Dear Tire Guy | April 2021

My wife said she told me that I'm suffering from hearing loss, but I never heard her say that.

However, as a PSA on the risks of developing diminished hearing ability, and to humor my wife who seems a lot quieter these days, here is a brief list of some of the loudest noises ever made in human history.

(5) Saturn V Rocket 204 dB

(4) Tsar Bomba 224 dB

(3) Krakatoa eruption of 1883 310 dB

(2) My mother-in-law sorting pots and pans 759 dB

(1) 9 out of 10 UHP tires, amirite?!

So what makes the difference between a loud tire, and a quiet one? It's all in the tread.

Variable Tread Pitch (VTP) is not something many have heard of before. Yet, it is something we all appreciate while we are cruising the highway. Many drivers go for a spin without realizing it's even there. This technology is what prevents our tires from creating obnoxious, ear-deafening noises that would provoke tinnitus in just about any listener. Some companies do this better than others. Put simply, VTP is the harmonic arrangement of different noises that are produced by various tread elements on one tire. A VTP engineer can measure the noises and frequencies produced by each tread characteristic: the voids, the sipes, the ribs, etc., and balance and tweak them via computer programming until they operate in unison to create an acceptable noise threshold for our ears while driving on the road. Before this technology was available tires were much more abrasive to listen to.

Some skeptics wonder if variable pitch tread technology is sacrificing any of your tire's performance quality. Has variable tread pitch impeded the quality of modern tires? No! Tires are, in fact, safer and more efficient than they have ever been. In any seasonal condition (even when the road resembles your local ice skating rink) performance is significantly better than in decades past.

VTP offers the best of both worlds; a quiet ride without sacrificing performance. And while it has stifled my ability to dodge my wife telling me I need to go to the ear doctor because I "can't hear her over the car," it has undoubtedly made everyone else's drive much more pleasant. Noisy tires suck. Replace them. The Tire Guys at On-Site Tires can help.

Until next month, Drive On!

The Tire Guy