Noisy in here!! Pt 2 - Is it the tyres? new member

[Harry Gee]

Hi Everyone

Just got my new A3 Sportback 2.0 petrol auto ; a week after delivery I took it on a 2 1/2 hour run to the Scottish borders, on mostly A roads with a few minor tracks.
After a very short time I was aware that the car seemed a lot noisier and had a more "jiggly" ride than I was expecting!
By the time I returned home after another 2 1/2 hours I was feeling quite disappointed with my new car
and was even beginning to wonder if the car had sport suspension fitted by mistake ( as I specified dynamic comfort suspension)

I changed it for a Citroen C4 petrol which always had a firm ride ( like a skateboard!)and was noisy at speed so getting an Audi I expected a quiet comfortable ride.

After some thought, I wonder if the problems are due to the tyres which are Bridgestone Turanza T005s.

Does anyone else have experience of this excessive road noise?

Its not all bad news ; the interior looks great and the reason I can hear the road noise is because the engine is barely above idle at 60 which is nice!

Also, should I be able to find the dynamic suspension code somewhere on the spec sheet stuck inside my manual? There does not appear to be a suspension code antwhere on the sheet which makes me suspicious!

Thanks for any input!

 

[Svenedin]

I have the Bridgestone Turanza T005's as well. I haven't found them especially noisy except on certain road surfaces (the concrete section type surface on some motorways is very bad). Having said that, they are noisier than I would like and when the are worn out I won't be fitting the same tyres again.

 

[Jassyo06]

Great....Part...Deux...hope there's a Part 3 A love a good Trilogy....lol

 

[Jassyo06]

All kidding aside..... the A3 has excessive road noise via the tyres....this issue has been posted on here since its introduction back 2012

 

[Daveotto]

Great....Part...Deux...hope there's a Part 3 A love a good Trilogy....lol

or the prequel with the strapline .........."in an A3 no one can here you scream"

and was even beginning to wonder if the car had sport suspension fitted by mistake ( as I specified dynamic comfort suspension)

maybe its me but I have never heard of "dynamic comfort suspension" in the past you have been able to spec standard suspension in place of sport suspension on s-line models but I thought those days were long gone, I wait to be corrected

 

[Jassyo06]

or the prequel with the strapline .........."in an A3 no one can here you scream"



maybe its me but I have never heard of "dynamic comfort suspension" in the past you have been able to spec standard suspension in place of sport suspension on s-line models but I thought those days were long gone, I wait to be corrected

Or in a "A3....No One Can Hear a Squeak" lol

 

[Rolly12]

All kidding aside..... the A3 has excessive road noise via the tyres....this issue has been posted on here since its introduction back 2012

Any home remedies?


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[RichardT]

or the prequel with the strapline .........."in an A3 no one can here you scream"



maybe its me but I have never heard of "dynamic comfort suspension" in the past you have been able to spec standard suspension in place of sport suspension on s-line models but I thought those days were long gone, I wait to be corrected

Same here - never heard of that. Are you saying that you can no longer choose the suspension you want.
Mine is a base model saloon, so therefore a Sport. I speced SE suspension after test driving the standard sport suspension, that I thought was OK on main roads, but too uncomfortable on side roads.
I find my car pretty quiet really - Pirelli Cinturato as delivered.

 

[glospete]

From what I can gather (who ever expected Audi to make it easy) SE suspension has now morphed into Dynamic suspension. Dynamic comes standard with SE and Sport models and Sport suspension (which is 15mm lower) is standard on S-Line cars. S3 cars come with S Sport suspension which is 25mm lower. S-Line cars can have Sport suspension deselected and therefore have Dynamic. Whew! Stop falling asleep in the back row as I'll be asking questions later! So it seems that S-Line suspension (which was 25mm lower) and Sport (15mm lower) are no longer available as an option on Sport models. I think I need to lie down now!


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[Daveotto]

Are you saying that you can no longer choose the suspension you want.

Will correct myself, checked the configurator, and you still have 3 choices of suspension, dynamic (standard), sport (15mm lower than dynamic) and s-line (25mm lower than dynamic as a £325 option)

 

[RichardT]

Sounds like they have just changed the name of SE suspension to Dynamic.
But what's dynamic about it? I would say that "Dynamic" suggests harder/lower, whereas it seems it's the soft option.

 

[allanmb]

Hi Everyone

Just got my new A3 Sportback 2.0 petrol auto ; a week after delivery I took it on a 2 1/2 hour run to the Scottish borders, on mostly A roads with a few minor tracks.
After a very short time I was aware that the car seemed a lot noisier and had a more "jiggly" ride than I was expecting!
By the time I returned home after another 2 1/2 hours I was feeling quite disappointed with my new car
and was even beginning to wonder if the car had sport suspension fitted by mistake ( as I specified dynamic comfort suspension)

I changed it for a Citroen C4 petrol which always had a firm ride ( like a skateboard!)and was noisy at speed so getting an Audi I expected a quiet comfortable ride.

After some thought, I wonder if the problems are due to the tyres which are Bridgestone Turanza T005s.

Does anyone else have experience of this excessive road noise?

Its not all bad news ; the interior looks great and the reason I can hear the road noise is because the engine is barely above idle at 60 which is nice!

Also, should I be able to find the dynamic suspension code somewhere on the spec sheet stuck inside my manual? There does not appear to be a suspension code antwhere on the sheet which makes me suspicious!

Thanks for any input!

I also have a LOT of road noise, and I also have Bridgestone Turanza T005s. They have worn down much quicker than any other tyre and they seem to be noisier than any other tyre I've used. I won't be getting them again. I'm hoping God Year F1 Asy 3 will be much quieter in the car

 

[Phutters]

Sounds like they have just changed the name of SE suspension to Dynamic.
But what's dynamic about it? I would say that "Dynamic" suggests harder/lower, whereas it seems it's the soft option.

It's marketing cobblers, that's what it is. Etymologically speaking, dynamic means constantly changing or moving.

Which is just as well, because if the suspension wasn't constantly moving you'd have a lap full of fillings within a few hundred yards.

.

 

[Harry Gee]

Hi All
I started the thread and thanks for the replies
I can confirm from the Audi UK "configurator" that the A3 Sport trim which is what I bought , has"dynamic" suspension as standard with the option to have lowered "sport" suspension instead.
All the reviews were saying stick with dynamic as it is more comfortable than sport as the ride is harder - this was confirmed by the dealer guy who seemed to know his stuff.
I agree the wording is all cobblers!
I always thought Audis were quality cars and I did loads of research before picking the A3 so, to say I am gutted that I have not bought a quiet comfy cruiser is an understatement!!
I don't recall excessive road noise being mentioned in the motoring press either!

To have gone from a C4 with a hard ride which drove me mad for years to more of the same just sucks!

The C4 had 17" wheels ( also on my A3 ) which I swapped for 16"ers did not help much , but what did was buying
Goodyear Efficient Grip tyres which were quieter.
So here I am with 300 miles on the clock having to think about shelling out £350 for a new set of tyres
which might make a bit of difference - what a bl**dy shambles!

About the build codes ; should I not have a record somewhere confirming the suspension installed?
My sheet in the manual does not seem to have it , is there another copy under the spare wheel?
I was told a dynamic/SE suspension leaves enough room for a fist between the wheel and the arch
not very scientific but is it true?

Has anyone had the wrong suspension installed by mistake?

Cheers
harry

 

[Supa Koopa]

Could be worse, you could have Hankook's on your car. My S3 has them and they are really poo. They seem to have much less grip than my old S3 and are definitely way too noisy.

 

[kalniel]

The 8V is noticeably noisier than the 8P for road and wind noise. I was quite shocked at first, but look at the weight difference and it's clear how - they've really lightened up the sound insulation and possibly window thickness in order to save weight.

Not a lot to be done about the wind noise, but you could try lining the wheel arches with some foam perhaps.

 

[h5djr]

I have a full printed list of all the options that were added by the factory to the 'basic' A3. It does not include a code related to the suspension as my car is a Sport spec but has the SE-Dynamic suspension.
Tyres and the road surface can make a huge difference to the 'road noise' I have had Dunlop 225/45 R17 91Y Sport Maxx RT tyres and several of my A3s. In the past I have recommended these to others who have complained about road noise and according to them it has made a big difference.
The other thing that makes a big difference is the road surface. In this county we still use 'surface dressing' on worn road surfaces. This entails spreading a layer or tar on the road and rolling in granite chippings. If you drive along a road that has been 'repaired' in this way the increase in noise level is huge compared with a normal or the new quiet spray suppressing type road surface. The only advantage of surface dressing is that it is cheap. I drive quite a lot in Germany and they tend to use the quiet spray suppressing road surface on most roads and the advantage is that it is a lot quieter as well.

 

[Harry Gee]

Hi h5djr / kalniel and others
You have put my mind at rest if you also don't have a suspension code ; I had seen images on other sites of printouts showing the 1BA code which I think is the dynamic code but it is not on my manual printout.
I was quite impressed with the claimed 48 mpg readout of my 2.0 petrol Sportback on the run to the borders ; now I know that was achieved at the expense of sound insulation obviously!
Fortunately , having retired , the A3 was a retirement treat with no work journeys and most of the time I only need to do short journeys of 10 -15 mins each way. I expect to only do maybe 4 runs a year of 5 hours each way from Scotland to Yorkshire.
So I have to decide whether to live with the noise or change tyres.
Trouble is, what to pick?
I got decent results with Goodyear Efficient Grip ( good reviews of low noise on bl**kcir***s) but someone here recommends Dunlop Sport Max RT.
I bet others will recommend yet more choices!
Has anyone seen a review where tyres are directly compared for internal noise levels?

 

[Daveotto]

o say I am gutted that I have not bought a quiet comfy cruiser is an understatement!!
I don't recall excessive road noise being mentioned in the motoring press either!

@Harry Gee did you not test drive the car before you bought it?

There were numerous threads on here back in the day on road noise and hardness of the suspension compared to the 8P

The 8V is noticeably noisier than the 8P for road and wind noise. I was quite shocked at first, but look at the weight difference and it's clear how - they've really lightened up the sound insulation and possibly window thickness in order to save weight.

The 8V lost about 75kg compared to its predecessor so some of that would contribute to picking up more road and wind noise engines are also quieter so you notice wind and tyre noise more