Got a link to any instructions for rear sides removal in a combi?

On 28/05/2019 at 15:54, Ash007ks said:

 

how much was the full sound deadening and it looks like you running an after market speaker setup. is it noticeably different over the standard speakers.

 

yes makes a huge difference, 2000W RMS difference 

 

full sound deadening about £200 for materials all in and a good few dozen man hours,

I've had three Octavia 3's, all with torsion beam, and on 18's 17's and 16's, and various Continentals, Goodyears and Dunlops. All can be surprisingly noisy on some motorway surfaces. It's just the way they are. My solution to it is to take out our old Corolla Verso for some journeys after which the Octavia has the ambiance of a limo.

Edited 5 June, 20197 yr by HotVRs

When we first got our brand new mk2 1.9pd estate with 15 inch wheels in 2008 I was initially quite impressed with the low road noise, and really good handling, on most surfaces offered by the Dunlop SportMaxx (Australian roads use a quite a lot of course material in their surface). However the rear multi-link wheel alignment was out and the tyres soon developed a scallop that created so much unbearable road noise I was forced to change them even though only half worn.

The 15 inch  tyres were really expensive here at the time so the tyre dealer recommended a set of cheaper nondescript Yokohama that together with an alignment  fixed the noise problem although they never really matched the first impressions set by the old set for noise or handling.

 

Our present car a 2013 Octavia estate 1.4tsi with 17 inch tyres and much maligned rear torsion bar suspension again had the Dunlop SportsMaxx and to be honest they were very good throughout their 45k km life for noise and performance. Michelin Primacy replacements are also proving to be an excellent, reasonably priced replacement that are wearing well.

The car is lightly constructed and low on insulation so it does not take much to destroy the internal calm though. Tyre pressures are critical and when we first got the car I now remember having to chock the spare tyre with foam to fix some rear sourced rumbling on rougher surfaces.

Otherwise it is a very quiet cruiser for us and compares well with comparably priced cars and even some more expensive ones. If it wasn't we would not have retained it and really not sure what to replace it with. 

We took our UK friends around Tasmania in February (dirt roads, mountain roads, dual carriage highways) and they were sufficiently impressed by the experience to sell their Cayman and buy into the VW group GTI R when they got back to the UK. They operate on a different  income and performance level to us .

 

 

Have just returned from a road trip in France, nearly 1500 miles and very little road noise. My conclusion is that the French use a different kind of tarmac. On return to UK motorways, road noise much more intrusive. Anyone else experience this?

1 hour ago, vade04 said:

Have just returned from a road trip in France, nearly 1500 miles and very little road noise. My conclusion is that the French use a different kind of tarmac. On return to UK motorways, road noise much more intrusive. Anyone else experience this?

Every time we have come back from France since 2006 using Eurotunnel we comment on how ridiculously noisy the M20 is compared to all the French autoroutes, and how bad an impression this can create for visitors to the UK.

 

This isn't only in our Octavia but in our previous cars too (Audi A4 TDI, S4 and RS4).

It's like that in different cities and counties.

 

I drove in Wales a few years back and the difference was night and day.

My mk2 was noisy but if you want next level road noise try a yeti. Damn it noisy. Mines getting soundproofing in next week or so 

2 minutes ago, Mikek3111 said:

My mk2 was noisy but if you want next level road noise try a yeti. Damn it noisy. Mines getting soundproofing in next week or so 

 

I still have a Mk2 Octy, I've had two Yeti's and a Mk3 Octy.

 

The Mk3 Octy was the noisiest.

1 minute ago, logiclee said:

 

I still have a Mk2 Octy, I've had two Yeti's and a Mk3 Octy.

 

The Mk3 Octy was the noisiest.

Only test driven a mk3 and it was brand new and on decent roads. But Around here the roads aren’t great so road noise is awful. I use M11 a lot too and you can’t hold a conversation. Other than that I love my yeti just wish Skoda would have put in some soundproofing or even an attempt.

Agreed, road surface types make the biggest difference..........

 

I'm sure there are patches everywhere where you see a different road surface coming up and the difference in noise can be tremendous, and that is very noticeable even in my noisy PD.

A particular road near here (A453 iirc) has a patch of new tarmac on it and you get a few seconds of peace before the tyre roar begins again, Lol.

So, lack of sound proofing and 5hi77y road surfaces make for a noisy ride. Bit quieter than the T4 it replaced tho.

 

It'd be interesting to get a dB meter in there, if I had one..........

I agree road surfaces make the biggest difference. I live on the Welsh border and today I drove into Wales..... What Bliss. The A roads on my route from Hay on Wye > Builth Wells > Rhyader and beyond are fantastic surfaces compared heading East into Hereford, Worcester and Gloucestershire. After a drive on the English roads  the noise gets right up me!

To be honest I have driven all the current Skoda models there's only the Superb that I'd consider a refined motorway cruiser.

 

In fact I've driven every Skoda since they moved to being Front Engined as well as the 120 Estelle and 130 Rapid.

 

Things have moved on a lot but for me the MQB models have introduced further efficiency savings and loads of tech but Noise, Vibration and Harshness levels if anything are worse than the models they replaced. Also some of the weight saving is noticeable in the build.

 

As the VW and Audi models have managed to insulate their MQB cabins effectively this is down to Skoda bean counters.

 

VAG need to be careful, we have had Skoda's in the household for decades, we've been 100% VAG for well over a decade. But my Mk3 just didn't measure up for the money, not when I car share with Colleagues with cheaper Vauxhall Astra's that are smoother and quieter at speed.

 

Skoda's are not budget cars anymore, there's no excuse for the lack of refinement at this price point.

I'm sure my MK1 1.9tdi was quieter than the current 1.9tdi MK2 but thats mostly down to engine note, hard to say without driving them back to back but the MK1 was exceptional for its day and the MK2 does not seem so, if the MK3 has gone backwards then its really backwards because the competition has moved forwards.

 

The MK2 has plastic floorpan undertrays with metal shileds over them, what is the purpose of them? If its NVH then there must be something really bad to attenuate because the MK1 was whisper silent without them.

 

pain in the butt to jack up and place the car on stands with the plastic stuff.

1 hour ago, logiclee said:

As the VW and Audi models have managed to insulate their MQB cabins effectively this is down to Skoda bean counters.

 

You may well be right, but there could be something else.

 

For the sake of keeping my reply short about 6 weeks ago I considered changing my Octavia estate because of this very issue - I rarely carry a car full of people but on the occasions I do I stuggle to hold a conversation with the rear seat passengers - as already said, on anything but smooth roads, the car is loud.

 

I specifically chose the Octavia because of my lifestyle - the design of the boot is perfect. In fact it's so perfect that there's only one car that can compete - a Superb estate, but even then I couldn't find one with an adjustable floor. (std in my Octavia SE-L)  I looked at a number of cars and SUV's and nothing can touch the Octavia for practicality. A Passat was the closest rival but some DIY needed to bring it up to Octavia standard.

 

It got me thinking - why has the likes of A6, 5 series, V90 etc which are all much bigger cars have smaller / less practical bootspace? The answer is simple - it's because the Octavia is basically a shell back there.

 

So yes, I'm sure the bean counters are the major contributers to this road noise, but it might also be a design flaw. In their quest to create as much space as possible, which after all is the Octavia's forte, they might just have created another problem for themselves.

 

I gave up on the idea of changing the car because as I say, I can find anything better. The std Dunlop tyres have 7mm tread left in them (8 on rears) and are at correct pressure. The tyre also score well on noise so I'm not sure if it's them or not. I keep reading good things about cross climates - seems a shame to ditch the Dunlops but Costco currently selling Cross Climates in my size for £85 a corner - fully inc of fitting, valve etc.  Just wondering if it's worth a punt?

Edited 23 June, 20196 yr by Guest

9 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

 

It got me thinking - why has the likes of A6, 5 series, V90 etc which are all much bigger cars have smaller / less practical bootspace? The answer is simple - it's because the Octavia is basically a shell back there.

 

So yes, I'm sure the bean counters are the major contributers to this road noise, but it might also be a design flaw. In their quest to create as much space as possible, which after all is the Octavia's forte, they might just have created another problem for themselves.

 

Certainly has some effect. 

 

The A6 and 5 Series etc with Longitudinal platforms and potentially a saloon body should be able to offer better insulation.  I have an XF, it's a near 5 metre long car but the cabin space is less than the Mk3 Octavia and the boot is long but shallow. I can't get half the stuff in the XF that I could get in the Mk3.  But with the boot space being fully separated and insulated from the cabin you do not get any amplified noise. Although the space isn't great it weighs in at 1830kg.  So great refinement but a big hit on economy.

 

I still think the Mk3's biggest issue is with road noise being transmitted through the wheel arches and suspension.  Our Mk2 offers a big hatch area but doesn't suffer the same amount of road noise and doesn't have the crashy edge to the ride quality either.

24 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

 

 I keep reading good things about cross climates - seems a shame to ditch the Dunlops but Costco currently selling Cross Climates in my size for £85 a corner - fully inc of fitting, valve etc.  Just wondering if it's worth a punt?

 

I've got cross climates on the Mk2. Yes they are a quiet tyre and they are excellent all round but don't expect them to solve the noise on poor surfaces issues.

All vehicle design is a compromise and over 9 years I have chosen two generations of Octavia estates as the best compromise available to suit my needs at a price I was prepared to pay (in Australia)

The mk2 1.9pd was a stolid overall design and the mk3 1.4tsi is substantially lighter, has a larger interior, better performance, better crash safety and remarkable economy (especially for a petrol engine). 

Agreed that when you go around the mk3 it is obvious that there are very large areas of (undamped) very thin high tensile steel,  you can depress the roof with one finger (certainly no kids allowed up on top of the car at air displays unlike my youth).

Yet this basic shell is light enough to take a small engine, strong enough to take an engine and ancillaries over twice as powerful, flexible enough to allow fitment of AWD systems and still set class standards for internal capacity.

Unlike most I actually find my mk3 is quieter than my mk2 was in most road conditions, with most of the noise tyres/road surface related and booming/rumble issues only coming out on our really corrugated dirt roads, then the torsion bar rear suspension does not help at all.

This type of discussion can go on forever due to personal subjectivity and it is a pity we don't all have access to the necessary equipment to test our respective vehicles objectively. 

At the end of the day it does come down to personal satisfaction and I don't blame anyone getting a more satisfactory 'compromise' from another manufacturer if they can find one.

just to add the 1.9PD engine had tons of room for modification and power increases, the new CUPA/CUNA does not unfortunately.