Why is tire noise a thing?

[ThreeBearsHD]

I have been driving and modifying vehicles for over 40 years and in all that time, and dozens of vehicles, only one vehicle had tire noise that was noticeable and obnoxious. It was a 1979 Dodge W100 that was lifted and on 36" Interco Super Swampers. I owned it in 1990 while stationed on Kauai, HI. Going down the highway at 55mph was like riding in a US Navy P3 aircraft. The vibration and noise was crazy!



Since then, I have owned multiple pickups and SUVs and have run dozens of different brands and styles of tires. None of them have been noticeably loud to the point of being distracting or annoying. Sure, some have been slightly louder than others, but when I am driving, I always have the radio on, or are talking with a passenger. Tire noise just isn't a thing.

I don't understand why it seems so many people are so concerned about tire noise. Do most folks drive around in silence and are somehow triggered by tire noise? Am I weird for listening to the radio while driving?

Who drives their vehicle with no radio on? I have SiriusXM in my Ram and my Jeep and am tuned in to either news, comedy, or music.

I just don't understand why anyone would choose a tire based on such a minor thing.

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

My ram (tow rig) is my only vehicle on all terrains instead of mud tires. I like the sound of mud terrains, but I didn’t put mud terrains on it. I would prefer a quiet all terrain if I could find one.

I complain about a set of tires when they’re quiet when you buy them and then you rotate them once and they start WAH WAH WAH WAH down the road. Unfortunately, that has been my experience more often than not with all terrains they get louder right after the first rotation.

As far as choosing a tire, there is such a small performance gap between that tires that I would consider. A Small thing such as tire weigh or noise level could definitely tip the scale for me.

 

[johanh13]

For me, noise is pollution. Tire noise - or loud exhaust - gets annoying fast. If I can hear someone else’s vehicle over my own radio or a normal conversation inside my truck, it’s too loud.
If you actually need mud-terrains because you’re dealing with real mud, that makes sense. Same thing if a loud exhaust meaningfully improved fuel economy or reliability - but it doesn’t.
Where I live, we have lots of sand and almost no sticky mud, yet there are plenty of “show trucks” running mud-terrains and straight pipes. As someone I know put it, “that’s the price of being cool.”
I don’t care much about being cool. I care about practical choices that perform well in the real conditions I drive in.

 

[Trash Panda]

Tire noise is huge in a vehicle that covers a lot of highway miles. Radio or not, some tires are simply over powering.

The last thing I want is a howling set of mud tires on a vehicle that I cover 50k miles a year in.

 

[jsalbre]

The BFG MTs on my last Wrangler were great at rock crawling and in the mud, but they’d give you a headache on long road trips they were so damn loud. I can’t hear a thing from the Falken AT4Ws on my Ram.