Falken Tyre announced that it can reduce drive-by noise with tires by up to 10 decibels and cabin noise by four decibels through a new tire manufacturing process.

The company notes that this enables quieter tyres that minimize distraction noise and in-cabin drone. While cars are getting quieter, tires can still generate a notable amount of drive-by noise. Air inside the cavity vibrates and resonates, causing vibrations and then sound to be transmitted through the vehicle and into the cabin.

Falken Tyre, together with its parent company Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI), has developed a patented solution called Silent Core, which reduces noise due to a layer of ether-polyurethane foam material that’s applied to the inside of the tire carcass. Absorbing sound, the double-humped foam layer can achieve drive-by noise reductions of up to 10 decibels compared to standard tires and can also decrease cabin noise by up to four decibels. Testing to date has shown that tire performance is not affected, and Silent Core lasts for the duration of the tire’s lifetime.

The production process is now mature enough for series production, and the Silent Core product is undergoing a pilot phase with a well-known automotive manufacturer, with other brands also having expressed interest.

“Silent Core is a very simple yet extremely effective solution to the reduction of drive-by and cabin noise created by the tire,” says Andreas Giese, product planning manager at Falken Tyre. “We’ve received a significant amount of interest from automotive manufacturers about this new technology, which is cheaper and easier to implement than electronic technologies. Initial reports from the pilot test are positive, and we’re looking forward to seeing the Silent Core technology progress.”