Technical Fiat 500X Boot Noise?

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Technical Fiat 500X Boot Noise?

JediV

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Hey guys!

I have a 2017 500x. I was wondering if you have any info on how to quite down the boot? It seems like a lot of road noise leaks from this area of the vehicle

Thanks in advance!
 
The easiest way is to fit tyres that are quieter... I don't know any particular brands people would recommend but tyres (in Europe at least) now come with a noise rating in decibels, (on the label) so you can check out which ones are the quieter ones.

If you have knobbly off-road/all-weather tyres, they're likely to be noisier than a regular road tyre, so if you don't *need* off-road/all-weather tyres (or if you only need them from November-March say) you could swap them when the weather improves, if you can afford it and have space to store the others. You'll get better fuel economy and less tyre wear too, so it's worth a little bit of trouble.

If you want to insulate the car, there's two areas - you need to line the spare wheel well with acoustic pad.. the kind of black bitumen stuff that is often lined with aluminium on one side.. like the car radio places use. It's sticky on one side and thick and heavy.. you just cut out the shape you need and stick it to the boot floor.

The other thing to try is to increase the thickness of the boot carpet. In the past when I was lugging around some old household carpet in my boot I noticed it made things a bit quieter, so I cut out a shape the same as the existing car boot carpet and laid it under the car carpet (since it was beige with some flower design... Ahhhh otherwise it could go on top).

An additional layer of carpet damped out some of the higher frequency noise, whereas the black acoustic pads tend to dull out the lower frequency/drone so it'll make the more noticeable difference.. although it's also quite expensive (compared to the "free" piece of old carpet).


Ralf S.
 
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I'm afraid I have to disagree with Ralf regarding all season tyres. We've had them fitted to two cars now, Michelin Cross-Climates on a Suzuki we had, and on my wife's 500C Nexen N Blue 4 Seasons. On both cars they reduced the noise compared to the OEM tyres - "economy" rated tyres generally have firm sidewalls which transmit more noise. All-season tyres use a more compliant compound.
We also found the Nexens improve the ride on the 500.
Finally, although the Nexens have yet to be tested in snow, the Michelins on the (2WD) Suzuki were fantastic when we had the "beast from the east" a couple of years ago. Highly recommended.
 
I'm afraid I have to disagree with Ralf regarding all season tyres. We've had them fitted to two cars now, Michelin Cross-Climates on a Suzuki we had, and on my wife's 500C Nexen N Blue 4 Seasons. On both cars they reduced the noise compared to the OEM tyres - "economy" rated tyres generally have firm sidewalls which transmit more noise. All-season tyres use a more compliant compound.
We also found the Nexens improve the ride on the 500.
Finally, although the Nexens have yet to be tested in snow, the Michelins on the (2WD) Suzuki were fantastic when we had the "beast from the east" a couple of years ago. Highly recommended.



Agreed. Michelin Cross Climates on my Cross Plus 4x4 definitely reduced the road nouse
 
But anyway... I've read before that the Mich' are more quiet than people might otherwise expect... so it sounds like there's a tyre for JediV to try, in between Dyna-matting the entire boot.. :D





Ralf S.



Not only more quiet, but indcations are that they are at least as durable as the OEM tyres and have performed very well in all weathers. My only reservation to date is that I have suffered 3 punctures in 4 tyres, which is higher than I would have expected.
 
Recently fitted a complete set of Michelin Cross Climate to my 500X Cross and a lot quieter than the Conti's that were on before, tho' it is difficult to remember if the Conti's got noisier the more they where worn. The Conti's lasted 34,000 miles and still had a little wear left in them, but with the prospect of bad weather coming thought it would be better to be ready.

Purchased the tyres thro' Black Circle and had them fitted locally. There was at the time various discounts available for them and I paid £527.00's for a set of 4 on 17 inch rims.

Regarding noise from the boot you don't say if you have a spare wheel or the pump up kit, my car has a spare wheel which is bolted in and I think it stiffens the boot floor and helps stop any drumming noise, with the pump up kit the boot floor is free to drum.
 
Thanks guys for the advice! I'll look and see if I have a spare tire I believe I have a kit. I have Nexen stock tires still on the car and they may be hardened they're not worn out but it could be that have lost their elasticity.
 
In my experience the multi level boot floor is much better at sound proofing than the standard floor that we have on the City Cross. Multi level floor was probably 1/2” thick where the basic one is more like a couple of mm.

The spare tyre theory is a good one too.
 
In my experience the multi level boot floor is much better at sound proofing than the standard floor that we have on the City Cross. Multi level floor was probably 1/2” thick where the basic one is more like a couple of mm.

The spare tyre theory is a good one too.



I have the multi level boot floor plus a spare tyre (which kind of negates the multi level floor [emoji23][emoji23]) and I don't notice too much noise above average
 
I too have no issues with boot noise ....

HOWEVER .... since day one I've had a supplied spare wheel. I also have the lower compartment packed with tools, fluids, etc. and some old towels.

It could be that in my 2015 Cross Plus were I to evacuate the lower boot area I too would be displeased with rear end sound levels. If I ever run around with nothing but the spare wheel I'll try to remember to take special note of rear end noise levels, but in all honesty this is not likely to happen.

What is important to note here is that we are dealing with human personal "sensitivities". We have it here on ride quality, fuel consumption expectations, and in this case noise levels. And noise level is only one factor. Noise/sound content, distribution, resonances, etc. all play a major factor in what is not acceptable to some but not an issue to others.
 
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