to replace. However, he really thought the tires are bad. Hate to get rid of them with so much tread left!

Caveman wrote:I called Bridgestone and talked to them. They also recommended cross rotating LF to RR RF to LR. I tried that and it cut the noise in half for about 500 miles, but now they are back to making the same noise as before. Took to my auto repair guy and he drove it and said I could have a wheel bearing bad. That would be about $350 to replace. However, he really thought the tires are bad. Hate to get rid of them with so much tread left!

I tried the rotating LF to RR RF to LR and all of that on our pathfinder, and even started looking into the hubs thinking logically I had eliminated tires... It was the tires, after replacing them no more noise

I think its the Bridgestones. We had a set on a Izuzu Trooper that were bad loud.

Noise will stop during a fairly sharp turn if it is a wheel bearing. As soon as the wheels are turned enough to change the weight on the wheel bearings, usually the noise will stop of be greatly reduce. Once the wheels straighten back out, the louder noise will return. That is contributed to bad wheel bearings.

I agree in that it sounds like the tires. How often were the tires rotated and how many miles are on them? If once and alot of miles, then that is a contributing problem. All-terrains need to be rotated often, like every oil change or at most, every other oil change. Back when Yokohoma had the Geolander A/T II, I ran those tires and had to rotate often otherwise they would get loud.

It was a left front wheel bearing. Replaced bearing and all noise went away.

Caveman wrote:It was a left front wheel bearing. Replaced bearing and all noise went away.

Sounds like you owe Mudhog a beverage of his choice.

and me haha