Cabin noise ridiculously loud

[jack1997]

hey everyone I need massive help with my car. I drive a Ford Focus facelift model Style, with a peppy 1.6 diesel engine.

I recently did a drive from London to Cornwall and back. Everything was well, the car kept up very nicely on the motorway. However the cabin noise was so loud I felt like I was in a broken aeroplane.

When the road became smooth tarmac here and there, and the noise goes from unbearable to slightly less unbearable, it felt like a massive break on my soul, only until that smooth tarmac ends and its 100 miles more of shoddy motorway. This really isnt normal. Me and my girlfriend shouldn't have to shout at each other to communicate. I know the engine is gonna be loud in a 98bhp sitting at 3500 revs, but surely it cant be that bad. I

ts definitely more road noise than engine noise. I know the tyres are not all matching and are in different makes with different treads, and may be even cheap (my dad replaced them at cheap tyre shops) - but would replacing them with spanking Michelin tyres even make much of a difference? I also made sure the tyres were niether over nor under inflated. Is it worth having a look at the tyres?

I have heard complaints of my ford model having road noise issues being louder than most cars but this is far too loud. How difficult would it be to install sound deadening pads on the car doors (for someone like me who has no experience in opening up cars and is 18 years old) and how much of a difference would it make?

Thank you

[williamweb]

Hi,jack.why not try sound deadening the boot first and see how it goes.Easy job and straight forward to remove the boot and arch linings.

Sent from my iPad using Ford OC

[Ryan_Tango]

At 3500k you will hear a lot of noise, try sound deadening your boot as said if that's not great move onto wheel arches bonnet and your floor underneath your carpet, you're looking at about £85 for a full kit.

[Ryan_Tango]

http://www.silentcoat.co.uk/collections/silent-coat/products/silent-coat-2mm-deadening-mat

[TomsFocus]

Its normal, road noise is horrific in them.  You can't talk to passengers at anything over 60, and if you're doing 3500rpm that's considerably more than 60 lol.  My tyres have a low decibel rating as well, made no difference.

Sound deadening would be the way to go I think, but I'm not sure where most of the noise comes from, probably the boot area tbh.  There is also a lot of engine noise at 75+ though.  It just doesn't compare to my quiet old Golf.  

[jack1997]

2 hours ago, Ryan_Tango said:

At 3500k you will hear a lot of noise, try sound deadening your boot as said if that's not great move onto wheel arches bonnet and your floor underneath your carpet, you're looking at about £85 for a full kit.

how difficult would it be to install? is there such thing as professional sound deadening installers because im worried ill mess up my car lol

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Its normal, road noise is horrific in them.  You can't talk to passengers at anything over 60, and if you're doing 3500rpm that's considerably more than 60 lol.  My tyres have a low decibel rating as well, made no difference.

Sound deadening would be the way to go I think, but I'm not sure where most of the noise comes from, probably the boot area tbh.  There is also a lot of engine noise at 75+ though.  It just doesn't compare to my quiet old Golf.  

oh woops i meant 2500-3000 sometimes 3500. but yes even at 2500 its terrible. im worried sound deadening would make little to no difference :(

[Ryan_Tango]

50 minutes ago, jack1997 said:

how difficult would it be to install? is there such thing as professional sound deadening installers because im worried ill mess up my car lol

oh woops i meant 2500-3000 sometimes 3500. but yes even at 2500 its terrible. im worried sound deadening would make little to no difference :(

Have a look around on google for automotive installers, even locally some garages will do it for you but it will be costly, doing it yourself will be better just take your time and do it in sections rather than stripping out the whole car, it's a big job but it will make a huge difference.

[jeebowhite]

tyres also play a large part in the volume of road noise, along with wind. Check if you have any engine bay (bonnet) sound proofing and an engine undertray.

[mjt]

The latter two items have more to do with controlling the sound level outside the car though they'll probably make a marginal difference inside. The bonnet liner might cut down the drumming being transmitted through the body a bit. The Mk2.5 is definitely pretty bad for both road and wind noise. Michelin Primacys are original-fitted to mine and seem pretty noisy on all except the smoothest surfaces. Wind noise is much greater than on my old Mk1.5 and on my Mk3.0. I don't think sound deadening kits will have much effect on wind noise.

[FatHead1979]

Wind noise on my MK2 saloon for the wing mirror area is bluuddy AWEFUL, especially when it really windy or I'm giving the turbo a run out 

[SeanW]

The plastic trim around the wing mirrors is probably at least partly to blame. I did once remove them, fiddled with the clips and put it back on. Nice and quiet for a few days lol

I keep meaning to get around to trying to sort it out lol

Then again...why bother...I frequently commute on one of loudest road surfaces in the UK lol

[jeebowhite]

the M25 most certainly is up there for that prize Sean. bleedin awful road, my kids could do a better job!!!

[SeanW]

A180 is worse - believe me!!

The road noise can be heard miles away!! 

It's to do with the way they laid the concrete - they put the drainage grooves in straight across the road, whereas they should have angled them lol

[Dee_82]

I'll raise your a180 with the whole of Scotland, Scotlands answer to slowing cars down is just  leave the roads until they turn back to gravel tracks

I added sound proofing to the boot and rear arches as well as under the bonnet and rear seats, it did make a small difference but not much, I suspect its the doors, floor or perhaps the bulkhead between you and the engine

[artscot79]

I must have a super quiet one then under bonnet sound deadening engine undertray then fully waxoyl undersealed then lifted the carpets and used what ford use use on the mk3 and above 10mm waterproof foam underlay removed the spare wheel and used it as a template cut 7 foam circles glued them together and attached to the boot liner to fill the cavity and sound deadened the doors under the rear seats and rear inside of the boot .not all in a oner that's been over time still get wind noise though