How to eliminate road noise over 60mph?

[yukwan]

I have a 2000 protege ES. i like everything about my car, good accerlation, great stability & great suspension. Handling is so great that i can drift when going down on freeway ramp & the steering is & suspension is so sharp that even when the car loses controlled under hard braking during cornering, you can still bring it back to straightline. Everything is great. But my big problem with my car is, when it goes over about 60mph, road noise start getting loud. At 80mph, road noise is so annoying that i have to turn my stereo and subwoofer all the way up. I guess it's my tires that are making noise rather than just wind noise. Engine noise is pretty loud too as it rev @4000rpm @80mph in 5th gear. Is there anyway to get rid of these noise? I heard you can put sound isolating mat inside doors and on the floor to get rid of these noise. But i don't know how to install them and know where the noise exactly comes in from. From the doors? the trunk through the backseats? the floor? the roof? or from the windows? If you were to fix it, what would you recommand? I'm new to this board. I saw a lot of posting about all other stuff, but not one about getting rid of road noise. i have heard lots of people have been complaining about road noise inside protege. I really want to listen to my music when i'm driving 120mph downhill, please help!

[kickniteasy]

Protegeclub as an organization does no recomend driving 120 mph downhill in any car you want to keep more than a few years.............that and it's unsafe. That being said, I know exactly what your talking about. I think "the man" decided to make our engines that loud to reduce speeding. I know I can't get about 85 before the engine drowns out my music and becomes annoying. Sorry I'm no help on the subject, just agreeing with you that the noise sucks. Damn the man.............save the empire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sir nuke]

you can use insulating material like dynamat and insulate your floor, doors, and trunk area....this will make it quieter.......beware that the material is thick and heavy...thus making your ride SLOWER.


another suggestion is invest the money in a more powerful sound system and just CRANK IT UP!!

:{D

[CoryJac0b]

dont you mean CLUBprotege not protegeclub....

[Dermen]

Originally posted by kickniteasy
Protegeclub

Its time to break out the pitch forks and torches.

Where is the townspeople with torches smiley when you need it?

[03MSP]

is it engine or tire noise, because I've had tires on my old car that when I hit 65 the noise was BAD.

[Lil Freek]

my buddy has ZR tires on his prelude and says that once he goes over 100kmh (about 60mph) it gets pretty noisy...

[N2OInferno]

Originally posted by sir nuke
another suggestion is invest the money in a more powerful sound system and just CRANK IT UP!!

[blue LEDz]

contrary to popular belief, sheet metal dampeners like dynamat won't really reduce road noise. they are designed to keep the metal from vibrating, and a minute amount of noise out. for it to really be useful in getting rid of road noise, you'd need 4+ layers of it, and it gets expensive. the cheapest and easiest way to get rid of road noise is to use one layer of dynamat extreme, or similar but cheaper alternative, and use a layer of carpet padding over it. the dynamat will serve to reduce vibrations and seal up everything you cover. the carpet padding is what really absorbs to sound. one of the biggest differences between a cheaper car and an expensive one is the amount of insulation under the carpet. compared to my car, my uncles lexus has 2-3 times the insulations as mine you'll want to do the firewall, floor, and doors. the trunk is not really a necessity, since the sound has to go through the rear seat anyways

[bruce95fmla]

this guy right here....
It's posts like this..

OK just imagine how quite it is in a cell .. cause that's where you will be when you get cought going 120 mph..

Keep it legal man!!!!

[charles]

Make sure your tires are rotated and balanced, in good shape, and your alignment is correct.

The 2000 model does not have as much sound dampening as the 2001+ models, which in turn makes it a lighter, better handling car.

Edit: I see you're in Irvine, do you mean when going downhill on the I-5 or what?

[yukwan]

carpet sounds like a good idea and carpet sounds cheaper too.....

I guess the noise mostly comes from my tires, when the road is good it would be quiter... my tires are 205/50/15 V rated, they are 5 months old, i'll properly get some better tires when they eventually wear out, anyone know any quiet and good grip tires at reasonable price?

I think protege has poor sound isolation for a reason... mazda enginners want protege drivers to "feel" the road by putting stiff suspension, feedback steering and poor sound isolation in a sport compact car....

[zerocover]

mazda enginners want protege drivers to "feel" the road by putting stiff suspension, feedback steering and poor sound isolation in a sport compact car....

I think yukwan is on to something.
Or they were just cheap...

Still the noise is really bad I have to have my tunes cranked almost all the way up when I hit 80, the noise is pretty bad. Ill probubly dynamat a handfull of stuff to stop the rattling and the rest goes into a better sound system.

[MisterT]

Don't drive over 60. I took my rear deck out (the plastic piece) because the subs were making it rattle so bad. The stereo sounds better, but the road noise has gotten worse. It rained the other day and sounded like one of the windows was cracked open a little. So now I have increased roadnoise.