DKraky

I may have made a mistake coming to the RDX from a Highlander. Immediately after hitting the road home with my new prize I realized it was considerably louder as far as road noise and the ride was somewhat lacking. Guess the sales gal knew what roads to take me on...lol. as time went on and I did some trips with my brother in his 2013 Equinox I came to honestly believe my RDX rides no better than his equinox and has absolutely as much identical road noise. I paid 40600 for my RDX with tech package got it for 10 months and have 9500 miles on it and started shopping for a Telluride. Kbb trade value is 36000 which I thought was pretty generous but the dealers including the one I got the rdx from are offering me 33... which is more of a beating than I took on my 2.5 year old Highlander when I traded it on this RDX. (15k miles on the highlander).
so I finally got a ride in a Telluride and it is very smooth and very quiet but it is a quite a bit more "floaty". And I miss the low end torque of the turbo. The telluride's I looked at are running Michelin Tires.... is that part of the secret? I came away from my test ride not feeling like I had to have that Telluride. Starting to wonder if some different tires on my Acura would make a nice difference has anybody upgraded tires and seen some nice Improvement. It just seems to me for all the things they say they did on the RDX to keep out road noise they kind of failed?

Hidrosmen

Better tires will make a difference. Switched to Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season Plus...much less noise coming form the tires. Although now you hear the engine rumble(if you are not into that). Also the car feels much more planted and handling is better. All in all i'm happy for switching from the OE ones.

DKraky

Seems like Kia is way smarter than Acura... build a top-of-the-line car and put top-of-the-line tires on it? Why would a manufacturer try to save a hundred 150 or $200 on Tire investment and pretty much wreck all the hard work their Engineers did on the car? Crazy?

hand-filer

They certainly are. And they're smarter than the folks over at Lincoln that also decided on garbage Dunlops for a tire choice. Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season Plus tires are on my to do list next fall.

leomio85

It depends on what you want in a car. I know a lot of reviewers say the Telluride has a fantastic ride, but at the expense of handling. It doesn't do corners particularly well and has noticeable body roll. It's exceedingly difficult (and expensive) to have the best of both worlds ... see: electronically controlled suspensions and/or airbag suspensions. The RDX's ride quality is certainly not its best trait, but it handles competently enough. Different tires would certainly help, but I wouldn't change them out until the factory ones wear out unless it does bother you to a level you don't enjoy driving the car. That being said, Honda/Acura's strong suit has never really been interior noise isolation. Toyota/Lexus and the German luxos, in my experience, have always been superior in this department.

Or, you can just turn the radio up, lol. I used to drive in silence, now I listen to music or a podcast for most drives (not for road noise, but I have a number of interior rattles and I've given up trying to fix them).

supafamous

Agreed that road noise is not great on the RDX. One minor thing that can help with this is to close the pano roof shade - that big piece of glass up there is a big generator of noise as it reflects everything that's in the cabin. You obviously lose some light but it does make the car quieter.

NooYawkuh

The Lexuses I test drove were much quieter than the RDX. And maybe it's not as quiet as most true "luxury" cars. But the RDX is still plenty quiet for my liking. In-cabin conversation and phone calls can be at normal conversation levels. I typically keep the audio system volume between 4-6.

The RDX also will not give you a very soft ride, even in Comfort mode. It's geared more towards performance and handling. It's not a marshmallow.

There are always things you can't practically learn about a car in a 15-20 minute test drive. Road, cabin, tire and engine noise isn't one of them. Of course salespeople have favored routes near the dealer for test drives. I drive it where I want. I've even asked the salesperson to stop talking, because some seem pathologically incapable of it.

DriverOne

This is why I have a difficult time approaching the forum complaint of "loud road noise." It can objectively be measured and then everyone has subjective feelings about it. Before I purchased my RDX, I looked at Alex on Autos because he measures cabin noise across cars on same condition roads. The RDX was like a B+ or something, I forget at this point and I don't care enough to go back and look. It wasn't tops, but it was above average and it certainly wasn't bad. Then everyone on this forum goes around talking like it's practically the worst cabin noise ever. I recently did drive on a highway that had two types of concrete paving -- some stretches it had smooth concrete and others it had rough or textured concrete -- and I can certainly see what people are saying about road noise being higher when I drove on the rough concrete. But, like NooYawkuh, that meant that I had to turn my radio up to "6" from the normal of "4." So if people are approaching that as "this is unacceptable road noise," then that's pretty ridiculous and people need to stop with the melodramatics.

Additionally, the problem with Lexuses -- this is just based on what I researched, I didn't even bother test driving one -- is that they are too disconnected from the road. They have a "floaty" suspension that is often described as "driving a boat." But I tend to think that if they are that well insulated, that would contribute. In other words, I like hearing some of the sound of the road as I drive on it and I like feeling the connection between the car and the road. Maybe the RDX is a bit louder than I would like in a perfect world, but it's completely fine.

Ludepower

Yea it's not the most quiet but its not the worst like some of you make it out to be. It's not bothersome enough for me to start a thread about it. The great sound system drowns it out anyways.

Didn't you do your research before buying this car?

GW208

I'm one that has also complained about road noise in the past. I had a stereo shop add sound deadening material to the doors at around 5000 miles, it didn't make a noticeable difference. At 5400 miles I swapped out the Continentals for Michelin Premier LTX DT tires and I can't say that they made a big difference either.

We have about 7500 miles on the car now and I don't know if I've just reached the point of acceptance or if the car is quieter because I don't find myself obsessing about the noise like I used to. I would say the noise on most surfaces is anywhere from good to acceptable now. Some surfaces are still miserably loud though and turning up the radio would just make it worse. I'm not sure the grass is greener on the other side either because I've read complaints about tire noise on several different forums.
One thing we noticed right away with the Michelin's is they like to follow the micro grooves cut into the pavement on a stretch of our local freeway. We've noticed that in the past with other tires but it usually gets better as they wear.

boyce89976

I find it depends more on road surface than anything else. There are some surfaces where I think cabin noise is as loud as it was in my Pilot, then on other surfaces I can barely hear the road noise. In both cases, I wouldn't say the noise was detrimental to in-cabin conversations, or listening to the radio (I find in most scenarios I don't have to turn the radio up past 6 to hear it).

acuraada

put a decibel app on your phone and measure on the same road... everyone's hearing is different so road noise is really subjective. If you feel something else is more quieter, then yes it is indeed.

DKraky

I totally agree that different Road surfaces make a huge difference in this car..... one minute it's like... boy this car is sweet. And you get into the next County and some different roads and you wonder if there's a rust hole in your floorboard! I never thought of closing the roof panel shade and that is going to happen for an experiment.

russianDude

because manufacture signs a contract with a tire company that gives them a good deal for mass purchase and also they need tires with best MPG.

Waetherman

For the record, Alex on Autos gave it an A- for cabin noise. That was for the Advance model. Before buying I watched another video by some German (I think) guy who was doing a head-to-head between the RDX and the Q5. I think there was a 2 db difference between the two.

I do think the RDX is louder than I had hoped for, but I do think that most of that noise comes from the tires. I don't know what can be done about that but at this point it's not enough of an issue for me to spend $1000 for something that might make it a little quieter.

acuraada

That’s what the brilliant sound system is for

NooYawkuh

The shade probably absorbs some outside noise (like rain) and reflects less cabin sound. I think it also may keep the cabin warmer in the winter by maintaining an air space below that big sheet of cold glass. I open it during the day to let the sun warm the car and close it at night to keep the draft out and the heat in.

Of course, I keep it closed all summer.

itsardx

The lower trims lack the acoustic windshield, that might a difference ? In Canada, the Elite and Platinum Elite (not sure about A-Spec) have acoustic windshield.
Mine was also missing the caps at the bottom, which the dealership installed after I complained about about it (I read about it here).

When I test drove the A-Spec, for whatever reason I found it very noisy, this might have been the pronounced fake engine noises or could have been that particular car was missing something. The Elite was quieter in comparison, atleast to me.

RDX is not a quiet car, after test driving cars in the similar category, I found that they all were similar except the GLC (Lexus was not quiet), so gave up on this criteria.
But like others said, on some surfaces it is quiet and some others it is like some part of sound deadening fell off or something.

russianDude

RDX is not a quiet car, but its also not a very loud car as far as road noise.
why we talk about road noise as its negative? Some actually prefer to be a little bit more realistic driving experience when you can hear the road....
its more of a personal preference, you cant say its bad for everyone.

catbert430

I had replaced the OEM wheels and tires with 20” BBS wheels and Michelin CrossClimate SUV tires.

To trade the car in, I put the OEM Tech rims and Continental tires back on.
The original tires are a lot noisier than the Michelins, especially on concrete roads.

One other thing that I found helpful is the thick, heavy Lloyds Luxe mats. They mitigate some of the tire noise as well.

Oil Stain

Changing tire will help. I had a 2015 Murano with the Continental tires and switched to the Pirelli Verde tires. Huge difference in road noise and ride. I would get them again for the RDX.

boyce89976

The Conti DWS 06 are very quiet.

Madd Dog

But you are a New Yorker, so you can say, “hey dipshit, shut the fuck up so I can concentrate.” Not everyone has that ability.

DriverOne

New Jersey and Massachusetts look over at you.

NooYawkuh

Thanks for the info. The Michelin CrossClimate is near the top of my list, when the time comes.

markAZ

We had the same experience when we test drove the Lexus the guy just wouldn't be quiet.. It was definitely a factor in our decision.

Vince D

I understand the comments concerning tire noise with our OEM tires, and I get it. I mean, I travel the I-5 from Seattle to Portland and there's portions of pavement that are incredibly noisy that in my view contribute to a large percentage of road noise between trucks, winter studded tires and wear and tear of a major artery. However, WSDOT replaced many miles of freeway with modified asphalt, newer polymers and texture and it is the quietest ride ever. It is a startling difference in noise reduction. Cabin noise is virtually quiet. So while I recognize the issue between tires and road noise, I'm the first to admit I will replace my OEM Conti's with a different tire when I need to, mainly because of vanity - I would like a "better" looking, more sporty tire and you all know what I mean lol.

DriverOne

...but then once you pass all the protesters it gets quieter.

supafamous

Oh man, do I ever hate that stretch of I-5 (and much of the part north of Seattle too up to Bellingham). Some of the worst road texture out there and incredibly bad road noise - I sometimes wear earplugs for that stretch. Glad to see that WSDOT is starting to replace portions of it with quieter materials.

Vince D

100%. It's an interesting data point that I'm sort of into, that is - sound acoustics. WSDOT (and I'm sure other states too) conduct Pavement Research and general acoustics of their roadways measuring decibels and Hertz, longitudinal tining and carpet drag - terms that were at one time completely foreign to me and probably 99% of humans could care less about LOL.

NooYawkuh

Around here, we have State Parkways, mostly built by Robert Moses in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Most of them have been repaved with asphalt but some have the original concrete surfaces. They're in good shape but noisy as hell. Some stretches, rather than pave over them, they gave the concrete a grind with grooves. What a difference it made. Much quieter and better traction in all weather conditions - dry, wet, ice or snow.

JB in AZ

While I agree that differences in the road surface do make a big difference in the noise heard in the cabin, I think it would be interesting to be able to compare the actual decibel difference on the same roadway section in different cars. I am not unhappy with the interior sound levels in my RDX.

I DO notice the change in interior nose on sections of I-10 here in Southern AZ. Like another poster mentioned, going from one section to another can be suddenly provide a "startling difference in noise reduction". Again, how would we compare with another brand/model over the same "noisy" section?

Additional thought: The RDX is marketed and known for its "precision" handling. Other brands that are not known for this probably use softer bushings etc. in the suspension that might tend to transmit less noise into the cabin. I'm not a suspension engineer, or even have a distinct picture in my mind of a front suspension at the moment, but possibly a thought worth discussing?

hans471

JB is on to this. To make cars quieter you must isolate the passenger from the road. Many upscale cars do this by using a LOT of rubber bushings. They do things like having a sub frame that holds all the suspension and power train and then having that mount to the body via rubber cushions. This will cut down greatly on noise as it isolates it. Also, with all that rubber you lose rigidity and that means the handling gets "loose". So, the designers have to balance handling and feel with sound isolation. With a Lexus you get quiet and softness but give up the crisp handling of an Acura. BTW back in the day when I was working with Chrysler I spent some time driving the Viper. That car was built to handle on a race track like a champ. Problem was on the street it would beat you to death due to the stiffness. It was not a pleasant car to drive..but it was faster than hell!
I like my Acura for its "feel" and handling. I am NOT a Buick or Lexus guy not because they are not great cars to ride in but rather they are not impressive cars to drive sportingly.
I will accept a little noise on some roads. Besides, our other car is a Fit and coming from it the RDX seems very quiet!

supafamous

I can't find the specific article but I was reading that in the new 2021 Rolls Royce Ghost that they were able to make the car so quiet that they had to reintroduce some white noise back into the cabin so that it wasn't too weird inside.

SG103

All they would have to do is record interior noise from this generation RDX and play it back at a lower volume in the Rolls Royce Ghost. LOL Seriously, this car has much more road noise than my 2013 RDX, next spring I will try Dynamat.

mmm def

change the tires

SG103

I'm not sure changing the tires will do it for you. I have Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires that I was using on my 2013 RDX, I installed those same tires on my 2021 RDX. These tires make a lot of road noise, and it is much worst on the 2021. I get road noise in city traffic with the 2021, unreal.

Ludepower

I see lots of subjective opinion and it would be nice to see some hard evidence that the RDX is noisier than other cars.

russianDude

Road sound is a good thing, its all a matter of preference. Not sure what the argument is about, if you think RDX is too noisy for you, maybe you should have bought different car.

SG103

I'm not saying I regret my purchase. All cars have positive and negatives to them, in many ways this car is better than my 2013 RDX. My point is this car has much more tire noise than the previous generation. I like this car enough to try and work on it's weak points and intend to try some Dynamat to see if I can improve the car.