Cabin noise

RiCharlie

I can tell you from experience the doors are the most important part..There is NO sound dampening in them at all..

370ZilverZ

Did you Dynamat your doors and get a significant change from what you get from doing just the hatch area?

How did the Conti's work out?

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370ZilverZ Journal

BMW Z4

lpsscc

The one thing I noticed with my Altima SE-R was the Bridgestone Potenzas it came with did two things. First they were noisy as hell, i mean all four tires you could hear. If you think the Z is noisy it's more like a library next to the SE-R. Second the tires would not track on roads with slightly worn down ruts in them. Almost like riding a skateboard on a half-pipe. Up one side, down again and up the other side and back again over and over. Took a stiff grip on the steering wheel to maintain a straight line. In other words those tires were crap...

I replaced those with some Conti Extremes and the tire noise went down about half and the tracking was pretty much fixed.

So now I added a Z to my stable and the previous owner put some Yokahama S-Drive tires on the rear. The front has the bridgestones. I hear a lot of front tire roar and suprizingly the rears are quiet (no roar). I got a bunch of dynamat coming and will still do the back and doors like you all have done and maybe put some on the front or something as well if possible. I am certain changing the front tires to S-Drives will be a quicker fix though...

RiCharlie

Yes in fact I was very dissatisfied with doing just the hatch.. It made some difference but the combo of the hatch and the door made it much much better..

As far as the Contis go..i just had an hour or so with them..I dont see much difference in noise and if I had gotten rid of the originals while still new for the Contis I would have been seriously pissed..but they were worn and needed replacement..

I notice a bit softer ride and somewhat looser feel on the road..at least that is my first impression.. I'll keep you posted as to the performance...it was dark and I dont like doing any performance driving at night...I think I will have a better idea tomorrow..

Bonzo

The thing is, you aren't really talking apple to apples. You are in the "hate the road noise in general camp." Unlike you, many of us here expect and even like the road noise associated with the tires, the pavement and the exhaust. To us that's what a sports car is all about. But what many of us do dislike is the obnoxious pebble/debris noise from the rear wheel wells. Spending time & effort doing the doors will most likely do very little, if nothing at all, to help with this issue. So for us doing the doors is most likely more a waste of time and energy than anything. But I think daemon1957 will be able to answer that better than you because he's more in the pebble noise camp. We'll see.

I for one am sticking with my current plan, for now. I bought a FatMat (Dynamat by a different name) trunk kit for $60 and am going to try to put that in this weekend. I'm going to concentrate on the wheel well arches first, then move out from there. If that doesn't get the job done, then I'm going to buy some FatMat (or the like) liquid noise paint, and paint the wheel well arches on the outside of the car. This will act like a coat of rubber to deaden the actual sound impact of the debris. If Nissan had just added a plastic liner to the wheel wells we wouldn't be having this issue. But there isn't any sense worrying about that, so we make do.

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Finally Able To Order 2012 Model 8/24/2011
Delivered Tuesday November 15, 9:57 am!!!
2012, Auto, White, Sport, Kick Plates

Mt Tam I am

My original Bridgestone's droned horribly on the freeway. After 30 minutes it was more noticeable. With the Michelins droning stopped, so longer drives still get pebbles, but the drone, that got to me and the little lady, is gone.

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370ZilverZ

After driving and listening to the sounds of the car and the road. I am satisfied with what I have achieved with doing the hatch and wheel wells. I agree with what Bonzo says. I had a purpose in doing the Dynamat and I cured the pinging of stones being thrown up and making sounds that irritated me. I've driven hot rods all my life and love the sound of open headers and whining superchargers in my ears. I even like listening to loud music at times, but I'm not going to turn up the volume to mask a problem. I guess those that choose to do that would also choose to close their eyes when their oil guage shows 0 or temp gauge shows 300. If I choose to upgrade my door speakers in the future, then I look at insulating my doors for sound quality, but as a noise reduction, I see no point. This is a sports car and it is going to be noisy. To each there own in how they choose to accept it or change it to their acceptance level.

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370ZilverZ Journal

BMW Z4

Bonzo

Good to hear about the Dynamat. Hopefully I will feel the same after installing my FatMat. I'll post my results when I'm done installing it.

Thanks ---- Bonzo

__________________
Finally Able To Order 2012 Model 8/24/2011
Delivered Tuesday November 15, 9:57 am!!!
2012, Auto, White, Sport, Kick Plates

RiCharlie

I dont mind a bit of exhaust and engine noise but to me the very best experience is when I am driving over a newly paved road..smooth and quiet.. right now its not exactly like that but good enough..

But even for a sports car this one is noisy.,,did you read all those reviews I posted earlier?

Anyway we all have our own preferences...but it is strange how those pebbles dont bother me...its really rare....but the tires droning on the road do..I have the Sports package and from what I read that is the package where most of the road noise is...so maybe we are talking about two different packages..

lpsscc

Did the dynamat Yesterday. I used all 36 Square feet that came with the kit I got on ebay. Pain in the *** and time consuming. Only cut myself like 20 times. Big fun...

Anyway I did the doors and rear covering everything I could.
Huge difference! Even though I spilled at least a gallon of blood it was more than worth it and would do it again. I now plan to do the same with my Altima. Never knew this would help so much or I would have done it 7 years ago with my daily driver...

Thanks all. Was VERY worth it.

RiCharlie

Glad to hear! I was really upset at my car at first and thought I made a terrible mistake but doing the hatch and doors makes all the difference...now with the new tires its really a pleasure to drive over long distances...

370ZilverZ

I'm not sure that enough emphasis what put into this thread on how much of a PITA this dynamat install is. Especially if you want it done right. If you can do this without spilling any blood,. It does make a difference and IMO is well worth the blood, sweat and time.

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370ZilverZ Journal

BMW Z4

RiCharlie

Actually I have to say that for the first time I can actually understand why the thing may get too quiet in some situations...

I do about 1200 miles a month so noise is a concern but I now think I may be going a bit overboard in trying to get rid of it entirely...

See? old dogs really can learn new tricks!

Bonzo

Yes. For road noise, this car is not nearly as noisy as my wife's Pontiac Solstice. Between the convertible top, the tire noise, the transmission whine, the wind and the whistling antenna, it's a whole "nother" experience entirely. You think the Z is loud, heh, not even close. But even in the super noisy tiny sized Solstice, the pebble thing doesn't even come close to the Z.

Rare? Where do you live, dirt free land? Here in Ohio we have what I would call clean roads compared to other states (well, at least say compared with Michigan, where the mob runs the paving companies, and they don't spend any money on street sweepers, and they still have tons of unpaved dirt roads). I see street sweepers all the time around where I live, and there hasn't been one single drive in my Z where I haven't had the pebble issue arise. It even happens in my own neighborhood, which I would call very clean. Have you driven in the rain? No car I've ever been in has water spray sound like the Z. Or what about salted winter roads? It's obnoxious, and makes you sick hearing all that corrosive salt being kicked up. Again, this is not rare to me.

Nope, I have the Sport Package also. Again, the tire & road noise is not a problem for me.

I drive about 75 miles a day to work and back, with it being about a 50/50 split highway / suburbs. So far I've only gotten a chance to drive the Z to work about 5 times (being tore up with mods I'm making and then just the crappy winter weather). The pebble noise doesn't happen so much on the highway, it's on the other suburb streets, and in my neighborhood. Like when you cut a corner, or are making a left turn at a light and you go out into the middle of the intersection. It's in those places where it's frequent.

I'm not looking forward to this process of putting this mat crap down, but since I already have my back end all opened up, it would be dumb not to give it a whirl. We were baby sitting our nephew this weekend or it would be done already.

For those who have done it, did you find actually climbing in the car any easier than bending over from the outside? I'm thinking climbing in for the fender wells might be the easiest way to get to them.

Cheers ---- Bonzo

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Finally Able To Order 2012 Model 8/24/2011
Delivered Tuesday November 15, 9:57 am!!!
2012, Auto, White, Sport, Kick Plates

RiCharlie

Honestly, there is very little pebble noise..and you know I am a fanatic about noise..when I pull up to a curb then sometimes I notice some but I drove for about an hour today and not a single pebble sound..

I notice it is louder on wet roads

and i almost never drive in the salt and crap they put down in the winter..That crap really can eat into your car..and then in that case yes it really is noisy..

How come you havent given this old dog credit for learning a new trick? ( see my post about noise at 12:13 I had you in mind when I posted that!