Hi,

    I’ve just taken delivery of a 21 registered Superb 1.5 tsi Sel. Overall I’m very happy with it apart from one issue... excessive road and tyre noise. This really takes the shine off the car for me. My previous car was a Golf estate, which I still own, and jumping from one into the other for comparison shows just how much noisier the Skoda is. The 1.5 petrol engine is very smooth and quiet so no issues there but tyre roar and other road noises make a considerable racket.

   It has 18” zenith wheels and is fitted with Continental tyres. I did drive one last year and found the road and tyre noise to be very intrusive, making it a less than relaxing driving experience. This was fitted with Continental tyres and things improved slightly when they were swapped for Pirellis.

     It would be an expense to swap tyres which are almost new, (500 miles), so I am reluctant to go down this route.

     I would be interested to know if any other Superb owners have found this to be a problem, and if anyone has any suggestions of solutions.

        Many thanks, Gary.

?

Since collecting the car have you checked the tyre pressures, and tried adjusting them up or down with a few PSI to see if that made any difference.

& reset the TPMS.

 

The tyres are really just scrubbing in now at 500 miles and there might be a slight difference once they wear a bit more.

Known problem, I have done whole car noise insulation. Today I would choose Kodiaq, it has far better road noise insulation. Here is a Superb noise thread: 

 

Edited 8 March, 20215 yr by Paikesejanku

I have the same car, in estate version. Love it.

can’t say I’ve noticed loud road noise 

just turn the radio up

Mine feels pretty quiet so maybe it's just relative to what else you compare to.  I came from a 2006 Vectra to my Superb so maybe that was just noisier. 

Edit: Mine is on Continentals all round too. 

Edited 8 March, 20215 yr by DB72
Tyre comment added.

I’ve only had the car a week so, not checked or adjusted the tyre pressures yet. I’ll give it a try. If it doesn’t work I’ll look at extra insulation.

    Thanks to everyone who replied.

Of course the noise is very dependent on the road surface. On rough tarmac it is very loud. When the tarmac is smooth, the wind noise from side windows will disturb instead. Luckily skoda offers noise reducing side windows for new models.

2 hours ago, Kinsycat said:

I’ve only had the car a week so, not checked or adjusted the tyre pressures yet. I’ll give it a try. If it doesn’t work I’ll look at extra insulation.

    Thanks to everyone who replied.

You're not alone as the number of 'how to sound insulate your superb' posts there are. You get used to it and the lack of complaints from my kids on long journeys makea me think it's more a tone than volume issue. I did spend my first month checking the rear windows hadn't been accidentally cracked open.

 I put some matting in the spare wheel well/ boot but no real difference.

7 hours ago, Paikesejanku said:

Of course the noise is very dependent on the road surface. On rough tarmac it is very loud. When the tarmac is smooth, the wind noise from side windows will disturb instead. Luckily skoda offers noise reducing side windows for new models.

 

This. 

 

Every time the topic comes up. There is no more important factor than 1. The road surfaces you drive on. 2. How fast you drive.

 

The Superb III definitely suffers from excessive tyre noise. I suspect some of this can be tracked down to the bushings they are using on the strut towers. I plan to do the Audi > Skoda swap when I get around to it. Thicker rubber bushings better NVH.

 

 

You can make an impact with mods, tyres etc. But there is no escaping the mechanically transmitted tyre > chassis path.

Edited 9 March, 20215 yr by digifish

It does depend on what you are accustomed to. If you think the Superb is loud the road and tyre noise emitted by my MKIII Octavia VRS and Mk 7.5 Golf GTI were much worse.  The GTI was disappointingly the worst. My L&K is significantly quieter in comparison. 

outside noises can be hugely decreased by add sound deadening materials,
but how to solve noises generated by car it self's
listen to 10th and 28th seconds in this video 43MB

no one can recognize reason :(

 

thank God, this pulsary sound 36MB has been never repeated

TYres can make a huge difference. I find my Superb estate 1.4Tsi fine  for noise. It has17" wheels on all  season tyres though.  My last Octavia was spoiled  by tyre roar at all speeds. Switched from the OE Bridgestones to Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons and it transformed the car. Went from tyre roar being loud at all speeds to no tyre  noise.

Ditto tyres are a massive factor.

Other things that can make a difference is weight saving.

 

Reducing the mass of something can make resonant noise.

The spare wheel well can be a real noise generator if you don't actually have a spare. Even with a spare, I found a small patch of dynamt type material around the sides and a couple of pieces over the bottom removed a drumming noise on certain road surfaces.

Ditto for putting some carpet underlay below the boot carpet.

 

These days weight is a big issue for MPG and emissions, so you can't just chuck extra mass at a car in the factory to damp everything.

Careful placement on designed pieces of mass damping is needed, along with the correct isolation of points of transmission and shaping of items such as mirrors.

 

All achievable, but at a cost and at some point this passes the price point of a mainstream car.

I agree regarding tyres. 
 

 

But for me the (sometimes) rattling from the parcel shelf is enough to go loopy. 

I find the biggest factor in road noise is the road surface.

 

I put together an overview of my Superb in the film in the link, if you whizz through to 14.25 there is a short bit where the road noise between two surfaces on the same road at the same speed is very evident.

Im not a fan of the P7 tyres that the car came with, but so far they are still on the car as I can’t justify changing them!

 

 

On 09/03/2021 at 05:11, digifish said:

 

This. 

 

Every time the topic comes up. There is no more important factor than 1. The road surfaces you drive on. 2. How fast you drive.

 

The Superb III definitely suffers from excessive tyre noise. I suspect some of this can be tracked down to the bushings they are using on the strut towers. I plan to do the Audi > Skoda swap when I get around to it. Thicker rubber bushings better NVH.

 

 

You can make an impact with mods, tyres etc. But there is no escaping the mechanically transmitted tyre > chassis path.

Those parts are just for the rear shocks, right?

 

Many of us are very disappointed with the Skoda Superb because of the noise and vibrations, which are not acceptable in a car like this.

 

I am calculating to soundproof, change suspension and change the speakers of the whole car that are worse than those of a Ford Fiesta.

5 hours ago, Gabrielem said:

Those parts are just for the rear shocks, right?

 

 

Yes. Rear. Its on my to-do including some more research. But isolating the tyres mechanically from the car is a big factor in NVH. 

Edited 10 March, 20215 yr by digifish

33 minutes ago, digifish said:

 

Si. Trasero. Está en mi tarea, incluyendo algunas investigaciones más. Pero aislar mecánicamente los neumáticos del automóvil es un factor importante en NVH . 

I think the best option for that is to change shock absorbers for quality Bilstein-type shock absorbers or perhaps Koni Special Active, about which there is not much information.

Hi again, 

            I’m very grateful to everyone who’s replied on this topic. I’ve had the car two weeks now, and initially I was getting a bit stressed that I might have bought a car that I couldn’t live with. The cabin noise really was getting to me.

          I 100% agree that the road surface is the most crucial factor. Unfortunately in my area of Greater Manchester the noisy road surfaces are very much in evidence. Driving on the newly opened....well a couple of years ago... Manchester airport link road, is incredibly quiet and relaxing, but this is not typical.

       My previous car, a humble 2015 Golf estate, is extremely quiet, so, as one comment suggested, it does depend what you’ve driven previously. Also maybe as one contributor mentioned, you do get used to it a little, and I don’t think I’m noticing it quite as much now as in the first few days, and I’m trying to concentrate on all the good features of the car of which there are many.

       I’m going to try the sound deadening, to see if this helps . I’ll get some Dynamat , (unless anyone can suggest an alternative which is better or cheaper ?). I’m going to do the underfloor of the hatch and spare wheel well first, as this looks easiest to get at. Then maybe try the carpets under the front seats and inside the bulkhead. I was thinking of perhaps getting a car trimmer to do this bit, as I’m wary of taking up the carpets on a brand new vehicle in case I can’t get them looking as neat when I put them back.

     I’d be interested to know if anyone thinks this should be straightforward and I should try myself or leave it to someone more experienced. I don’t have a garage... well I do but it is full of things my wife won’t let me throwaway so unusable for its intended purpose. It would have to be done on my drive.

    Gary.

On my SEL hatch, if I tap my knuckle on the outside upper rear quarter panel behind the passenger side rear door, its obvious theres no sound deadening material on that panel, its a large thin plain metal pressing and acoustically it sounds bad and cheap. Haven't tried the drivers side, but I'm sure this amplifies road noise and is definitely part of the problem. 

 

No idea how difficult it is to access the inside of this panel to stick some stuff on. Not willing to start stripping my Superb yet.

 

I may put some old bed sheets in the well under the spare wheel, that helped a bit with my Fabias. Doubles up as something to put on the ground under my knees if I ever have to change a wheel at the roadside.

On 09/03/2021 at 04:11, digifish said:

 

This. 

 

Every time the topic comes up. There is no more important factor than 1. The road surfaces you drive on. 2. How fast you drive.

 

The Superb III definitely suffers from excessive tyre noise. I suspect some of this can be tracked down to the bushings they are using on the strut towers. I plan to do the Audi > Skoda swap when I get around to it. Thicker rubber bushings better NVH.

 

 

You can make an impact with mods, tyres etc. But there is no escaping the mechanically transmitted tyre > chassis path.

Do you have a part number / link for these thicker bushings, please?

9 minutes ago, Duggerchopz said:

Do you have a part number / link for these thicker bushings, please?

OEM: 8J0512149 Rear Upper Spring

https://www.ebay.com/itm/232691651138

 

1 hour ago, digifish said:

OEM: 8J0512149 Rear Upper Spring

https://www.ebay.com/itm/232691651138

 

 

I have it on my car, can't notice any difference in noise reduction.

But my car is lowered, it can be the reason.

4 minutes ago, elfensin said:

 

I have it on my car, can't notice any difference in noise reduction.

But my car is lowered, it can be the reason.

 

I think the front would be more important FWIW. 

On 09/03/2021 at 04:11, digifish said:

 

This. 

 

Every time the topic comes up. There is no more important factor than 1. The road surfaces you drive on. 2. How fast you drive.

 

The Superb III definitely suffers from excessive tyre noise. I suspect some of this can be tracked down to the bushings they are using on the strut towers. I plan to do the Audi > Skoda swap when I get around to it. Thicker rubber bushings better NVH.

 

 

You can make an impact with mods, tyres etc. But there is no escaping the mechanically transmitted tyre > chassis path.

Has anyone taken this suggestion and changed to the Audi strut tower bushings?