When I'm driving down the road my tires hummm on account of the tread pattern. The sound seems to go in and out. It is especially noticable on flat, straight roads. If this makes any sense; Depending on the vehicle speed, it changes the tempo of the sound faster or slower and alternates from a loud to soft, loud to soft, etc. tire humming. Lets say @ 45mph it will be loud for like a second and a half then deaden for a second and a half. I use to think it was terrain, hills, different types of asphalt. But now that the windows are down more often I can really hear those babies. I can hear it slow and speed up, alternating from loud to soft. Am I crazy or is there actually something I need to check out??

I've also had some issues with braking as well. The truck kinda hops almost like the rotors are warped but I'm pretty sure they definitely aren't. I'm not sure if they're related but both have really been bugging me the last couple weeks. Any thoughts on either?? I'm more than welcome to ideas!

 

are your wheels properly balanced?

 

i would say miss balanced tires as well.

mine change sound depending if the wheel is straight or if im just barley adjusting the turning and they will make more noise.

 

maybe missed balanced but welcome to the world of mudders and the Hopping feeling you are getting while braking is feeling the lugs...

 

Most tires have a characteristic hum associated with the spacing of the tread elements, aggressive tires even more so. As the tires wear and cup, this noise often becomes louder. You can help reduce tire noise and equalize wear by rotating your tires regularly.

No two tires have exactly the same diameter. Failing to rotate them causes more significant diameter differences, especially front to rear. Different diameters means different rotational speeds and different hum frequencies.

A pair of frequencies that are slightly different and heard at the same time can causes a sound phenomenon called "beat". This happens when the sound wave peaks and valleys alternately add or cancel. That is the low frequency loud and soft that you hear.

In the graph below, the red wave has a slightly higher frequency than the blue wave. In some areas, the waves cancel and, in others, they add. The resultant green beat waveform is what we hear.



Almost all modern road tires use variable tread block spacing. The exception is that some aggressive off-road tires use equal spacing. Look around the tire circumference of a few different tires and you will see that the spacing of the tread is short in some areas and long in others. This helps make the tire noise less consistent and noticeable and also helps disguise the beat.

 

I understand. So I don't have much to worry about then?

 

well not really anything to WORRY about, but you might wanna make sure you're as best aligned as can be. Tires will wear more evenly and less stress on parts. Mudders are tough to align but alot of people are having luck with EQUAL, do a search on that if you havent already read those threads.

with braking, its just cuz of the heavier tires, but there a few braking upgrades you can do if that bugs you enough

 

jus chock(is that you you spell it?) it up in the "im a badass with big tires" list.

Aaron

 

Yeah I had the same thing when I first had M/T's....you get over it...make sure that you frequently check your wheel bearings, pads and shoes, rotors and drums after long trips and especially after pulling a trailer. Better safe than sorry.

 

I had the truck aligned, front and rear. They were barely off, now fixed. The frame is perfect also. I have been reading alot about equal. I'm gonna wait til I get new tires to try that stuff out though. I figure by the end of summer I'll have burnt off the fresh treads on the rear. Fronts are almost to the tread wear indicator, which were on the rear til two weeks ago when I rotated them. I'm also planning to do the 31 spline axle swap in the near future so rear discs would help.

 

idk i wouldnt use equal for tires as small as yours(not being mean), it seems like it would be better for larger tires as in 33+ because of the shear mass of them. if you got your tires road force balanced they should be fine...all mudders vibrate and expecially on freeway there is no way around it...

 

That's why I said I wasn't going to get equal til I got new tires and when I do they will be 33's

 

i've had that problem on the highway, in all 4 of my vehicles i have owned. In my torino when i used to have it, i could kinda of feel it in the floor. it was rythmic too. like every 1.5-2.5 seconds. In my truck i can definately feel it and hear it. glad i'm not alone.

 

lol I try to explain it to other ppl and they look at me like I'm crazy