I have a 2004 A4 coupe.
I am looking for reasonable do-it-myself recommendations for reducing interior road noise.

I know that the stock run flats are a major source of noise. Only have 2,500 miles them, so prefer to wear them out a bit first.

Was looking more towards adding some sound dampening materials first.

Appreciate the ecommendations. Thanks.

 

Here ya go

https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti....php?TopicID=1

https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...=159&TopicID=1

 

Dude, you've been a member since June and haven't heard about the famous Frost King mod?

 

Turn up the radio.....

 

Get a nice aftermarket exhaust

 

Buy a Lexus

Sorry, I know that doesn't help but......

Insulate with the Frost King mod.

 

Just got my first vette Friday. A Lt. Pewter 2000. Love it, except for some minor issues ... left it at the dealership tonight. But .. onto the subject at hand. When I picked it up Friday with brand new GY F1 GS EMT's and ran it 30 miles up the NYS Thruway, I thought my ears would explode. I'm a pilot and became convinced that I'd have to wear an aircraft headset to drive the car. That was until my tire pressure warnings started going off indicating that my tires were at 41 psi. I just happened to be bringing it to a Corvette Shop and when I got there he told me to deflate all the tires to 32 psi (the driver door actually says 30 psi). The difference was and is UNMISTAKEABLE! The noise is virtually gone, certainly so unpronounced that all the hoopla over these EMT's must be from folks with very high tire pressures. Anyway, I would check my pressures and, if you still don't like them, read this forum about some of the pitfalls of other EMT brands and of non-EMTs before you change them, apparently within the next 20K miles or so.

 

I have a cheap fix that worked very well.
Buy some R-13 insulation (Lowes or Home Depot). Remove the rear wheel wells. Cut a strip of the insulation to cover the top portion of each rear wheel well. You want the insulation to be about 2-1/2" - 3" thick. You do this by peeling off the layers of insulation until you get the disired thickness.
While you're at it, you also want to fill in the open spaces inside the wheel opening where it joins the body. Keep in mind, noise needs air to travel.
Stuff as much insulation into as many open crevices as you find.
Re-install the wheel wells. Note, you will have to compress the wheel wells, but they will go back in. I layed on my back and used my feet to compress the wells back in.

I did this and the sound levels went down to a more acceptable level. It will be even better when I get rid of the run flats.

Bear in mind, sound travels through air and metal and it really travels well through water, ask any submariner, but that's another story.
Do not use any metal or foil laced insulation. You're defeating your purpose.

 

I think your on to something here... I could be wrong though...

 

Alot of links on this topic. Search for sound deadening, sound reduction, etc.

Here's a few links too:

http://mikemercury.home.att.net/sound.htm

http://www.exoticvette.com/Exotic%20...insulation.htm

http://www.b-quiet.com/index.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=989605

Really easy to do, and is worth the effort.
Good luck.

 

Here's my ongoing thread on the very topic... see pix for details

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1009771

 

C5Jim, I have a question:
Does the insulation above the fender wells, etc. get wet, and if it does do you have to remove it to dry it out? If you just leave it, can it cause any problems?

 

 

A Lloyds cargo mat, helped some with the road noise in my 99 coupe.

 

Lloyd's mat didn't help mine but I expect a Corvette to be noisy - it's a sports car.

 

I did the dynamat and couldn't be happier... cost about $200 and took like 16 hours but was worth it!

 

Speaking from personal experience, the mods described here and on other forums do work. They can be a pain in the butt to do properly but the results are worth it. As has been stated road noise is what you want to get rid of.
Per the mods, I put a layer of Dynamat Extreme then a layer of Frost King in the entire rear of my Z (perhaps a bit of overkill using that much Dynamat) as well as a layer Frost King in the cabin area from the footwells back with dynamat and Frost King on the center hump. I followed this by putting a layer of insulation (I forget the name -silver colored bubblewrap, basically) underneath the rear fender liners and some fiberglass batting in the space in front of the rear wheels.
The Results?
The car was dramatically quieter. It was as quiet or more quiet than my wife's Maxima at highway speeds. I also noticed an improvement when I went to Toyo Proxes TS-1 tires from the Goodyear Supercar tires.
It was so quiet I vaguely dissatisfied with the performance sound and put GHL Bullets to increase the exhaust sound. This struck the perfect balance, in my opinion.

 

LOL...Now thats funny...

Peace
Willfulone

 

Just finished the wheel wells last night and this mornig it snowed so I couldn't take it out and enjoy the quieter ride. Thank you ET for the pictures you posted on this, I don't think I would have tried it without them.

 

I really doubt that your current run flats are causing that much if any additional noise over any other tire but I am sure that many people will disagree.
I really like http://www.quietcar.net/?google It is a paint on and will go places and stick to things that the mat will not. According to them it is superior to the mat. I used 2 gallons in the trunk, wheel wells and behind the seats. BIG difference. If you decide to put the R13 in the wells you may what to incase the R13 in a plastic bag first. Some say that it will not get whet but I would not take the chance, also watch out for any water drains that you may be restricting.