How would you rate the road noise and interior sound of your Mini Cooper? I just purchased a 07 S and having difficulty telling if I am hearing excess road noise from the tires, a bad wheel bearing... Or Transmission noise. I get a considerable amount of noise almost a groan on the highway. I know these are not luxury cars but for an 07 I expect to be able to hear the radio.

 

My run flat tires are loud as hell IMO. Do you have runflats?

 

+1 I just finished a 5K road trip in my wife's '12 MCS with RFT. Had to really crank up the radio to hear it..

 

I have an 11' Cooper S which was loud till I removed the noisemaker. Now its quiet and can talk at normal levels and can hear the radio more. I'm not sure what year they started adding the noisemaker.

 

Loud, I think I'm slowly losing my hearing as a result

 

My other vehicle is a 2005 Land Rover Defender with a 2.5l TDI engine. My JCW MINI is like driving a Rolls Royce compared to the noise in it Still would not trade it for anything!

My solution is get a more powerful stereo.

Cheers,

Ken

 

Many folks have done changes to these cars over the years to make make some extra noise...
Sometimes exhaust.... Sometimes an intake, sometimes sound insulation removal or intake mufflers to make the car lighter, sound "better", and sometimes faster...
And +1 on the tires..... Runflats IMO suck...noisy, ride bad....and way too $$. Also some high performance conventional tires are very loud as they wear.....

 

I have been thinking of doing this too. But since I am lazy, instead of the noise maker delete, I just want to shove high density foam or like material in the tube that carries the sound through the fire wall. Will this work? Please advise. Thanks.

 

I really don't notice any real road/wind noise in my 07 until I'm up around 75mph. It may be a tire issue that you're hearing. Take a look at the inside edge of your tires for uneven wear, if you see that, that's the bulk of your problem. Besides that, some tire are just more noisy then others.

 

The R56 interior actually has excellent fit and finish.
The interior, when bolted together properly, is very solid, almost with micrometer precision.
Which is great for reducing noise and vibration in the cabin.

If you are hearing a whirl, hum, or buzz, chances are it's your tires. It can get noticeably annoying especially at highway speeds. It's hard to capture on camera, but it's like having an elephant in your Mini, trust me, you'll notice it.

When I first got my MCS, like you I thought I had bad wheel bearings. Because that's the logical deduced conclusion after taking tires out of the equation. But the culprit was actually the perfectly enflated, fresh treaded tires. They're runflats. Which makes them about as good as flat recycled tires in terms of handling quality and road noise.

 

Found out about run flats on chip seal roads, very loud. Will either change out the tires or thinking about adding sound insulation or both.

 

Best bet, get rid of the R/F tires, no sunroof and no sport suspension.

 

Yes, and get rid of the radio, add noise canceling foam panels, run 16" 4x100 wheels made of soft clay and wrap the exterior panels in dynomat.

Now enjoy your Lincoln Town Car.

 

Actually that may work. I haven't tried it. I might give it a go so at least it'll be dealer accepted if they see that it hasn't been removed if she ever goes in for service.

 

I ditched the R/F's this year for Continental DWS in a 215/45-17 size and it will make the biggest difference in road noise. You will have slightly less turn-in response, but the ride is great.

 

Ok, all kidding aside.. I found just dropping the Tire PSI to around 33 worked like magic to really soften the ride and quiet things down.

I later pushed it back up to 38.. I do like the harshness...

 

I say +1 on running at 33-34psi. I found out when I got my Clubman with the R/F's that the lower pressure does make it quieter on rough roads.

 

I ditched RFs on day one and also went for 215-45-17 DWS. Concur with your noise & road observations.

 

Ok so this evening I stuffed the output side of noisemaker with a clean cloth rag so it won't get sucked into the intake. I also stuffed the pipe that goes from the noisemaker to the firewall and re-installed the whole assembly. It's just as quiet when it was removed overall. Decided to do this anyway since its going in for service Saturday. I got rid of my RF's 3 months ago to for a set of Trazano 205/45/17's riding on 33 PSI. It's not as dead quiet as my Lexus but it's a lot quieter than stock with noisemaker plugged and RF's installed.

 

Thanks for sharing your findings. It is appreciated very much. I was also experimenting with tires pressures starting at 35 psi and dropping it by 1 psi increments. I too found that 33 psi was the sweet spot for us. Once again Thanks.

 

Bwahahaha!!! Ride in my car at 80mph going up a hill! Have to roll the windows down!!! It's GREAT!!!

 

My 07 MCS is not quiet. However, it does not "groan." I suggest you look at your tires. Replace them especially if you have run flats. Also, some tires are noisier than others.

You might also consider adding sound proofing. I used Dynamat with considerable success. The rear especially the wheel wheels in particular profits from soundproofing.

 

i got buzzes and rattles in the interior that come and go. there is a intermittent sound that happens at 2k rpm that I hear when going slow, like 15-30 mph. it speeds up the faster I go as long as I'm around 2k rpm. so if I'm in 1st gear at 2k rpm its slow, then 2nd gear at 2k rpm its a little faster, and so on. either 3rd or 4th gear I'm going too fast to hear it stop and start or the sound goes away.

 

FWIW, I recently put a set of Bridgestone Serenity tires on my wife's Subaru. As you might guess from the name, quiet is their primary design parameter. They are astonishingly, supernaturally quiet.

They're also soft and squishy; I had to run them up to the top end of their pressure recommendation for the car to track well.

So whilst I wouldn't recommend them for handling, if sound levels are your #1 priority, they are magic.

 

get some dynomat and install it under the carpet. I have not done this yet but its on my list.