I just purchased a new Z Turing Ed. Lots of fun to drive, but lots of road noise. Is this evidence that the tires will feather or is the car poorly insulated from road noise? I believe it's the former. Anyone else experience this with under 200 miles on the car? One can only tell so much from a road test. You need to live with the car for a few days to understand some of the idiosyncrasies. Does the aglinment help? How about suspension/wheel/tire mods. The car has the stock 18s now. I have to check the tire brand. Maybe they are contributing to this.

 

maybe you are still getting used to the Z..

 

I've always been impressed with how little road noise there is -- and I have a roadster.

 

probably not feathering with so low miles....i would make sure that your car's autowindows are functioning properly. in other words, make sure that when you close your door, your windows are creating a good seal. i think some have found that the windows dont go up all the way when they close their doors

 

350z=sports car which usually means they dont insulate it too well for weight... im sure you are well aware but only reminding...

 

From day one I noticed different amounts of noise based on road surface. On flat tarmac it's quiet as a mouse, concrete with the grooves cut in on the other hand can be quite loud. Although none of it is unbearable or anything.

I believe most of it is coming from the back of the car.
I've been under the Z and there is no sound deadening under there. There is also a heat shield (very thin) under the trunk that probably vibrates nosily right above the muffler.

The next problem is the big open trunk area with hard plastics, lots of echos and amplification of little sounds.

For a real shocker, tap the metal on the trunk wall to the rear where the spare tire is and the back 10" or so on the trunk floor, it's noise waiting to happen there.

Chris

 

A few of us had a pretty good discussion recently about noise in the Z and what can be done about it. (over in the Audio/Video forum) We came to the conclusion that a very large portion of the noise (if not most of it) comes from the rear wheel wells.

The main area in question can be found if you open up the glove box behind the passenger seat, or pop off the cover in the same area behind the driver. At that point you'll be looking at the un-insulate metal of the wheel well. *Tons* of noise comes in there, especially in the rain when lots of water is hitting the wheel wells from tire spray.

The one fellow who was doing lots of testing found that substantally insulating that area helped a lot. He actually put more underbody coating on the exterior portion of the wheel well (on the outside), in addition to various forms of deading and noise damping material on the inside of the car in those areas. It helped a huge amount.

I'd have to agree. I have a substantial stereo system, and the entire trunk of my car is now made up of a false floor, with amps and a sub in it. That enclosed area will silence just about any sound trying to come through from the outside. We also covered the entire interior of the car (from the doors all the way back) with Brown Bread (similar to Dynamat Extreme). The only places we didn't cover were in those rear wheel well areas behind the seats, and now that's about the only place any serious noise comes through. And it's a ton of noise.

 

I agree that's is VERY unlikely you're feathering yet w/such few miles. There is quite a bit of road noise in the Z.

You could try try lining inside of the doors and trunk materials like w/Dynamat Extreme, RAAMmat or Brown Bead. Personally, I did line my trunk, spare tire well and a some in the empty glove box hole behind the driver's seat (where the Bose sub would go if I had one) w/RAAMmat but I found no meausrable improvement w/my sound pressure meter. I haven't done the doors yet.

Fortunately, I've moved to Cali now and the highways here aren't quite as loud as in WA state. However, some of them here are really rough and in bad shape.

 

Yeah, it seems as though most of the sound is coming from the rear wheel wells. I also do hear some air, so I will have the dealer check the window seals. I will probably instal Dynamat in a few areas including the doors, floor and rear wells.

As for the feathering issue. If feathering is happening because of poor aglinment, it more than likely happens from day one. The tire scrubbing takes time for wear to show.

A neighbor of mine, 17 year old kid, has followed Zs and their production since he was about five. He came over with his eyes poppong out when he saw my car. He said he read that the aglinment isse may occur when the cars are transported. It has been suggested that when the cars are harnessed to the carriers, the aglinment is thrown off. I suspect it's a poor camber setup. I am going to ask my cousin. He own a shop called Tire Empire. He sells a few million dollars inj tire and wheels a year. In addition he has an excellent wheel aglinment crew with the best equipment. He does most of the aglinment s for local dealers. I'll see what he has to say and report back.

 

Its the OEM tires that suck. I had a little bit of feathering. But since I put on different tires the feathering doesnt exist. Also its quiet coming to a stop. Unlike the OEM which were loud. I never had a alignment fix.

 

I bought my '03 Track w/4k miles on it, and could tell the stock RE040s were feathering (by sound and feeling the tread).

Anyway, at 6K miles I installed Yoko AVS ES100s on the stock 18" Rays and expected to have a quiet car. WRONG! Wasn't much quieter (nor has it got much noisier now at 13K miles).

The Z (at least the Track) is just not a very quiet car, period. Well, that's MHO. If quiet is what you want, hmmm...

 

I didn't expect Mercedes quality, but I didn't expect the amout of road noise it has. Not unbearable, but it could be better. I bought the coupe because I figured the roadster would exhibit more road noise. I guess I'll have to put some sound deadening in myself. I think it would make the car that much better.

 

When my car was stripped down. I drove around with it like that for a week or two. The primary area of road noise is right behing the seats. I put only the plastics that cover that area back and it got quiet again.

That is the place I targeted the most with dynamat and there is a ton of it in my car.

 

I don't have any problems with road noise....maybe I am just used to it...But I didn't think it was no more noise than any other car I have driven (not including large luxury sedans like the Benz E class)

 

FWIW, I actually think that road noise is quieter in my Z than in my Ford Escape.

I think "road noise" had a lot to do with the actual roads. Occassionally I'll hit a stretch of road that will practically make the car run silently. Then there are stretches of highway where it really drones. But in rain around here, it's really not bad at all since the roads are nice.

But given that the car only has room for 2 people, I wouldn't expect it to be very quiet. The only quiet 2-seater I know is this.

 

Yeah, when I saw this thread, I wondered, "The Z has a lot of road noise compared to what? A Buick?" It's quieter than my Ford Ranger, and it's like a vault compared to the Cobra. It's not as quiet as my Pathfinder was, but it does compare favorably with the Maximas I've owned. I'm going to have to borrow cars from my neighbors and do some tests!

 

What type of car did you go from to the Z? It's pretty likely that it's a relative thing. If your former car was a softly sprung sedan or SUV then the Z is going to be a little jarring at first. When I got mine I was going from a GLE Maxima. Driving the Z home, I realized just how soft the Maxima suspension was compared to it. I wouldn't call it "harsh", just "connected"

 

Hey greg, We are twins. I live in new mexico also, have a cs 03 track with 14,000 miles and nismo exhaust. Just thought id let ya know. lol. hope I see ya around some day. BEN

 

I still have my Tahoe for bad weather driving. I always thought that was a bit loud for highway driving, but the Z may be more so. As I said I wasn't looking for Mercedes quiet, but I thought it would be better insulated. I am having Dynomat added when they do my stereo system.

Say is that you on the tandem? I do a lot of road riding and some club racing. Another reason why I am keeping the Tahoe. It's perfect for bike transport. I have an internal rack for my bikes. They get to where they're going, clean and secure. Who makes that tandem? It looks like a cross bike.

 

All you people who say the Z is quieter than all your other cars... are you running wider and/or softer tires than stock? I'm running a 255/275 combo that has a 220 tread rating. These things are *loud* on certain types of freeway. Granted, there are definitely some types of road that are much louder than others. When I get up into the bay area to visit family and friends, there is a stretch of 880 up there that's virtually silent. However, down here in central California where I live there are sections of 101 that make it hard to here the stereo.

I used to have a Toyota Tacoma pickup, and I'll admit that thing had much more *wind* noise. You could hear the window just pelting the windshield and front of the car. Pretty common in trucks and SUVs, since the things are so un-aerodynamic. My Z, while having much less wind noise, has far more road/tire noise. It's a different sound, and is more dependent on road type. My Tacoma's noise was more dependent on speed.