I have an 08 Octavia estate, purchsed the same time as my wife's Qashqai. I found the Octavia much noisy than her Nissan. I borrowed a sound metter and drove the same stretches of road at the same speed and found the Octavia to be twice as noisy as her car. Armed with this knowledge I went to the dealers and borrowed a matching (engine and body) Octavia and repeated the measurements. The 2 octys were the same. Both cars had dunlop tyres.

Does anyone with different tyres find the road noise not to be a problem?

Hunt around the forum and you will find endless threads about which tyres are the quietest.

I've noticed with mine that as the tyres are approaching the end of their life they get even noisier, especially on really coarse road surfaces.

A couple of months ago I had a courtesy Octy Ambiente 1.9TDi with the 15" Helios wheels that seemed much quieter than mine (Elegance 1.9TDi on 16" Vega) but that could have been the newer tyre effect.

I get used to the noise until, like you, I drive swmbo's car.

Edited 30 April, 200917 yr by eccleshill
typo correction

Yes. I'm concious I've said this many times, but I found the Michelin Primacy HPs to be very quiet compared to the Bridgestones my car originally came with. When I took my car in for warranty work at about 11k miles on the clock when it still had Bridgestones on, they even swapped the full set of wheels for a set with Michelins on so they could listen more easilly for one of the problems I was reporting. They said they didn't stand a chance trying to hear problems with the roar from the Bridgestones. I don't have first hand experiance of the Dunlops though, but it could be a similar situation.

I changed the tyres of my octavia RS and saw the internal noise going down by 2dB(A).

Here is the list of quitest tyres tested by dutch GOVT. Mine is on Falken Ziex 225/40 R18.

http://www.stillerverkeer.nl/stillebanden/downloads/nationaal_bandenlijst.pdf

What tyres is the Cashcow on? You genuinely can get several dB different noise level at the same speed, on the same road, just by changing tyre make.

Mind you, I'd want to know that the comparison test was done at the same speed (measured by stopwatch against landmarks) in a comparable roadspeed gear.

What I will say on the Octy II is for a huge drop in noticeable road noise, put some dynamat extreme or similar sound proofing in the spare wheel well, boot floor, rear arches and under the rear bench.

Huge difference in noise levels IMHO.

I have an 08 Octavia estate, purchsed the same time as my wife's Qashqai. I found the Octavia much noisy than her Nissan. I borrowed a sound metter and drove the same stretches of road at the same speed and found the Octavia to be twice as noisy as her car. Armed with this knowledge I went to the dealers and borrowed a matching (engine and body) Octavia and repeated the measurements. The 2 octys were the same. Both cars had dunlop tyres.

Does anyone with different tyres find the road noise not to be a problem?

Agree that the road noise is louder than previous car (Volvo V50 estate) but I can live with it.

Just had all 4 tyres replaced by the dealer from Dunlop to Conti and notice a considerable improvement. Maybe it's the tyres ??

What I will say on the Octy II is for a huge drop in noticeable road noise, put some dynamat extreme or similar sound proofing in the spare wheel well, boot floor, rear arches and under the rear bench.

Huge difference in noise levels IMHO.

Very sound advice I have done something similar.

As for tyres; my current Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas are quite a bit noisier than my previous Michelin Pilot Exalto 2s; but I prefer the grip/handling characteristics of the Ultracs so am preparedd to put up with the extra noise.

Another mention for increased noise levels when the tyres wear down. My fronts are approaching the end and have become considerably louder.

Dunlops are very bad for noise.

What I will say on the Octy II is for a huge drop in noticeable road noise, put some dynamat extreme or similar sound proofing in the spare wheel well, boot floor, rear arches and under the rear bench.

Huge difference in noise levels IMHO.

on the rear bench does the dynamat go under the carpet? (havent checked if the carpet is stuck down but I seem to remember one of my cars had this)

on the rear bench does the dynamat go under the carpet? (havent checked if the carpet is stuck down but I seem to remember one of my cars had this)

Flip the rear seat bench forward and the carpet lifts easily enough that you can get a significant coverage of dynamat over the fuel tank area. Cuts down on a lot of drumming noise.

thanks cheezemonkhai, I might invest in some of this rather than the heavy spare underlay I was thinking of using!

thanks cheezemonkhai, I might invest in some of this rather than the heavy spare underlay I was thinking of using!

If you have the underlay kicking around it won't hurt to give it a go first, however it might be a bit thick and foul the bench from pushing down and also might not stop resonance as it won't be adhered to the panels.

Worth putting a cut out in the base of the spare wheel well and under the boot carpet if you can though