has anybody heard of a way to dampen road noise. i have a 2009 s and I have to hace the radio really loud to hear it. Suggestions or any kits to dampen noise

 

Lose the run flats. Not cheap but effective and you have to change tires from time to time anyway.

 

I'd have to agree, own MC w/o runflats and had a loaner mcs with the runflats and MAN were they noisy!

 

I know you can put that noise dampening material under your wheel wells and in your doors. I know it can be expensive but that's another option you can take

 

Yeah, add dampening blankets under the carpet, in the doors, all over...

 

The car is pretty noisy at highway speeds even without runflats, I think it needs more sound deadening materials, but ditching the runflats will certainly quiet the ride down. Good for letting you hear all the rattles you couldn't hear before!

 

The tires made the biggest difference to me. Not just non runflats, but which non runflats. The quietest I've had so far are Yokohama S.Drives.

 

The road noise volume goes up even more if the rear seats are down and or the rear horizontal privacy pannel is not in place.

 

I run Michelin PE2's during the summer which are pretty quiet. Also, many of the threads covering stereo upgrades have extensive, very helpful step-by-step discussions about how to sound deaden your Mini. Also, very helpful. I've put Dyna Mat sound deadener in the doors and in the rear (especially the wheel wells) which made a dramatic difference in road noise. My car is much more enjoyable now minus the tire and road noise.

 

Which other tires have you compared them to? I'd like to know for reference.

 

Some OEM runflats, Goodyear Eagle F1 DS-G3, Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star spec and Michelin PE2s. The PE2s are a close second, but are discontinued in 16".

 

Non-runflat tires and DYNAMAT! Lots of DYNAMAT.... I also packed the rear panels with foam.

 

I concur with both suggestions - a liberal application of dampening material (I used Second Skin products) to the doors, boot, rear bench, floor, and wheel wells combined with ditching the runflats makes a huge difference in quelling road noise. Dampening material runs $300-400, and the interior is surprisingly easy to tackle with the help of forum articles - figure 2-3 days.

 

Hell I don't care about the road noise because I don't want to weigh my car down more then it is.

 

Replace those runflats with non-rfs and less performance oriented tires.