Technical Noisy Evo

[microkid]

My wife has had her 2010 (60 Reg) Punto Evo 1.4 Dynamic for 2 years now. It has only been recently that we have started using it more I have noticed how noisy it - mainly road noise. At 70MPH on the motorway we can not talk easily. What can I do to quieten it down a bit?

I was thinking of fitting some quieter tyres although not sure which as it needs 4 tyres.

There doesn't appear to be any sound proofing under the bonnet etc... is this something that can be fitted?

 

[Ffoxy]

Yea you can buy sound insulation kits for sure.
Most noise is transmitted into the cabin via suspension from the road wheels so quiet tyres help. Hard compound tyres (long lasting) are noisier where grippier tyres are generally a softer compound so less noisy and also less durable.
Depends what you are comparing the Punto with too by the way...

 

[Ransoman]

Last year i did 250 miles (aberdeen to Orkney) in my old 105 MA evo. I averaged 70 - 80 most of the way there and I didn't think the punto was particularly noisy. In fact i have never considered it to be a noisy car.

I had 15" dynamic alloys with Continental tyres. When the front tyres wore i replaced the with Kumho Solus' which where a little noisier.

 

[jw4821]

Something I've noticed with mine, it could just be me however, but...

Sat at 70mph, the engine is running somewhere in between at 3.5-4k rpm, which in my opinion is where it is at it's noisiest as the wind noise isn't loud enough to drown out the engine noise, and you get an awful droning noise.

If you drive a little faster where the engine is turning at just over 4k rpm, the wind noise is a little louder and you can't hear the engine because of it.

It works the other way as well, if you drive at 60mph.

You can buy soundproofing for your engine bay, doors and floors. Might also be worth checking door and window seals. Google provides lots of information.

If you're shopping around for new tyres, a lot of online shops give you efficiency information as well as noise in dB. Don't forget that decibels is a logarithmic scale, so a difference of say 3dB can be a big difference in the noise level.

Finally, it's worth remembering that it's a Fiat, not one of the big german manufacturers with big engines and bags of soundproofing. Although if you say that you can't talk easily then that doesn't sound right.

 

[zanes]

Sat at 70mph, the engine is running somewhere in between at 3.5-4k rpm, which in my opinion is where it is at it's noisiest as the wind noise isn't loud enough to drown out the engine noise, and you get an awful droning noise.

That sounds rather short gearing!

 

[jw4821]

That sounds rather short gearing!

I've no idea how gearing is worked out, but 50 in 5th is 2500 rpm, 40 in 4th is 2500 rpm etc etc.

70 mph is around 3500 rpm, and peak torque comes at 3250 rpm. 90 mph is 4500 rpm and the red line is either at 5500 or 6000 rpm.

Don't forget it's just a naturally aspirated engine!

 

[zanes]

I suppose there's a fair bit of car to lug around with 77PS too...

 

[Mkala]

I have the 77 PS and for me not so noisy even on highway. Sure the engine is present, but easy to have a conversation with front passenger.

To know if you tyres makes too much noise, remove the gear when you are at high speed on highway (and alone, because the speed fall quickly )