I have been spending some time to assess the excessive road noise in my 2.2d.


I decided not to go down the route of changing tyres, but to look at panel insulation, or lack of it !


As the diesel version has extra front bulkhead insulation, I decided to look at the rear end, as this is where most of the road noise is coming from.
Rear hubs are fine, so I did a few tests first.


I removed the rear seats, both lower and back, then drove the car.
I was shocked at how loud the rear tyre roar was, it sounded like both rear doors were open by several inches, as well as i could clearly hear the sloshing of the fuel in the tank !


As the rear seats are fixed, no fold down, i first completely covered behind the upper back seat with 10mm thickness closed cell dense foam (dodomat), also done the same under the seat, and left a small square uncovered around the 2 floor hooks, i also made sure i covered the front wheel arches that are behind the seat sides.
I also covered the rear floor from the back footwell that rises vertically up to the rear seat, so that the floor plinth for the rear seat is closed in, so to speak.


After installing the seats back in, i took the car on the same run as before.
The difference is night and day !


I am now going to sort out the boot, and then move on to improving the front, and also possibly doors.


BTW in the boot, there are 3 or 4 threaded bolt holes around the top front of the wheel well, as i bought the car without any fixings in them, are the fixings that hold the front boot carpet to these holes use plastic screws or something else ?


Thanks,
Paul.

 

I was a little surprised at the road noise in the cabin too. Moving from a 2011 VW Jetta to a my X-type, it is considerably louder.

I've read on other forums about taking the door panels apart and adding sound insulation in there too. Might be the next step for you if you want to take it to a further level.

Good luck!

 

My next step is to line the insides of the wheel arch liners, that should cut down the road noise as well.
The door panels may well come in to focus after that.

Regarding the boot carpet, what fixtures does it use in those 3 holes ?




Paul.

 

Where are the holes, exactly? perhaps a pic would help?