A3 8V FL Limo 2019 - soundproofing experience?

[MirekJ]

Hi there,

been driving my new A3 8V FL Limo 2019 for about a month, but the lack of proper soundproofing makes me totally sad. And this was supposed to be a "premium sedan", which I've paid quite a money for.

If only there was some kind of aerodynamic noise, it would be just fine, but...

What I've been experiencing so far:

- lack of soundproofing from the doors - I can literally hear every kind of whistle or wind flowing outside, every car overtaking me or me overtaking other cars (even at small speeds like ~43mph/70kph), I can even hear people just walking around my car when it's parked with all doors closed

- road noise in general - pretty sensitive to road surface type and it's much worse at higher speeds - on some kind of surfaces (mostly new) it's kind of okay, on rougher surfaces it's pretty unacceptable (I have 16" wheels with winter Contis TS860)

Engine (35 TFSI with CoD) on the other side is pretty refined and silent most of the time.

To support my findings, I've checked the back/rear trunk where my spare wheel resides and there's absolutely zero sound-deading material on the floor - it's just bare metal, if I can describe it somehow.

So the question is - can this be solved somehow? Has somebody attempted to soundproof his/her A3 8V FL and if so, what were the results?

There are three companies in Czechia which offer complete soundproofing of cars and I'm in contact with them, but before I begin, I just want to make sure this will not be a total waste of money. Otherwise I am thinking of selling my brand new car...

So all A3 8V FL owners out there, have you performed some kind of soundproofing to your car and did it help?

Thanks all in advance.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

My 2017 S3 saloon has a carpeted solid piece over the whole rear trunk/boot area which lifts out to gain access to the spare wheel. Your car is shod with winter tyres and are prone to increase road surface noise. My door soundproofing is good. The door mirrors can exhibit from time to time a whistling sound at speeds above 100kph/60mph. Yes, I can hear people walking/talking around my car with the doors closed and the sound system turned off. The car is not a closed bank vault! Some premium model large cars do offer better sound insulation but the 3 series is a small car.

 

[RichardT]

I’ve never really experienced an issue with mine. In fact I think it is quite a quiet car.

 

[AlS3BE]

I have a sportback and I find it quite good with road noise even with winter tyres, it’s far from what my a6 was like with the double glazed windows but definitely not bad. My boot has a lining and the spare wheel with the sub sits on top of that then there’s the big board that covers it all. Nowhere I can see metal.

 

[RichardT]

I have a sportback and I find it quite good with road noise even with winter tyres, it’s far from what my a6 was like with the double glazed windows but definitely not bad. My boot has a lining and the spare wheel with the sub sits on top of that then there’s the big board that covers it all. Nowhere I can see metal.

In my saloon I don’t have any covering on the bottom of the boot. The spare wheel sits on painted metal, with removeable boot floor on top.

 

[AlS3BE]

In my saloon I don’t have any covering on the bottom of the boot. The spare wheel sits on painted metal, with removeable boot floor on top.

Maybe it’s a saloon thing.

 

[AlS3BE]

 

[MirekJ]

Thanks all for the replies.

Tbh, I've expected, in this price category, it better be good. But it's not. With my A3 configuration, I could have bought Passat or Superb, which both do have some more acoustic window options.

To be more precise, I've meant bottom of the back trunk - there is only metal. Of course there is a carpet like cover above which needs to be raised to get to the spare tyre.

But the main question remains - will soundproofing help?

I don't want to spend money just to discover later it won't help that much.

 

[MirekJ]

View attachment 173627

Seems like you have subwoofer placed in spare tyre and it seems somehow insulated on the bottom. Do you have B&O audio?

I have Audi Sound System and there's no subwoofer inside the spare tyre trunk.

 

[AlS3BE]

Seems like you have subwoofer placed in spare tyre and it seems somehow insulated on the bottom. Do you have B&O audio?

I have Audi Sound System and there's no subwoofer inside the spare tyre trunk.

I have b&o in a sportback so might be different in the saloon version.
Soundproofing should help but like all soundproofing sound gets in at the weakest point which will be the windows. Soundproofing adds a lot of weight as well so will have an impact to fuel economy.
I remember one of my old cars with a massive aftermarket sound system. I soundproofed the doors and boot with stuff called dynamat. It was like 20-30kg of materials. If I did the floor and roof it would have been another 20-30kg. It did make a difference but still could hear some road noise and wind noise.

 

[AllanG]

Seems like you have subwoofer placed in spare tyre and it seems somehow insulated on the bottom. Do you have B&O audio?

I have Audi Sound System and there's no subwoofer inside the spare tyre trunk.

As I believe you have the A3 saloon (limo) model, the subwoofer is actually mounted inside the boot underneath the rear window shelf.

I used to own an A3 saloon PFL, and one of my complaints was that road noise from the tyres was very intrusive, however, I never investigated adding any soundproofing material.

 

[Adam14]

Off the top of my head my saloon boot likes identical. Definitely the same cut out / foam inserts for my spare wheel. Also have B&O sound system..


@A13SBE

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[Adam14]

In regards to Op my S3 hasn't really exhibited anything you've said. I've found it to be a pretty quiet car (aside from the engine for obvious reasons)

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[Kingfisher]

In my saloon I don’t have any covering on the bottom of the boot. The spare wheel sits on painted metal, with removeable boot floor on top.

ditto 2016 S3 saloon

 

[MirekJ]

It seems to me that when you order B&O soundsystem, there is some more insulation with this configuration option. Makes perfect sense to me, only if I had known this before I have confirmed my final order with the dealer.

I've been even thinking going to the extremes because I really like this car more than I hate it's acoustic properties. How about getting a quote for a fully custom two-layered acoustical glasses for the doors? Depends on the price of course, will see.

And what do you think about special acoustical foils for the side windows? It's not officially made in the car glass foils category, but for building windows there is a claim of significant noise reduction.

Also, one of the soundproofing companies claims a 3.8dB noise reduction in average for my car (I've sent them a quote today).

3dB decrease should mean the sound/noise level is cut in half. Not really sure at the moment if it's worth it.

 

[AlS3BE]

How much is the soundproofing company charging?
If they are doing the whole car it’s a pretty labour intensive job.

 

[MirekJ]

How much is the soundproofing company charging?
If they are doing the whole car it’s a pretty labour intensive job.

4 days of work they say, and the estimated price is cca $1500.

 

[AlS3BE]

It’s the dismantling the car I would be worried about.
I just fitted folding mirrors and I was worried I will break something. Full soundproofing will mean every panel will come out

 

[MirekJ]

It’s the dismantling the car I would be worried about.
I just fitted folding mirrors and I was worried I will break something. Full soundproofing will mean every panel will come out

Yeah that's something I'm fully aware of, they will need to tear it apart, literally. Something can possibly go wrong, that's the risk of it. But they specialize in soundproofing and seem to have lots of customers.

 

[AlS3BE]

Yeah that's something I'm fully aware of, they will need to tear it apart, literally. Something can possibly go wrong, that's the risk of it. But they specialize in soundproofing and seem to have lots of customers.

It’s more the warranty side of things. 6 months down the line something stops working and Audi refuses to fix it cause something is in the way or the new soundproofing caused something to break.
Maybe do the boot and doors first and see if there’s any improvement before going all out. the rest of the car has carpet and other stuff to block noise out. Just a suggestion.

 

[MirekJ]

Many thanks for your suggestions. Didn't really think a lot about warranty side of things, will do.

 

[larbel]

A3/S3 is no where near premium, it's entry level Audi at most, but with that said, it's not a noisy car by any mean either. I Dynamat all doors, boots and it's noticeably quieter and more solid bass, and I could go further and dynamat the floor, wheel well etc too but the difference really doesn't justify the effort IMO. I did all the Dynamat myself and I'd never imagine to pay to have my car dismantle to that extend lol

 

[MirekJ]

A3/S3 is no where near premium, it's entry level Audi at most, but with that said, it's not a noisy car by any mean either. I Dynamat all doors, boots and it's noticeably quieter and more solid bass, and I could go further and dynamat the floor, wheel well etc too but the difference really doesn't justify the effort IMO. I did all the Dynamat myself and I'd never imagine to pay to have my car dismantle to that extend lol

What model year do you have? I don't say it's noisy, but the doors should have been soundproofed more imho.

Was it hard to dismantle the doors by yourself?

Subjectively, how much difference it was? Can you describe in more detail?

 

[larbel]

What model year do you have? I don't say it's noisy, but the doors should have been soundproofed more imho.

Was it hard to dismantle the doors by yourself?

Subjectively, how much difference it was? Can you describe in more detail?

'15 S3 Sedan, the door panels are piece of cake to remove, it does have a few pieces of dampening pad on the door metal and I've added Dynamat to cover the entire metal surface. Tire/road noise is definitely reduced and bass always benefits from strengthen bare metal by reducing vibration etc. And the sub is located at the rear shelf and rear shelf is bare metal from factory so I added Dynamat there too and also helped with tire/road noise as well as bass. Then the trunk space, we have no space tire in our market, and it's again bare metal under the carpeting, again some Dynamat there helped too. I wouldn't say it's day and nights difference, but it's definitely noticeable and at least bring it to the point that I'm happy with.

 

[MirekJ]

'15 S3 Sedan, the door panels are piece of cake to remove, it does have a few pieces of dampening pad on the door metal and I've added Dynamat to cover the entire metal surface. Tire/road noise is definitely reduced and bass always benefits from strengthen bare metal by reducing vibration etc. And the sub is located at the rear shelf and rear shelf is bare metal from factory so I added Dynamat there too and also helped with tire/road noise as well as bass. Then the trunk space, we have no space tire in our market, and it's again bare metal under the carpeting, again some Dynamat there helped too. I wouldn't say it's day and nights difference, but it's definitely noticeable and at least bring it to the point that I'm happy with.

Sounds about right, thanks. Can you point me, if you remember, to the exact Dynamat materials you have used for your diy soundproofing?

 

[larbel]

Sounds about right, thanks. Can you point me, if you remember, to the exact Dynamat materials you have used for your diy soundproofing?

Dynamat 10455 18" x 32" set of 9, enough for the whole car..

 

[MirekJ]

Reviving this thread a little bit. Did two long highway rides (6+ hours each) past week, at constant speeds of 80mph/130kph, of course with occassional slowdowns, but the aerodynamic noise and road noise together was/is extremely unbearable, almost to the point that even my wife started to notice something is really strange with this A3 car in regards to comfort vs. the high price we paid for it. We'll see how it goes in the next weeks when we switch to summer tyres, but I think it will only be minor change, if anything.

All in all - extremely disappointed with this A3 8V FL 2019, even more when I read years-back reviews of pre-facelift A3s which at those times were totally praised as being extremely comfortable cars in their class, and even at much higher speeds. Here's some old review I found (Google translated) - https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=cs&tl=en&u=http://www.autoforum.cz/testy-aut/test-audi-a3-2012-1-4-tfsi:-skvele-ale-ne-dost/?4 ... this guy mentions no aerodynamic noise up to 110mph/180kph... With my A3, I start to hear aerodynamic noise at 44mph/70kph. I always thought new car generations will be a little bit better than the previous ones.

Seems like Audi cheapness at its finest.

 

[Adam14]

Without being a "party pooper" if you're doing over 80mph you're speeding which you shouldn't be doing anyway

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[MirekJ]

80mph is perfectly legal and allowed maximum here on highways in Czech Republic, not sure about the UK roads.

 

[Adam14]

80mph is perfectly legal and allowed maximum here on highways in Czech Republic, not sure about the UK roads.

Apologies, I just assumed you were in the UK (as most on this forum are). 70mph is the "limit" on motorways/dual carriageways here.

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[MirekJ]

Nevermind. Going above 44mph/70kph and the aerodynamic noise gets worse and worse. Feel so terrible I haven't done more research into this new A3 8V FL. But it's no surprise it behaves like that, as I've measured the thickness of the side window glass to be only 3,5 millimeters - really thin to block noise in my opinion.

 

[Sean6211]

I would suggest if you are hearing mainly noise intrusion from the door, I would suggest you focus your efforts on the door areas. Door seals and good alignment play a huge role in noise levels heard in the cabin, make sure your outer and inner seals are good and that the doors shuts tight and firm onto the chassis.

 

[AlS3BE]

I had a little bit of wind noise when new and took it back to the dealers and they adjusted the doors a little and it’s been fine since.
Another thing is tyre noise can be bad on some road surfaces. Difference between tarmac and concrete roads can be night and day on certain tyres. My winters sounds awful on some road surfaces at 60mph+ but are fine on others.

 

[RichardT]

I’ve always considered my A3 (pfl) to be quite quiet.

 

[Fatbloke]

I always find road noise is reduced with winter tyres. I use 205x55x16 on the cars though instead of the 225x40x18 summer tyres.

The A3 is not too bad for noise but I had a VW Golf GTi courtesy car last year and the VW was far superior, even down to all the storage pockets in the doors etc felt lined. A very quiet car.

 

[dp_motley]

I collected my A3 35TFSI Sportback two weeks ago. I love the car, everything in it so far, except poor soundproofing. I read that the 8V should be quiet inside. But it's not. The tyre noise is the worst. I don't even know where it comes from - the floor or the doors. It just surrounds you.

Perhaps, I notice the noise so badly because I still own my old 2012 A3 8PA 1.6 TDI, which I soundproofed two years ago and got used to it. I soundproofed the rear part only - the trunk, the wheel arches, the rear wings and the space below the rear cushion. I used StP stuff and did everything by the book: first came anti vibration plates, than the mid-to-high frequency noise isolation. I hardly hear anything from the back after this. But I started hearing more noise from the front because of the quiet rear end

But even with non-soundproofed front, the TDI and 225/40/18 Conti winter tyres rated to 72 dB of the road noise and have to be noisy, the 8PA seems to be quieter in the "tyre noise" department than the 8VF on the 225/40/18 Dunlop Sport Maxx RT.

I seriously consider starting a new soundproofing project.

Speaking on the sound, I read that putting a piece of an anti vibration material on the door metal just behind of a speaker can improve the sound quality.

Here's a picture of what I've done to my 8PA

 

[teamspb]

Heres my opinion, coming from someone who sound deadens vehicles for a living as part of what I do...

We also have a S3 Saloon but is a PFL 2015 version, and we find its really quiet which is the complete opposite of yours...If you are CERTAIN nothing is missing - there are lots of little things on the A3 that help reduce road noise, absorbers in the arch liners, lots of foams all over the place to stop wind noise in the arch/wing area. There is also more 3m insulation on the inside of the panels in the boot, again, make sure thats present etc

If you are adamant all the above is correct, then check the tires...this is the biggest culprit of road noise in vehicles these days...

By the sounds of things, your issues seem to be wind noise, in which case I would concentrate on making sure all the foams and seals are in place as they should be

BUT...if all the above seems correct and in place, then I will go through what I did on one of my own vehicles...A Ford Orion mk2 1989! As you can imagine, deaden was non existant!

The arsenal I chose was;

Silent Coat Multilayer 5mm deadening mats - these are designed to add strength to the panel as well as lower the resonant frequency of the panels. This was used only on the big panels to help strengthen them. Coverage will be around 20-30% per panel
Silent Coat 2mm deadening mats - this is used to fully cover the panels to completely eliminate any panel resonance. Coverage was 100% on all panels
Dodo Mat Sound Stopper Flex - this is a combination layer which combines 2 layers of semi closed cell foam which sandwiches a 1mm layer of mass loaded vinyl. The semi closed cell foam is designed to absorb and trap sound. The mass loaded vinyl is designed as a physical block for the sound to come through.
Silent Coat Sound Absorber - this is an open cell foam barrier which resembles an egg box...this is used to take up air space behind panels/shelves/door cards/roof lining etc, but serves as a 2 in one product, first to absorb sound, and secondly to help create a little pressure on a panel to help stop any rattle etc

Some pics
Silent Coat Absorber

Dodo Mat Sound Stopper Flex

And some process pics...you can see how extreme you can actually go...

 

[JonW]

I have an S3 saloon MY19 and everything about it, is quiet . It has less road noise than my last S3 which was a Sportback, which is kinda strange IMO as this has more rubber on the road with it having 19s and they’re lower profile.

The Mrs just bought a new I10 and that is properly quiet when cruising, quieter than mine.

So what I think I’m saying is, depends what you’re used too?

 

[AlS3BE]

Heres my opinion, coming from someone who sound deadens vehicles for a living as part of what I do...

We also have a S3 Saloon but is a PFL 2015 version, and we find its really quiet which is the complete opposite of yours...If you are CERTAIN nothing is missing - there are lots of little things on the A3 that help reduce road noise, absorbers in the arch liners, lots of foams all over the place to stop wind noise in the arch/wing area. There is also more 3m insulation on the inside of the panels in the boot, again, make sure thats present etc

If you are adamant all the above is correct, then check the tires...this is the biggest culprit of road noise in vehicles these days...

By the sounds of things, your issues seem to be wind noise, in which case I would concentrate on making sure all the foams and seals are in place as they should be

BUT...if all the above seems correct and in place, then I will go through what I did on one of my own vehicles...A Ford Orion mk2 1989! As you can imagine, deaden was non existant!

The arsenal I chose was;

Silent Coat Multilayer 5mm deadening mats - these are designed to add strength to the panel as well as lower the resonant frequency of the panels. This was used only on the big panels to help strengthen them. Coverage will be around 20-30% per panel
Silent Coat 2mm deadening mats - this is used to fully cover the panels to completely eliminate any panel resonance. Coverage was 100% on all panels
Dodo Mat Sound Stopper Flex - this is a combination layer which combines 2 layers of semi closed cell foam which sandwiches a 1mm layer of mass loaded vinyl. The semi closed cell foam is designed to absorb and trap sound. The mass loaded vinyl is designed as a physical block for the sound to come through.
Silent Coat Sound Absorber - this is an open cell foam barrier which resembles an egg box...this is used to take up air space behind panels/shelves/door cards/roof lining etc, but serves as a 2 in one product, first to absorb sound, and secondly to help create a little pressure on a panel to help stop any rattle etc

Some pics
Silent Coat Absorber

Dodo Mat Sound Stopper Flex

And some process pics...you can see how extreme you can actually go...

That must be close to 100kg of material possibly more. Surely that must affect the fuel economy and handling.

 

[dp_motley]

...If you are CERTAIN nothing is missing - there are lots of little things on the A3 that help reduce road noise, absorbers in the arch liners, lots of foams all over the place to stop wind noise in the arch/wing area. There is also more 3m insulation on the inside of the panels in the boot, again, make sure thats present etc

If you are adamant all the above is correct, then check the tires...this is the biggest culprit of road noise in vehicles these days...

By the sounds of things, your issues seem to be wind noise, in which case I would concentrate on making sure all the foams and seals are in place as they should be

When I read this first time I thought that it would be unlikely if Audi missed something. But... I was swapping door cards with the S3 ones and here's what I found out. The S3 door cards came from a car with the B&O. There was insulation material on the inside of the door card, thick and soft felt-like thing. My A3 didn't have anything between the metal of the door and plastic of the door card. Nothing. I put the S3 insulation into my doors and it helped with the higher range og the noise frequency. It's not as bad as it was before.

I have a dumb question but I'm going to ask it anyway. Does upholstery foam have any insulation properties? I have rests of the StP Aero that is enough for all the doors, but that is an anti vibration material, the first layer. I need to buy some sound absorber only. But I also have 25 mm thick upholstery foam, so the dumb question is about it. Would I gain anything by putting it into the doors or better not to waste time and buy a real thing?