SOUND PROOFING the stupidly loud road noise of the golf.

[Will@carbon]

Sorry i did a search but found nought.

Ok it might be the fact that my BMW was a better more expensive car but that aside I think the road noise from my petrol gti 3door with 18's is nothing short of disgracefull at anything over 20mph. Annoying after all the reviews etc said they where whisper quiet. I know people are going to say there's is fine and I'm fussy but trust me it's sh!te to the point of being embarrassing.

By the way Craig's gtd 5door with 17's (both of us on goodyears) is fine.

My question is:

how can I make it better?
Are there spots on the car to pay attention too?
Can I get any Audi parts etc to help?

I have already spent £550 on goodyears which helped a little, £70 on dynamat and sticky sound sponge stuff and covered the entire boot and boot floor.

My next plan is to remove the rear quarters and fill with dynamat and sound felt stuff maybe some sponge sound stuff.

Any experience you can give or tips from people in the know would be greatly appreciated and hopefully we can come up with the easiest most cost effective way to maximise the quaitlty of our medium quality high quality ( well mine anyway) £27000~ cars.

Thanks kids.

[am1w]

I had the same complaints as you.
The tyre roar is quite something with brand new tyres. This should become a bit less after 1000 miles. However, and unfortunately, your car with 18" wheels will never be as quiet as Craig's who runs 17".
Check your pressures are correctly set at 38 psi all round.
If you are still unhappy with the tyre roar (I stii am) then you'll have to bite the bullet, or change to the new ContiSportContact 5s, or get 17" wheels like Craig's beauties or change the car.
A most annoying problem.

[The Doc]

Is is still wrecking your head Will, it is a lot quieter than it was but I can't help but think it's a 3 door vs 5 door thing.

I thought it would be well sorted after the amount of soundproofing / dynamat we fitted last week.

We'll fit my rear wheels to your rear one day next week and see if it gives the same level of silence we get from the GTD.

We still love it though 

[ajmoir36]

Turn up the radio, dyna audio/rcd510.

[Neil gti]

Fit a Milltek & Turn the Radio up, you wont hear road noise then 

[DDg]

I had my doors dynamat-ed when I installed better speakers. Made cock-all difference to the road noise intrusion through the sides...

Whilst the noise from traffic ahead is very quiet, three years on I still notice the noise of traffic passing by. It's like the doors are ajar or a window's cracked open. And then there's the Bridgestone roar to contend with...

I remember all the magazine reports about how quiet the car was meant to be. I put it down to lazy journalism; just rehashing and accepting verbatim the press pack handout.

[The Doc]

Maybe your door need adjusting at the top? I have to say my golf has one of the quietest cabins I've ever had 

[am1w]

Maybe your door need adjusting at the top? I have to say my golf has one of the quietest cabins I've ever had 

Mine is the same. No wind noise even at speed and a very well insulated cabin except for tyre roar over some surfaces. Latter is very difficult to tame. My next car will have 17" wheels so the alloys will have to be cute like yours.

Be interesting to read your findings with 17" on Will's car. I can perfectly understand him wrt the tyre roar. I remember how irritated it made me.

[JonnyG]

Try different tyres

Michelin Pilot Exaltos or Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas
 
I'm not sure wheel size makes a huge difference .. the road noise with my current R (on 19"'s and Dunlop Sportmaxx GT's) is quieter than my Mk5 Gti (on 17" Continental Sport Contact II's) 

try getting a noise meter and compare the internal noise with other cars ... you may be surprised 

[am1w]

Will:

A great deal of the roar is coming through the front footwells and from the rear wheel arches. I found this slightly worse in a 3 door hatchback with the rear tyre roar. Perhaps some damping pads and sound absorption for the front footwells and behind/along the rear seat and on those wheel arches could help.

Doc's idea of swapping your rears for 17" should hopefully tame a bit of the noise - but you'll have to sit in the back with Doc in the front. (Doc in charge!). Do a db SPL (linear) measurement for the two situations. Pointless probably getting a weighted dbA reading IMO. BTW, you don't want to make your car too heavy.

Another port of call is Snoops, the Lube Emperor. I have a feeling that his extensive lubing and bunging up of all gaps has made his car as silent as a crypt. He has also made some aero mods to the undertray which again will tend to quieten things. All useful little bits.

One thing for sure: saloons like the C Class and 3 Series are quieter cars.

This is an interesting thread and the results of your experiments would be most informative.