Mk 7 gti - basic spec sound system

[steve12345]

Took my gti on its first long motorway trip. 2 ish hours up the M1 & m6.

Anyways, inside the car at motor way speeds is noisy. But then again pretty all my previous cars are too. I just used to drown out that noise with music!

The basic soundsystem is pretty poor, I actually found it quite fatiguing to the ears and had to switch off. I played about with the bass/terrible controls but couldn’t find a sweet spot.

I’ve never wanted or had upgraded speaker systems before,and I don’t particularly want that now. I’m wondering though if anyone has used the door sound deadening stuff in a gti? And has it reduced general road noise in the car? Would this be a cheap/simple upgrade to quieten the cabin and reduce the need for loud music volumes on motorway? Or will it be a waste of time?

[Gnasher]

It would definitely help, but would be quite a big job to do it properly on what seems to be an already quite well sound proofed car.

Never had an issue with road noise on mine and I've got aftermarket 19s and a Milltek exhaust (although I do have the Dynaudio option)

Another option is tyres - it might be worth looking into some of the quieter ones - they've all got noise levels and there are tyres out there with lower noise ratings than the standard ones. If you're looking at them, remember the db scale is logarithmic so a 3db drop in noise is the same as halving the amount of noise generated by the tyres.

Just had a quick look on Camskill Tyres and the quietest rated tyres (in 18") are the Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 3 (which I have in 19" and think they're great)

Changing the tyres might be a better bet although you'll need to wait until your's are due replacement if you don't want to waste too much money.

[steve12345]

Thanks Gnasher,

I hadn't thought of the tyres. I will look into some quieter tyres when they are due to be replaced.

The more I looked into sound deadending the more I thought I'd be opening a can of warms leading to unnecessary speaker upgrades and stuff like that too.

I tended to drive without music these days anyways, I'm still enjoying the sound of the engine and the DSG noises. the pops and bangs are not super loud and in your face but they are there if you listen closely!

[veesix]

Just got a mk 7.5 GTI PP and like you I find the sound a bit harsh and can’t find a treble/ bass setting that helps.

It seems the tweeters in the A pillars are particularly harsh. I had a mk7 R before and don’t remember it sounding so harsh, so wonder if there was a bit of penny pinching going on at Vw for the facelift with cheaper speakers used?

I’m now looking at some aftermarket options, narrowed it down to either Alpine, Kicker or spending a bit more and getting  Audison components.