I love my car...besides the transmission issue (i am on Number 2 after 45k miles) it has been pretty reliable. the looks (outside) have grown on me. I especially like the rear 3rd angle view. I love the interior. But one thing that drives me and more up the wall the longer i own it is the god damn interior noise. My frickn 92 Taurus has less interior noise then this thing. I have to yell when I use my cell phone. WTF? It's driving me insane...to compensate I turn the music louder..but it is just more noise. It is the worst on cement roads. Is there anything i can do to make this a little better? I know that made more changes for the 2002 models...did that make a signifigant difference? There has to be a solution

 

dynamat ?

 

maybe your tires suck? if there is a difference on the roads i would think that is the problem i own one of the first 01's and it really doesnt affect me, so....

 

maybe u need new tires

 

If you got stock rims maybe it is the tires. My friend had one tire that was different. and it went bump bump bump bump. ARGH!!!!

 

I'm thinking tires.
Don't get me started on noise, my CLS was a cadillac compared to my Teg (one of my few complaints about it)
EDIT: Usually people can tell when your in your car talking on the cell phone, but people would always comment on how they could never tell if I was in my car or not because they could not hear any noise.
Oh yeah, and keep your sunroof shade closed, it does help

 

Hmm, I don't know what to tell ya about the noise. My '03 TL-S is quiet as a church service. Even when I did a 147-mph run, I was still talking to my passenger at normal voice tone.

Unless the sound-deadening materials all came off your car, it probably is your tires. Tires make a huge difference in road noise.

 

^ yea mine is very quiet as well. I have an 01 CL-P and as soon as my windows shut you could hear a pin drop.

 

yea CLS is pretty quiet. I'd check the things other people mentioned.

 

i have the thermal exhaust system with a test pipe (no cat) and i threw some dyomat down under the bak seats an shit.. now have no problem!

 

Is it road noise (tires) or the squeaks and rattles that are getting to you ??

Either way, it doesn't make Acura look good in my eyes. I don't have experience with the 92 Taurus, but my 94 Tbird didn't start developing interior rattles until it hit about 100K miles (dashboard rattle).

My CLS is a more luxurious car then my Tbird, but it cost $10K more ($20k 1994 dollars vs. $30k 2002 dollars).

I don't think I'll buy another "import" unless it's made in Japan. IMHO the quality of american made "import" isn't much better then american made domestics. In comparing my last 2 vehicle purchased, the Ford had better quality then the Acura.... Your mileage may Vary tho'

 

 

YEP!

Besides...seems like the american makers are getting better with their quality(little bit anyhow).

 

It a bit hard to judge now. Cars are getting more and more complex with low emissions and high HP. This will cause problems and major headaches to any brand of car.

 

I have got the Sumitomo HTR+'s ... and they are relatively new. Hmmm.... i will try the sunroof shade thing. My tires are relatively new. Shiittt..... can i put dynamat in my car? is that practical?

 

I sure hope so, and they've got a long way to go.

For some reason, my dad's '04 XL Denali has more problems than our family beater '96 Intrepid. For a wrecked used car we picked up at an auction with 130k miles on the odometer, that sumbitch is running like a CHAMP. Even this winter, after sitting outside on the driveway in 0-degree weather for like a week, and not being run for like 2 weeks prior to it, it started on the first try right away. My cousins' 2000 Accord with 70k miles (they've been living at our house) had trouble starting, even in the garage. It took about 30 seconds and multiple tries to start it.

As much as I hate Dodge, I love my Intrepid. It's not the best car out there, but its reliability has been TOP NOTCH. In the past 4 years or so we've had it, and receiving minimum maintenance, it's never failed us.

The Denali? Suspension problem, engine trouble, HVAC failure, navigation failure, horrible fit and finish, interior problems (handle bar is coming off, heated seats failed, more rattles than a 30-year-old dump truck (well, not that I own a 30-year-old dump truck, but you get the idea), etc, etc.

Bottom line is, American cars are not that reliable overall. Then again, a cheapo Intrepid has proven more reliable than the over-hyped Accord.

 

Have those two and they are noticably louder than the stock tires. Of course since I saved a few hundred bucks vs the stock ones i aint complaining

 

It's not light, I'll tell you that. I dynamatted the entire trunk of my TL and used 3 sheets of Xtreme.

I had bought a 6-sheet bulk package of Xtreme, and that sucker weighed like 30 pounds!! I mean, unless you care about every pound in your car (or have a way to offset it with power-increase mods, it's cool, I guess. I noticed the sound comes in clearer after installing dynamat, and reduced rattles produced by the bass (2 12"s, about 600 watts; you can see the emblems vibrating from the side -- other than the minor trunklid rattles which seem nearly impossible to get rid of, my trunk is pretty solid).

I still have the other 3 sheets left, and I plan to install those for the interior speakers, and the rest on the floorpan underneath the carpet.

 

you can't compare interior noise and rattling to Ford Tourus, it has very soft suspension. I bet if you put stiff suspension to Taurus it will rattle like hell.

 

I too had the Sumi on my CLS ... seemed quiet enough for me. Had Toyo T1S before those and the Michelins before that.

 

I had those same tires, and still quiet. Did you get the stock size 215/50/17 ?

I tested the sunshade thing too, I could really tell a difference.
What you should do is have someone else in Chi town take a ride with you, and let them tell you if they hear anything abnormal compared to their CL/TL.

 

whatever brand of tire you get, stay away from the Pirelli P7000 and the Kuhmo's....those tires are okay at the begining as far as road noise is concerned, but as soon as you wear them down to around 75% left, $hit....all you hear is the damn road.

 

Yoko's.........very quiet tire.

 

I have no rattles whatsoever. Zilch. I used to get one from the headliner during the winter buyt that was fixed the year before. I get an occasional isolated "mystery rattle" every now and then but, the one thing i can NOT complain about is rattles. I know others have had problems with these but not me. Mine is all about road, tire and wind noise.

 

I must be lucky because I consider my 2001 Type S to be extremely quiet. No rattles, wind noise or tire noise even with the car lowered with H&R Sport springs and 18" rims. My Goodyear F1 GS-D3 tires are very quiet.

In fact I want to change out the exhaust system with something with a little more noise like Magnaflows....

 

i just remember it being loud when i had snow tires....

 

You may want to do the door seal trick. If I remember correctly, over time, from the doors being open and shut over and over again, the top seal around the driver and passenger window can buldge out. Now If memory serves me correctly, Red-CL posted on how to do this and consisted of:
Open the door, roll the window all the way down, hold the middle portion of the door, and push lightly on the very top (right on driver, left on passenger) corner of the black portion surrounding the window. May want to serarch for exactness, but I believe this was the way to do it. I know a body shop did it to my passenger door, when it looked like it wasn't closing as tight as it should.
Just a thought

 

Luck of the draw? My 99 Accord (90k miles) is so reliable it's ridiculous. My aunt had an Intrepid that blew up recently (total electrical failure 95k miles)... I talked her into buying a Camry. I don't think you can compare Accord/Camry to something like an Intrepid. I can say, since having a 93, 99, 01, and 03 Accord since 2001, that Accord reliability has not been over-hyped in my experience. Not by a long shot.

 

Of course it's the luck of the draw. I was just speaking in terms of my own experience, not for all Intrepids and Accords out there.

 

my car has been very reliable (sans 1 tranny) that is not the issue...how the hell do i get rid of this noise? Is there a different brand of tire that would make that much of a difference?

 

Yes and No. It can be the brand, some high performance ones aren't as quiet as others. Sometimes it might be the balancing or if one tire is kinda off from the others.