TREAD NOISE IMPROVEMENT BY MODULATING GROOVE RESONANCE FREQUENCY

A tire (10) has a plurality of shoulder tread elements (50) defined by lateral grooves (17A, 17B) and circumferential grooves (15). The tread (12) of the tire (10) is pitched using three or more pitch sizes. Each pitch has a lateral groove (17a) open to the adjacent circumferential groove (15) or closed to the adjacent circumferential groove (15) as a function of a predetermined sequence of non-uniformity.