Tires: Singing Tires, snow traction, oem tires

Question
Barry:
This is the second time I have encountered this problem. On my old CLK I replaced the tires that were not OEM and they were very noisy, went back to OEM and it stopped. Now I am have the same problem with my sedan and the tires are noisy and sing, is there something I am doing wrong or are OEM tires the only thing that can be quiet.

Answer
Bob,

Some tires are naturally noisy, some are not.  Some interact with the particular road surface in your area adversely and while they are normally quiet, they will generate noise that they ordinarily don't.

Further, some aggressive tread patterns - which is good for wet and snow traction - will tend to be noisier.

So the best advice i can give you is to look at the ratings and choose tires that folks claim are better for noise - paying attention to the other properties of interest.  The key is the balance.