Went for a test drive in a 1.2 pop , was very impressed and bought the 1.2 lounge a month ago. Have been very disappointed with the noise coming through into the car from the road even at very low speed. At times it is a very unpleasant booming noise which didn't show at all in the test drive. Has anyone had similar problems ?
Thanks
Paul100

paul100 said:

Went for a test drive in a 1.2 pop , was very impressed and bought the 1.2 lounge a month ago. Have been very disappointed with the noise coming through into the car from the road even at very low speed. At times it is a very unpleasant booming noise which didn't show at all in the test drive. Has anyone had similar problems ?
Thanks
Paul100

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What wheels do you have on?

I have the standard alloys fitted with Bridgetone Turanza ER300s size 185/55/R15

paul100 said:

I have the standard alloys fitted with Bridgetone Turanza ER300s size 185/55/R15

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Well there's part of the problem. The wider the tyre you run (175's are standard on the pop on 14" steel rims) the more noise you get. Also, eco tyres like the ER300 are always going to be a bit noisy by way of them being very hard so as to give low rolling resistance. The 500 also doesn't have much soundproofing either.

Just the nature of the car, be glad you don't have the 16" wheels on! It's even worse on them.

Many thanks for your reply. I find it very annoying that I paid more for the lounge thinking it would be at least as good as the pop! If I had been able to try the lounge I would not have bought it.

paul100 said:

Many thanks for your reply. I find it very annoying that I paid more for the lounge thinking it would be at least as good as the pop! If I had been able to try the lounge I would not have bought it.

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Well to be honest the difference won't be like night and day, it also depends one what roads you testdrove the car and other factors like whether it was wet and so on.

We have the Bridgestones on our Honda Civic and they are noisey on that car too. When both cars need new tyres I will be swapping the Bridgestones for something else.

catherinej said:

We have the Bridgestones on our Honda Civic and they are noisey on that car too. When both cars need new tyres I will be swapping the Bridgestones for something else.

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Bridgestone as a brand aren't any noisier or less noisy than other brands. It's the fact that the tyres on some of the 14" and 15" options on the 500 are eco tyres which are hard.

Sorry I meant to say the same model Bridgestone tyre, just in a slightly bigger size. Not just Bridgestone tyres if you see what I mean

catherinej said:

Sorry I meant to say the same model Bridgestone tyre, just in a slightly bigger size. Not just Bridgestone tyres if you see what I mean

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The problem you may find is that the only tyres you can buy for that size may be eco tyres.

Am I not right in thinking though Dan, that I can go to a higher speed rating?

If that is Ok and I thought it was, (but of course I could be wrong) then it opens up many more options to me than the 2 brands that are T rated (Bridgestone and Conti's).

catherinej said:

Am I not right in thinking though Dan, that I can go to a higher speed rating?

If that is Ok and I thought it was, (but of course I could be wrong) then it opens up many more options to me than the 2 brands that are T rated (Bridgestone and Conti's).

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Yes you can go for a higher rated tyre This may also help a little with noise one of the differences with higher speed rated tyres is usually a softer compound.

Excellent news.

The Lounge also suffers from extra noise due to the glass roof, for some reason. I know at speed that it causes noise due to the air hitting the roof but even at low speeds the Pop seems to be less noisy. I drove a friend's Pop and it's much quieter inside, even upon idle, without the glass roof.

My lounge was fitted with Dunlop SP1 Sport tyres as standard. They have lasted well and aren't too noisy. At least they weren't until after this last cold spell. The roads in Kent are a disaster. Obviously the usual pothole problem but also the top surface is breaking away in patches all over the place. This makes for very noisy driving. As soon as I hit an intact stretch of road (a rarety) the car is transformed and runs beautifully again.

It's not just a small car thing either. I've followed some large luxury saloons and they are bumping and wallowing too - although I guess they are better sound insulated.

We had comments on here last year about how bad our roads are as against driving on the continent - the situation must be 100% worse now!!

I believe there is a tyre which is rated as the quietest road noise tyre generally available. It has a short Japanese sounding name - anyone know which tyre this is?

Hi friend,

I m 500 1.2 pop user in Istanbul. During purchase process Fiat offered me a sound protection and I bought this packet, they sprayed under the car with some kind of heavy wax..Then the car stayed in the park for 8 hours..The wax becomes solid, thick... And I can say my car is silent...I paid 300 Turkish Lira which means 200 $ or something... You can try this..

But of course sunroof is a source of extra sound...And ER300 Turanza is a very good tyre but as I know it is a performance tyre not eco..So it should be noisy..on the other side, very good brake and cornering performance...

Auto Express did some tests and a Kumo Tyre came out quietest. Is that what you were thinking of?

catherinej said:

Auto Express did some tests and a Kumo Tyre came out quietest. Is that what you were thinking of?

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Hi

Yep - that's the one Catherine - thanks - although it wasn't the Auto Express test that I read about it. Looks like it's come out quietest in more than one test. Will make further enquiries when next set of tyres needed.

paul100 said:

Went for a test drive in a 1.2 pop , was very impressed and bought the 1.2 lounge a month ago. Have been very disappointed with the noise coming through into the car from the road even at very low speed. At times it is a very unpleasant booming noise which didn't show at all in the test drive. Has anyone had similar problems ?
Thanks
Paul100

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You won't want to be replacing the tyres a month in would you. This topic suggests Yokohamas are quiet.

https://www.fiatforum.com/500/222649-what-difference-new-tyres-make.html

However, I wasn't taking much notice of the road noise on my test drive in a totally different area to my normal journeys. 1.2 Sport with Glass Roof and 16in Alloys! Not that noisy at first, but after getting into the daily drive to work along rough roads, I went and added soundproofing inside and it helped a bit, but now the tyres are part worn, it's getting noiser, more of a roaring coming from the windscreen area, bit like it's resonating around the cabin. I plan to deaden the wheel arch liners and cavity behind the front wing to try and stop the noise at source.. If that doesn't help then it'll be a new set of tyres (but you can't seem to take many references from manufacturers sales pitches as they all suggest they are low noise these days)!

My wife had a loan car, Renault Megane, with the same Conti Premium Contact 2 tyres (yes different profiles) but inside the cabin it was pretty quiet, so much of it seems to be the design of the car.

stevematt41 said:

My wife had a loan car, Renault Megane, with the same Conti Premium Contact 2 tyres (yes different profiles) but inside the cabin it was pretty quiet, so much of it seems to be the design of the car.

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The bigger the car the more soundproofing is generally in there. You should try having a conversation in a rally car with no carpets, no underseal and no soundproofing with knobbly rally tyres on. It's completely impossible without an intercom.