I love my new 2009 2.4L FWD Auto. Vibe. There is one small hitch. Since my wife can no longer drive, I wanted to go to one car; the Vibe seemed ideal for style, comfort, and cargo capacity (I sold my truck to buy the Vibe).The hitch is the rather obvious tire to road noise. This doesn't bother me, but she doesn't like it. Comparing this to our currently owned Buick LeSabre. I wonder if the low profile Goodyear tires influence this noise generation, or if is is just inherent with the car weight and/or suspension system?
most likely your comparing apples to orangesbuick LeSabre = luxury car probably 3x the insulationvibe =compact wagon no insulationyou could buy deadening material some people on this site have done it.
Differetn tire would help... If you have large wheels and small tires (like 18" wheels) you will get more noise because of that as well, just less rubber to absorb the noise... The biggest change would come with different tires
did you drive a 2009 vibe? i heard the engine is quieter too, but yes you'd want to install sound deadening to all the doors and interior. Bluecrush did the hatch and said it helped a lot too. Also yeah the tires would be good for hwy driving. My MS3 is way quieter than the vibe but I always had the radio on when i drove hwy. Oh but cell phone + vibe at 70-80mph wow the person on the other side of the phone almost couldnt hear because the road noise in the vibe was that loud.