Road noise

I find the road noise in my '94 Accord pretty deafening while
driving on a typically worn highway. Are the newer models any better?
Does any particular model stand out in shutting out the road noise from
the passengers?

Rudy

 

I am familiar with the 96 since I have owned it for about 5 years and the
2004's since my g/f owns one that I drive frequently.

My 96 is quieter than her 04 but only because of what I did about 3 years
ago. I removed all the seats, carpeting, headliner, trunk lining pieces, and
all 4 door panels. I installed dynamat type of sound deadening material all
over and used spray adhesive to glue down foam to the flooring. I installed
dynamat on the backside of all of the doors and plastic bubble wrap on all
the doors behind the panels for wind noise. I put dynamat on the roof panel
under the headliner.

The doors shut more solid, the radio sounded instantly better with more rich
sound (with just stock speakers and radio) and the road noise is very low.
I have a decibel meter but haven't used it yet while driving. There is
hardly a car I get into that is quieter.

If you have cupped or oddly worn tires, or cheap tires that can be a huge
contributor to road noise.

The 04 has way too much road noise for a new car as far as I am concerned.
It really drowns out the stock radio to the point that it is not enjoyable
to listen to the radio while driving and turning it up just makes the radio
sound like shit. I am not talking about distortion or treble bass controls
the radio sound just sucks on the 04 lx models.

 

Noise = tire noise + engine noise + wind noise - sound insulation.

Once you have a car, the simplest thing is to find a quieter tire.
Worn tires tend to be louder on bad pavement.

It might be possible to add sound insulation, but that would be a
lot of trouble to go through and would add weight. I believe some
car stereo places do that kind of work.

 

Actually, the simplest and cheapest way is to turn up the volume on
your radio. =)

 

Why didn't I think of that? Of course you don't notice the tire
noise as long the speakers drown it out. It's like looking better
by hanging around ugly people. ;-)

 

This does not apply in my case as I have new Michelin tires.

I agree that a do-it-yourself extra sound insulation is too much
trouble for the average motorist. The purpose of my posting was not so
much about how to do my own sound proofing but to find out if there were
any Honda models that stand out in being quieter than others.

Rudy

 

"R. P." wrote

Everyone has his/her own definition of "quiet." Different roads cause
differing levels of noise, and some noise cannot be avoided. After having
owned three Civics and now an '04 4-cyl 4-door Accord, the improvement in
"quiet" is dramatic. I'm very satistfied with my Accord. Sure, there are
going to be quieter cars, but....

Oh, and then there are those who say the stereo system sucks. I think it's
terrific. Opinions, opinions.