Road noise -has anyone tried to address this?

[zcd2.7t]

I LOVE my car in every way, but would prefer that it was a little quieter at highway speeds. Wind noise is basically non-existant, but the road noise, particularly on cement and from the rear tires, is louder than I'd like. This is noticeable at most times, and is plain LOUD when riding in the back seat. My tires are Michelin Pilot Super Sports, BTW...

Has anyone experienced this or tried to address it?

[dparm]

Summer tires are noisy, especially the PSS. That's the price you pay.

I went for the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric on my B6 S4 -- a tad less grip than the PSS but way quieter and much better in the rain.

[Toecutter]

Interesting, I've been appreciating how quiet my cabin is inside. I've never sat in the backseat with someone else driving, but I'm not picking up any excess noise from back there. Concrete highways are pretty loud compared to asphalt, so maybe there's only so much one can do?

On my other car I have some Sumitomo HTR Z III tires and I don't think I've ever had a quieter tire. I bought them because they were relatively cheap with good performance but I've been really impressed all around.

[jamesj2k]

I think Im actually switching to all season from now on. Had 2 sets of summer and both had good grip but one was very noisy. One had a rougher ride. Contin DWS all season for me next. We maybe get 1 inch of know here each year. I ended up getting APR 1 instead of winter tires btw lmao

[Toecutter]

I wonder what all makes a tire noisy? I've always figured it was the void space in the tread kind of "clapping" against the ground as it hit it.

[GeoJoe]

I think Im actually switching to all season from now on. Had 2 sets of summer and both had good grip but one was very noisy. One had a rougher ride. Contin DWS all season for me next. We maybe get 1 inch of know here each year. I ended up getting APR 1 instead of winter tires btw lmao

+1 on Conti DWS. A quiet, soft compound that is good year round....and they even work fine on the track! Only drawback I've noticed is some minor flat spotting if left parked for more than a few days. But that goes away quickly as they warm up.

[Moose201]

I wonder what all makes a tire noisy? I've always figured it was the void space in the tread kind of "clapping" against the ground as it hit it.

In my experience, less tread depth equals more road noise. I've had to replace tires on a variety of vehicles where there was still plenty of tire life left but the road noise was unacceptable.

[skiracerblah]

I believe the bigger the tread blocks on the car, the noisier it will be. However, the larger the tread blocks are, the more dry grip you will have. Tirerack has "noise" ratings in its tire evaluations i believe...

[dparm]

I believe the bigger the tread blocks on the car, the noisier it will be. However, the larger the tread blocks are, the more dry grip you will have. Tirerack has "noise" ratings in its tire evaluations i believe...

Bingo. Huge shoulder blocks tend to make for a noisier tire. Look at the ultra-high performance tires....all are designed like that.

[Innovator]

Mine leaks air from around the door frame. Pretty annoying...

[riegeraudi]

Mine leaks air from around the door frame. Pretty annoying...

Had this on my car also. Good news is that it can be fixed. Make them first look at the door latch. Look at the door when closed and make sure that the door is tightly compressed to the frame of the car. Compare it to the passenger side. You need to look real closely at the rubber trim around the door and how it is compressed. Once this is fixed ask them to replace the rubber seal inside the door frame. This is the puffy rubber strip on the inside the door frame. This should fix the problem. If not then you will have to ask them to adjust the whole door. If this is done the rubber seal still needs to be changed as it will compress differently. I hope this is not too confusing.

[Jones2012s4]

I'm sure insulating the trunk with some noise cancelling material such as dynamat or other brands would help drastically.

[ViR]

Bingo. Huge shoulder blocks tend to make for a noisier tire. Look at the ultra-high performance tires....all are designed like that.

Yep. For the last 2 summers I had Toyo R888s for my daily driver.. Those R-comps are retardedly noisy. You should see people's faces when I give them rides "Uhh, is your car broken? Sounds like wheels will fall off?"..

[Brooklyn]

I changed to my winters early this year just to get the damn PZero's off the car. The noise was insane.

[zcd2.7t]

I'm sure insulating the trunk with some noise cancelling material such as dynamat or other brands would help drastically.

Yeah, that's one of the things I was wondering - if anyone had tried that yet?

These Pilot Super Sports were very quiet initially, but it seems that they may have gotten noisier now that they have ~8K miles on them... Or maybe the colder temps have made them a bit harder, in turn making them noisier? I don't really know for certain. I'll be swapping to my winter setup in the next couple of weeks, so I'll see how it sounds then and decide how to proceed based on that.

[NeedQuattro]

Summer tires are the culprit. I just put my winter tires on and it's SO much quieter...

[PitchS4]

Yeah, that's one of the things I was wondering - if anyone had tried that yet?

These Pilot Super Sports were very quiet initially, but it seems that they may have gotten noisier now that they have ~8K miles on them... Or maybe the colder temps have made them a bit harder, in turn making them noisier? I don't really know for certain. I'll be swapping to my winter setup in the next couple of weeks, so I'll see how it sounds then and decide how to proceed based on that.

I put dynamat under the entire rear deck (it has holes in it) and it helped a little bit with road noise. I am sure if you did the entire trunk you would see a benefit. What I did reduced the AWE exhaust hum slightly at speed (60ish MPH) and the subwoofer of the BO is much crisper for around 80 bux I would recommend it. If you want to get a good idea of what you would be muffling put a rear seat down, it is amazing how much noise comes from the trunk.

[PitchS4]

Summer tires are the culprit. I just put my winter tires on and it's SO much quieter...

Interesting, my Dunlop Wintersport 3D are nosier then my OEM Dunlop Sportmaxx, especially under breaking.

[A4 Centaur]

The spare tire well acts like a Bass Drum the entire flat trunk area also lets the tire noise in. Insulate that area and bye bye road noise.

[zcd2.7t]

I put dynamat under the entire rear deck (it has holes in it) and it helped a little bit with road noise. I am sure if you did the entire trunk you would see a benefit. What I did reduced the AWE exhaust hum slightly at speed (60ish MPH) and the subwoofer of the BO is much crisper for around 80 bux I would recommend it. If you want to get a good idea of what you would be muffling put a rear seat down, it is amazing how much noise comes from the trunk.

Thanks - this is exactly the sort of real-world experience I was hoping to hear about. I've driven with the back seats down many times, and yes, the difference is pronounced.

I'm wondering if I should dynamat under the rear parcel shelf and the behind backs of the fold-down seats to begin with, then do the rest of the trunk under the liner if the first attempt doesn't do enough....? Thoughts?

[Gweezil]

Interesting, my Dunlop Wintersport 3D are nosier then my OEM Dunlop Sportmaxx, especially under breaking.

That's disappointing to hear. I just ordered the WinterSport 3Ds in hopes they would be quieter than the Blizzak LM-60s or Pilot Alpins.

[PitchS4]

Thanks - this is exactly the sort of real-world experience I was hoping to hear about. I've driven with the back seats down many times, and yes, the difference is pronounced.

I'm wondering if I should dynamat under the rear parcel shelf and the behind backs of the fold-down seats to begin with, then do the rest of the trunk under the liner if the first attempt doesn't do enough....? Thoughts?

I would start with the rear deck. If you look at it there is a huge hole in the middle and nothing but thin paneling between it. I started here figuring the seats themselves did a pretty good job with sound deadening. You can always stuff some thick blankets or towels back there as a real world test before you sink the cash.

[zcd2.7t]

That's disappointing to hear. I just ordered the WinterSport 3Ds in hopes they would be quieter than the Blizzak LM-60s or Pilot Alpins.

FWIW, in my experience, they seem quieter than the Pilot Alpins I had previously.

I've never owned a set of Blizzaks, but they seemed pretty loud overall on cars I've driven with them mounted....

[myazforumname]

I thought I'd comment on this thread. I've been disappointed with the road noise in my S4. I came from a Mercedes C series and it was much quieter. Road noise leads to driver fatigue which leads to mistakes and less safety. A loud interior also means that you typically turn down the stereo at highway speeds, have trouble talking and it can also lead to hearing loss.

I'm curious if anyone has found any other ways besides matting the trunk to deal with the sound. I'm running Continental DWS, so it's not the tires.

[Toecutter]

I thought I'd comment on this thread. I've been disappointed with the road noise in my S4. I came from a Mercedes C series and it was much quieter. Road noise leads to driver fatigue which leads to mistakes and less safety. A loud interior also means that you typically turn down the stereo at highway speeds, have trouble talking and it can also lead to hearing loss.

I'm curious if anyone has found any other ways besides matting the trunk to deal with the sound. I'm running Continental DWS, so it's not the tires.

That's interesting, I find this car to be very quiet inside. I can hold a conversation using "indoor voice" at highway speeds.

[MrFunk]

As most noted tires are the cause. All seasons and high profile tires will be less noisy. Go with 17's all seasons and you will float along quietly like an angel! LOL.
Stock for stock I'd say the B8 is considerably quieter than my B6.

[PitchS4]

Really dude? Hearing loss, drive fatigue, and reduction in safety?

Most of us on here are bolting up exhaust to make the car louder I don't think you are going to find much sympathy or solutions here.

[Gman56]

My c5 a6 is as quiet as a library at highway speeds!I'm running general exclaim tires very quiet.I just love how quiet my Audi is!

[MVR 155]

Concrete is noisy, period, throw in summer tread/compound tires and it's worse. I think my S4 is pretty quiet. You want loud, go,for a ride in my C5 Z06 with 19" BFG KDW 2's..... IT'S LOUD!!!

[zcd2.7t]

Really, dude?....Most of us on here are bolting up exhaust to make the car louder....

ASS-uming that you know what "most of us" want to do or plan to do with our cars is a pretty clueless assumption.

Not trying to pick a fight here, but a bit more perspective might be useful, dude.

[craneman]

Just turn the damn radio up! High performance tires are going to make noise.