My 2000 Honda Civic is too noisy. It’s road and engine noise and it’s loud enough that I really have to crank up the radio volume when driving on the freeway. Are there any commercially available products that I can get that will reduce this noise? If so, what type of business would sell it?
Thank you.
Yes there is a product for your problem and it is called a really good LOUD stereo. Once you are rockin’ down the highway you won’t notice the noise. Nothing else will really make a significant difference.
My cousin has a Cadillac and it’s much quieter than my Civic. Cadillac must have done something to keep the noise level low. I suspect it’s some form of padding or coating. If that’s the case, I would think that padding or coating could be added to my Civic too.
There are a few things that separate your cousin’s Cadillac from your Civic. The first is steel. The Cadillac weighs 2500 lbs more than your Civic, is probably made from thicker steel, and its overall mass keeps it from resonating like your Honda (plus, the wheels are farther away from the cabin, which keeps down tire noise.)
Next is tires. The kind (tread pattern) and size of tire that you have will directly affect and effect road noise. Small tires seem to exacerbate the road noise problem (any sort of snow or all-weather tire usually is pretty loud, just because the larger tread blocks impact the road rather “bluntly”.)
And last, there is sound deadening material between the floor of the car and the carpet. Cadillac (and many manufacturers) probably uses a spray on sort of rubberized coating on the floor pan, and a thick insulation layer between that and the carpet.
If I were you, I’d look at Dynamat. They seem to be the big name in sound-deadening material. You can buy Dynamat insulation in rolls, and put it down under your carpet. It will quash SOME of the road noise. But it’s not going to kill all of the noise. You have, after all, a Civic, not a Cadillac.
Your local parts stores sell a product called UNDERCOATING. Don’t confuse this with rust-proofing. It’s not the same.
Undercoating is applied to the underside of a vehicle to reduce road noise. But when applying this, you must make sure that area that is to be treated is absolutey clean. Otherwise it can promote rust. Don’t get it on the exhaust system. As it stinks like hell when it burns off.
Tester
J.C. Whitney has sound deadener that you might install under the carpet, but there should be some there already. Some goes under the door panels, some in the trunk if you don’t have tilting seat backs. It comes in a roll. You will probably have to put some in your ears for any effect. Maybe there are quieter tires. Uniroyal maybe, but I don’t know anymore. I saw the catalog at Borders and maybe a supermarket. Maybe the car parts stores or Wal-Mart.
It’s a whole combination of things with the Cadillac. First, pick quiet tires. Next, see if there is any sort of insulation or padding under the hood on the Cadillac. I bet there is. You can add either undercoating or Dynamat noise deadening material to the underside of the hood to help cut engine noise. I would think some undercoating on the firewall might help, too. Of course undercoat the bottom of the car. The inside or the outer door panels is another place to squirt some undercoating. Be careful not to gum up the window and lock mechanisms while doing that. Your Civic is never going to be as quiet as a Cadillac, but you can improve it for fairly reasonable cost. You can get spray cans of undercoating at auto parts stores, and probably WalMart. The Dynamat stuff tends to be more expensive, but for places like inside the trunk where you don’t want the smell and possible mess of spray undercoat it will be a better choice. Good luck.
Yeah, look for the word “rubberized”. Applied liberally it changes the resonant frequencies of the panels to real low freqs so they don’t act like diaphragms and so that higher frequency vibrations don’t propogate along the panels. It “dampens” vibrations.
I don’t think there is anything you can do about it. I think Honda eventually addressed this issue on new models by doing what other car makers started doing several years ago to reduce engine and road noise - they fill the car’s body with sound-deadening insulation. They inject this stuff into the spaces inside the pillars and other auto body cavities. I think the first place I saw it was on the new Ford F-150.
The 2000 Civic was designed to be lightweight and efficient and this insulation adds weight. It wasn’t designed to be quiet. Undercoating won’t help. You might consider ear plugs for long trips. Look for the ones that are designed for motorcycle use so you will still be able to hear the sounds you need to hear like emergency vehicle sirens.
Some of it can be addressed through finding quiet tires. The rest is part of the car. You can have a stereo shop dynomat the car. Its basically an acoustical mat for inside the vehicle that goes in doors and under carpet etc.
My wife’s Civic in same vintage was loud too.
The amount of money you will spend for any of these suggestions will leave you poorer and disappointed. The 2000 Civic is a noisy car. A good stereo is the cheapest and most enjoyable solution.