Noisy front end

I just bought a '94 SL2 that has an annoying noise in the front drive
train. I found that someone has put a 195-65r-15 on the driver's side.
I looked up tire specs and that 65r is nearly 2.5" larger in
circumference than the 60r on the passenger side. Seems to me this
might cause that noise. Opinions?

 

You have two different sizes of tires on one axle? If excessive noise
is the only ill effect you're experiencing, count yourself lucky. Get
that fixed right away. You don't necessarily need tires the same size
as OEM, or even the same size in the front as the back, but both tires
on an axle must be the same size. Good grief, I can't believe any tire
shop would do that, accidentally or otherwise. You might ask the
previous owner if he just recently had one replaced, then get his
reciept and take it back and ask them to replace it with the correct size.

 

Ratbert, thanks for your reply. I'm probably not lucky. I already know
the owner lied about a few things and I'm sure he'd do it again. I
doubt if a tire shop put that tire on but anything's possible. I have
no recourse as it was a private owner and sold as is. I didn't notice
the noise when I drove it before buying it so it's possible the tire
was swapped between then and when I bought it.

How much and what kind of noise is caused by unevenly worn tires, and
what damage may have been done by this? BTW, I moved that 195-65r tire
to the rear axle and it helped, though only partially.