Wind & Road Noise !

[capecodbeachfront]

Okay, I am determined to quiet my 2003 Vibe.I've been annoyed with the 'rush' noise for 5 years.Is it my roof rack cross members ??The drip edge over the windshield??Could it be the mirrors???My plan of attack:Can I stuff pipe foam into the side channels of the roof rack?Should I pay to have the cross members removed ?Can I somehow get insulation into the roof? Maybe thru sunroof???Should I reline the trunk with heavy jute carpet pad??? There has to be away !! My golf season is over and I'm ready to conquer the noise.

[Sublimewind]

You bought a Vibe, not a Lexus... Not trying to be harsh, but it's the harsh reality.. You should try driving around in my GF's Aveo... talk about no sound deadeneing... All of the things you mentioned will help to a small degree, but then ends don't justify the means unless you plan on sound deadening the whole car... There are a few here that have, with great sugsess, though...

[wyatt89]

If you want quiet, line your car with sound deadener...That will do the trick but you will have to pull out most all of your interior. It's also expensive and it weighs a lot.Like sublime said, it's a cheap car, not a lexus...

[shemp]

Second second. Knock yourself out, but sound deadening is a system, not just one or two components. As the guys before me pointed out, you would need to stuff the doors & panels with sound insulation, strategically add foam seals to areas of your closure margins, etc. The auto companies invest a lot of $ and resources (FEA/CAE simulations, wind tunnel testing, etc) to reduce wind nose on higher end vehicles. It would be very difficult/impossible for someone to duplicate their efforts on their own, but like I said... knock yourself out.

[lowincash]

i don't know if this will work for the vibe but i did this for my 2002 maxima and it helped get rid of most of the wind noise. on my maxima i stuffed some weather strip foam thing inside the window channel where the glass meets and that seems to help stop a lot of wind noise...as for road noise and stuff, maybe you can try different tires. coming from that maxima to the vibe, the vibe is a lot quieter lol it's not lexus quiet but it has a lot less wind noise...but the stock tires are noisy as heck so i changed it to some softer quieter ones and i'm impressed how quiet the ride is. i haven't been in a gen1 vibe so not sure how noisy it is...all i can say is after i changed tires on my 09 the ride was very quiet. cheap econoboxes don't necessarily have to be noisy.btw do roof racks really create that much wooshing sound that you can hear it inside the cabin?

[bull77]

Quote, originally posted by lowincash »btw do roof racks really create that much wooshing sound that you can hear it inside the cabin?I'm not sure about the oem rack, but the Thule/GM rack makes enough noise to be heard in the cabin. You might want to try moving the racks to the rear or take them off all together.

[northvibe]

sound proofing is prolly the best bet. A couple members here will all out with it and bluecrush said it helped.

[vibolista]

Thule, Yakima and other roof rack companies have wind deflectors that attach to the front cross bar and are very effective at lowering that nasty wind noise. I use one on an old noisy Saturn wagon rack and it made a HUGE difference. Underneath, get a quiet tire. That can help. I put a set of Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum tires on my Vibe. Those have been worth several db's of quiet.Clean and treat all your door and window seals. Wipe down the stuff that accumulates where the door rubber seats on the painted metal of the car openning. Open your windows a few inches and wipe the top of the glass that pushes up into the frame. At the same time, stick a soapy rag up in the frame channel to wipe the rubber in there as well. That could allow better noise isolation. If the rubber is dry and the point of contact in no longer smooth... u will get small air leaks that cause quite a bit of noise. Don't forget the 5th door and the openning glass in that hatch. Same with the sunroof. Treat the rubber around the sunroof glass and clean the edge where it seals against on the roof. This bit of work doesn't add any weight to your car! Hope it helps.BTW, what do Sublime and wyatt89 mean, it's a cheap car and not a Lexus?!? I don't know about your Vibe, wyatt89, but my Vibe is inexpensive, and it' was built (mostly) by Lexus' parent company. So there.

[capecodbeachfront]

I will certtainly try some of these tips.I have already moved the cross members to the back of the rack.They appear to be hard to remove... you have to take rack apart.I did replace the horrible stock Continental tires.I have noticed 'whoosh' can be louder witha cross wind ???NOTE: I always hear the sound loudest with my right ear while driving.Passenger does not always here the same noise... is that possible?? Sometimes I think it could actually be bouncing from the rear of cabin.

[tribalman]

Quote, originally posted by capecodbeachfront »I have noticed 'whoosh' can be louder witha cross wind ???NOTE: I always hear the sound loudest with my right ear while driving.Passenger does not always here the same noise... is that possible?? 1. yes. instead of air being directed over the top of the hood, windshield, top, etc. it hits the side of the car car and it acts like an oar in water(a bit of an over exaggeration, but i think an effective simile)2. yes. i have sensitive hearing in the higher frequencies. i can hear dog whistles. other people cannot. you also might be looking for the sound where your passenger doesn't know about the wooshing and not looking for it.my recommendation is to upgrade your stereo and speakers if you haven't already and just listen to loud music. i don't hear a wooshing sound. xD

[bull77]

window vents to reduce hwy wind noise? when we first got the vibe the pass. side door made a whoosh --- dealer replaced door seals....twice Quote, originally posted by tribalman »my recommendation is to upgrade your stereo and speakers if you haven't already and just listen to loud music. i don't hear a wooshing sound. xDonly do this if you don't have kids --- the only loud music I listen to is the Wiggles.....after awhile, you just accept it

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by vibolista »BTW, what do Sublime and wyatt89 mean, it's a cheap car and not a Lexus?!? I don't know about your Vibe, wyatt89, but my Vibe is inexpensive, and it' was built (mostly) by Lexus' parent company. So there. It is what it is, homie... It might be made by the parent company, but that doesn't mean much here... lol... Sound deadening can only go so far for noise reduction... I have well over 1500$ of sound deadener in my Subaru, and it's now just bearable to drive long distance (it's a REALLY loud car) it was stripped bare... so it was next to impossible to have a non-yelling conversation in the car on the highway... I could go VERY in depth into my sound deadening, but like I said, the ends don't always justify the means.. i've got 60+hrs worth of time into my sound deadening as well... Just using a "peel and stick" deadener, won't always fix the particular problem... it's combinations of things in different area, and different combos for different problems... Just to give an idea of the extent of my madness... (BTW, I had a sponsorship through Second Skin, so I didn't pay for most of my deadening)The bulk of the car... 2-3 layers in most places... Big open section of roof panel, both un-supported AND un-deadened till I got to it... The roof after the addition of Second Skin Overkill (3/16" closed cell foam, for high frequency attinuation)THIS might be part of the needed key... This is SS Luxury Liner Pro, which is a thick vinyl barrier layer, with about 1/2" of a "memory" foam type material attached.. IT'S HEAVY, that box is like 45lbs..!!!An almost complete door, with 3-4 layers near the speaker location, tapering out to 2 layers near the door handle... Complete with OKP..I've EVEN gone as far as to use spray foam in places I couldn't get deadener... Rockers,Rear side panels.. (2 door car)Lower trunk corners... 99% of the world will NEVER, EVER, go this far... i'm working on a competition audio system..

[capecodbeachfront]

Sublime, I am impressed. Nice work. I do have one question though...Was there no sound deadening installed by the manufacturer?I will not be going as far as you did...but I am thinking of putting surface deadener materials in the 'way-back' of the Vibe. I'm thinking some noise may start there and get directed forward by the angle of the rear window.Can I access the roof area through the sunroof opening ???Any tricks I could do with the existing door weatherstriping ???

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by capecodbeachfront »Sublime, I am impressed. Nice work. I do have one question though...Was there no sound deadening installed by the manufacturer?I will not be going as far as you did...but I am thinking of putting surface deadener materials in the 'way-back' of the Vibe. I'm thinking some noise may start there and get directed forward by the angle of the rear window.Can I access the roof area through the sunroof opening ???Any tricks I could do with the existing door weatherstriping ??? There was "some" put in from the manufacture, but when I bought the car, the previous owner had it completely stripped, as he was building a race car... so there was NOTHING... He re-painted the car to, completely, so there wasn't even the body plugs in the floor... I could see the road... lol... Look closely, you can see the garage floor through the cars floor... lol.. Adding some sound deadener wouldn't be a bad idea... just understand as Shemp said, it's a system.. no one product is good for everything... You can't get to the roof through the sunroof opening... you would have to take the headliner down... you just need the room... The sheet deadeners require you to apply pressure to them to stick well, most time a wooden roller is a BIG help for this to activate the PSA (pressure sensitive adhesive) all of my deadener got the roller... There is something to consider as well.... Liquid deadener... which can be applied to the wheel wells and under-belly of the car without removing any of the interior.. Second Skin and others make products like this and it works really well.. The best thing is to have BOTH... peel and stick on the inside and the liquid sprayed/spread on the outside... that was you have the metal sandwiched between 2 different densities of deadener.. Those rolls of "sheet" material I showed above (Luxury Liner) is designed to replace the carpet padding and is a "blocker or barrier" for sound... I haven't installed it in my car "yet" but I am expecting a HUGE difference when I do..