[JPC Moose]

Since this is our first BMW, I'm not sure if it is normal tohear road noise so loud that to drown it out we have to turn the music up. 328I Sport

[ES_TRADER]

I drove. 328i non sport loaner earlier this week. Drove for about 300 miles and noticed this car definitely has more road noise than previous versions. It could be from their tyre choice. Heard buzzing here and there and some wind noise as well.

[wtmeyer]

Define what you mean by "road noise". Is it wind noise, or is it coming from the tires/suspension?

[JPC Moose]

Originally Posted by wtmeyer

Define what you mean by "road noise". Is it wind noise, or is it coming from the tires/suspension?

Definately not wind noise it almost seems like there is no sound insulation in the floor pan. The passenger side of the car upper floor board is the main source. The sound is comming from the tires. All I can say is that my 2003 Chevy Z71 has a quieter cabin.

[tmehanna]

F30 is a noisy car if my 335i is anything to judge by. Road, engine and wind noises are indeed excessive compared to a C class MB or the Audi A4.

[yannisap]

It's very noisy, I am waiting my f30 320d to arrive and this was a hard decision to make. After I made a trip to Germany and rented one for many days, i made a pros and cons list vs CC and I must say it was a very close call. I have a VW CC and this was at the top list of disadvantages vs CC.

[dude987]

I test drove both the 2012 328i and a 335i prior to the 2013 purchase. Gotta say that the intrusive road roar and wind noise was almost a deal breaker. I thought it was much more intrusive and noisy than the 2006 330i sedan I had previously. Not sure what changed but the 2013 335i does not seem as intrusive as the 2012 beemers I test drove.

[Radari216]

There was a discussion on this topic on another forum and the concensus was that the F30 is a quieter car than the E90 was and that road and wind noise are not excessive for this class of automobile. .

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...oad+wind+noise

[JOHNBMWM5]

For all your information, BMW have fixs for this problem, the front windscreen trim is one fix, and new door seals is the other, BMW know about this and should fix your cars, I have driven 3 F30's so far and have the F31 328i on loan and NONE make this noise and are quiet all these cars are less than 2 weeks old, so the new batches are good and quiet.

[CKau]

I found what i think is the cause of the excessive road noise and why it can only be heard on one side of the car. It is a massive uncovered hole in the side of the suspension strut tower.

I wrote a detailed description with pix on how i went about reducing the road roar, but posted it in the wind noise thread. It probably better belongs here, so i am re-posting.

At the end of the day, this issue also results in simething that sounds like excessive wind noise as well as tyre roar.

http://www.f30post.com/forums/showth...781339&page=12

As the hole is in the left front tower it might explain why most complaints are from right hand drive cars (ie steering wheel on the right) than the left.... And possibly why BMW did not discover this in testing as they use left hand drive in Germany

[CKau]

OMFG… f… me dead! I’ve cracked it!!

I just returned from my test drive and the DARN SOLUTION WORKED!!! When the road surfaces changes, there is a SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTION in the change in noise level between smooth tarmac and coarse chipped surfaces!! I am sooo happy!!

Here’s some photos of the condensed wool material that I purchased from the hardware store. It is self adhesive, but I left the backing paper on. I cut a 11cm x 11cm square piece and a slit so that it shrouds the metal bar.





This photo is taken inside the left front wheel well. You can see the rear side of the backing paper. I have no idea what this metal bar does, so chose to leave the padding “free floating” in case this metal bar needs freedom to move.



After multiple failed attempts to feed the piece from the engine bay, I fed the square piece through the hole from the wheel well side. My hand is too big to attempt a good fit from the engine compartment.

This is the view from the engine bay. I fed the pad behind the plastic box.



I also used this material to cover the gap between the dash on the interior of the car and the windshield.

Took a test drive and could not BELIEVE the difference!!! This material was also significantly better than stuffing a sock in the hole in reducing the road roar.

So in conclusion, this solution reduces both roar from coarse surfaces, but I’ve also noticed it reduces general wind noise – presumably caused by the alloys spinning.

Unfortunately what this means is the road roar has been eliminated to the point where I can now hear the wind wooshing sound that everyone is complaining about! Not sure what to do about this other than obtaining some thinsulate & covering the area below.



I want to acknowledge the post
http://www.f30post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=792508 for the photo.

Anyway, I am happy that at least the car is now as quiet as a Kia. Not quite Hyundai, VW or MB hush quiet, but getting there.
I’m going to celebrate & bask in this victory!!

[CKau]

Hmmm... looking now at the photo inside the wheel well, I noticed that BMW did not spray all of the exposed metal with the rubberised sound insulator.

I can clearly see a horizontal strip that they have missed. I think is another opportunity to improve the results that I achieved.

[Isow]

Thanks for all your effort, trying to reduce road noise.
Just one thought, maybe that hole in the suspension turret is there to let air in to cool something !
I am not saying I am right, it is just a thought.

[martyp]

LOL... you know you're a die hard BMW fan when you take "reducing road and wind noise" issues into your own hands. You guys don't think the manufacturer should be fixing these problems instead of us? If you think I'm going to be crawling on my hands and knees to reduce wind noise in my car... If I was BMW, I'd be embarrassed to sit back and watch my customers find ways to fix themselves what should have been non existent from the factory to begin with. Just sayin' ... I have 100% more road noise in my F30 than I had in my E90. Needless to say I'll be shopping around when I'm ready to switch vehicles next time. I should have paid more attention to this when purchasing my current F30.

[phx08]

Good job on that tutorial!

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by JPC Moose

Definately not wind noise it almost seems like there is no sound insulation in the floor pan. The passenger side of the car upper floor board is the main source. The sound is comming from the tires. All I can say is that my 2003 Chevy Z71 has a quieter cabin.

Par for the course with this new F30.

Tires do make a difference, but there will still be more than wanted "road noise" and I too think it's due to limiting the level of sound insulation/damping due to trying to keep the weight down while making the car bigger.
Likely less insulation around wheel wells and floor, and/or thinner windows and sunroof.

The louder sounds in my 335i Msport also sound like they are all around and more so from the rear and passenger side, but that's likely due to where we sit when driving. Sit as a passenger and you'll hear it on the drivers side and rear still.
And, on concrete roads the sound level is the worst, directly related to tires.

Yes, turn the radio up and enjoy a better experience, that's what I do.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by johnbmw6

For all your information, BMW have fixs for this problem, the front windscreen trim is one fix, and new door seals is the other, BMW know about this and should fix your cars, I have driven 3 F30's so far and have the F31 328i on loan and NONE make this noise and are quiet all these cars are less than 2 weeks old, so the new batches are good and quiet.

I've heard of these fixes for the wind noise issues, but I don't have any wind noise.
Do those fixes also fix the road noise sounds?
If so, my next dealer visit will include a request to get those items corrected.

[Dan_335i]

doesnt matter to me because i crank my tunes up
if i wanted a quiet car ill go for lexus but i picked a sports sedan so i expect it would be loud.

[m2michael23]

Originally Posted by ES_TRADER

I drove. 328i non sport loaner earlier this week. Drove for about 300 miles and noticed this car definitely has more road noise than previous versions. It could be from their tyre choice. Heard buzzing here and there and some wind noise as well.

Having a loaner right now... it's a base 328i... shits in every single way... wind noise, steering, etc.

I didn't not know there are BMW actually worse than Toyota...

[hanizh]

The Run Flat tires are more noisy than normal tires + there is a wind noise higher level than average car, this is what all guys are saying around, get used to it )

[Frogman]

Originally Posted by CKau

OMFG… f… me dead! I’ve cracked it!!

...

I also used this material to cover the gap between the dash on the interior of the car and the windshield.

Can you post some pictures of what you did between the top of the dash and inside of the windshield?

I don't see a gap here on my car.

Did this or the wheel well mod provide the most improvement?

Thanks for posting this! I too have noticed that the "wind noise" seems to increase (and decrease) based one the road conditions and never correlated it with road noise. Nice work!

[TonyS]

Originally Posted by CKau

OMFG… f… me dead! I’ve cracked it!!

I just returned from my test drive and the DARN SOLUTION WORKED!!!

Having checked my own car I can see exactly what you mean - that doesn't look right at all. Apart from the noise issue, surely all sorts of muck/water could get into the engine bay through that big hole?

Did you take the wheel off to get the soundproofing into place - it looks quite tricky to get to from either side?

Also, you said you left the backing paper on the adhesive side, so how exactly did you get it to stay in place?