Tires: Road Noise, tread patterns, road noise

Question
Hi Barry, I have driven my 2001 Honda accord 125,000 miles. I got over 60,000 miles on original tires and over 60,000 on second set (Cooper). recently put on new set of set of cooper's as have had good luck with them. The road noise in my car is way more than I have experienced for many years. Do you think it could be poor balance or alignment or just the tires. Also since new tires I notice while braking the front tires chatter more than before. I had replaced rotors about 5,000 miles before replacing tires. Thanks Much, Harry

Answer
Harry,

Road Noise from tires generally stems from 2 sources:  

1)  Tread pattern / Road texture interaction

2)  Irregular wear.

I think we can eliminate #2.

Alignment might cause the tires to generate more noise, but that should have been apparent BEFORE you changed tires.

The brake thing sounds just like a brake thing - not a tire thing.

No, I suspect the tires are the source of the noise.  Did you change tread patterns?