How do you deal with the underwhelming sound of an S2000?
07-26-2015, 10:44 PM
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How do you deal with the underwhelming sound of an S2000?
Morning guys.
A bit of a moan, move on if you don't like people whinging...
I don't know how many of you drive your S2000s daily, but if like me you do, does the sounds and noise of the thing irritate you as much as they do me?
I love the car, don't get me wrong. I love the heritage, the way it drives, the looks, etc. - but everything I hear, I seem to dislike
I'll start with the overall cabin noise. Why is there so much road noise? Not just the whirring of the tyres but you hear every last stone that goes under the car or in the wheel arches too. It's like driving a car without wheel arch liners. I've never had another standard road car where you can actually hear the stones!
Next, the engine. It sounds terrible. It's not just that I don't like 4 cylinders, but why does the F20c sound particularly crap? I feel like I'm hurting the engine if I rev it. I think the actual sound that comes out the exhaust is great, and the induction sound at WOT is nice enough, but the engine itself just sounds, well, rubbish. I did the valve clearances last week hoping to find that they would all be horrendously out of spec and that would make her sound better but nope, still sounds crap. I guess I could add a K+N or remove the airbox lid that I so begged to borrow from RobAP1 but I'm not a massive fan of open filters...
The speakers are shit too but I don't need to tell anyone that. On the motorway either have the choice of not hearing your music or having to play it ridiculously loud, to which the standard speakers cannot produce any sound worth hearing.
So, how can we fix these? I didn't make this thread just for a moan, I want to make my car more pleasurable on the commute. A few questions:
I do fancy upgrading the audio too but not without sorting the road noise out first. I found a few threads about this on Google but it was mostly ancient threads with broken links so here comes a new one.
Any help to sort the noisy bastard out appreciated.
Cheers
Dan
(feeling old)
A bit of a moan, move on if you don't like people whinging...
I don't know how many of you drive your S2000s daily, but if like me you do, does the sounds and noise of the thing irritate you as much as they do me?
I love the car, don't get me wrong. I love the heritage, the way it drives, the looks, etc. - but everything I hear, I seem to dislike
I'll start with the overall cabin noise. Why is there so much road noise? Not just the whirring of the tyres but you hear every last stone that goes under the car or in the wheel arches too. It's like driving a car without wheel arch liners. I've never had another standard road car where you can actually hear the stones!
Next, the engine. It sounds terrible. It's not just that I don't like 4 cylinders, but why does the F20c sound particularly crap? I feel like I'm hurting the engine if I rev it. I think the actual sound that comes out the exhaust is great, and the induction sound at WOT is nice enough, but the engine itself just sounds, well, rubbish. I did the valve clearances last week hoping to find that they would all be horrendously out of spec and that would make her sound better but nope, still sounds crap. I guess I could add a K+N or remove the airbox lid that I so begged to borrow from RobAP1 but I'm not a massive fan of open filters...
The speakers are shit too but I don't need to tell anyone that. On the motorway either have the choice of not hearing your music or having to play it ridiculously loud, to which the standard speakers cannot produce any sound worth hearing.
So, how can we fix these? I didn't make this thread just for a moan, I want to make my car more pleasurable on the commute. A few questions:
- Does the OEM hard top make a huge difference to wind noise?
- Has anyone stripped out their carpets and rolled dynamat/similar across the floors?
- Has anyone added soundproofing to the engine firewall to reduce the sound of the engine?
- How about the underside of the transmission tunnel?
- With a hard top installed, do the standard speakers sound so bad?
I do fancy upgrading the audio too but not without sorting the road noise out first. I found a few threads about this on Google but it was mostly ancient threads with broken links so here comes a new one.
Any help to sort the noisy bastard out appreciated.
Cheers
Dan
(feeling old)
07-26-2015, 10:59 PM
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You said the car feels like it has no rear wheel arch liners, this is true at the back. I personally don't think the road noise is that bad. I drive my car 70 miles per day on the motorway 5 days a week. I had a mk5 golf before it which is more refined, but I really have no problem with the S.
Regarding speakers, you need to upgrade them. This was the first job I did when I bought the car, the standard ones are pants. Hardtop makes no difference to the sound of the crappy standard speakers. I am lazy so I used a company that upgrades the door speakers, adds in some small amplifiers or components what ever they are and coats the inside of both sides of the door in dynamat. This improves the sounds quality massively, makes the door a bit more solid when you close it and reduces road noise a little bit. An alpine head unit has improved the sound quality slightly further over the sony one I was running recently. You may notice the road noise less when you have decent speakers that can actually be used to listen to music in decent quality. If you want to reduce road noise, dynamat will help if you put it on the floor etc. I'd say upgrade the sound system first and see how much you still notice it.
The hardtop reduces wind noise and road noise a little bit, but you may get some different creaks to that of when the soft top is on.
Regarding engine noise, in standard trim I think it is OK but once you have had the airbox lid off there is no going back, for me anyway. The car does feel a little less powerful with the lid off, so going for an induction kit is better as long as you are doing it for noise only with an aim to not lose power.
Regarding speakers, you need to upgrade them. This was the first job I did when I bought the car, the standard ones are pants. Hardtop makes no difference to the sound of the crappy standard speakers. I am lazy so I used a company that upgrades the door speakers, adds in some small amplifiers or components what ever they are and coats the inside of both sides of the door in dynamat. This improves the sounds quality massively, makes the door a bit more solid when you close it and reduces road noise a little bit. An alpine head unit has improved the sound quality slightly further over the sony one I was running recently. You may notice the road noise less when you have decent speakers that can actually be used to listen to music in decent quality. If you want to reduce road noise, dynamat will help if you put it on the floor etc. I'd say upgrade the sound system first and see how much you still notice it.
The hardtop reduces wind noise and road noise a little bit, but you may get some different creaks to that of when the soft top is on.
Regarding engine noise, in standard trim I think it is OK but once you have had the airbox lid off there is no going back, for me anyway. The car does feel a little less powerful with the lid off, so going for an induction kit is better as long as you are doing it for noise only with an aim to not lose power.
07-26-2015, 11:50 PM
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I removed my carpets and door cards and installed some additional sound deadening. Dyno matting on the doors and Silent Coat adhesive matting under the carpets. It's hard to tell if this makes a huge difference to the road noise, as I had a very loud Buddy Club exhaust on the car at the time. If done right including the firewall and transmission tunnel I could see it helping. But you are going to need to whole interior out. If I'm honest I would like to do that to my car, but the time required is something I just don't have these days.
It stands to reason that the hard top can reduce the in cabin noise, but if you are getting wind noise, check the window alignment is okay. My biggest issue with the hard top was the rattle and creaks. I reduced this by adding some silicone grease from a diving shop (don't use vaseline it's petroleum based) on the rubber seal on the underside of the HT below the rear window. I also tied down the soft top catches to prevent them rattling around when the HT is on the car.
The OEM speakers and headunit are a bit pony, so if you enjoy your music, I would upgrade them both. Don't waste your time and money on headrest speakers, get a sub in the boot if you want more bass. lovegroova has a decent audio setup Link
It stands to reason that the hard top can reduce the in cabin noise, but if you are getting wind noise, check the window alignment is okay. My biggest issue with the hard top was the rattle and creaks. I reduced this by adding some silicone grease from a diving shop (don't use vaseline it's petroleum based) on the rubber seal on the underside of the HT below the rear window. I also tied down the soft top catches to prevent them rattling around when the HT is on the car.
The OEM speakers and headunit are a bit pony, so if you enjoy your music, I would upgrade them both. Don't waste your time and money on headrest speakers, get a sub in the boot if you want more bass. lovegroova has a decent audio setup Link
07-26-2015, 11:55 PM
#5
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A good stereo solves everything. Sound deadening in the doors (and boot/roof tray) is a part of that. Mine is so good that I can drive without hearing anything except the music.
The other thing to do is to drive with the roof down as much as possible. The wind noise will remove everything else.
The other thing to do is to drive with the roof down as much as possible. The wind noise will remove everything else.
07-26-2015, 11:59 PM
#6
Simple answer is, you have bought the wrong car, how you describe it is the way it was designed. Put yourself out of your own misery, sell it and test drive some other options till you find one that sounds right to you.
personally I and most other owners love the sound of the car, first time I drive mine ~I thought the engine sound was unique, raw mechanics rather than an over engineered bland sound, the road noise gives me another piece of feedback as to what's going on. If I were as sensitive as you to it I would never have bought a convertible or a car with wide tyres and with minimal sound proofing. Some owners have fitted sound deadening, do a search but you will be adding weight to a reasonably light sports car. Going for forced induction for the sake of drowning out road and engine sound would be pure vandalism. As far as the audio goes, for it's time it was a good quality system, but things move on, either replace it or turn it off, that's what a lot of owners do just to hear the sound of the car.
As I said at the start, you have bought the wrong car!
personally I and most other owners love the sound of the car, first time I drive mine ~I thought the engine sound was unique, raw mechanics rather than an over engineered bland sound, the road noise gives me another piece of feedback as to what's going on. If I were as sensitive as you to it I would never have bought a convertible or a car with wide tyres and with minimal sound proofing. Some owners have fitted sound deadening, do a search but you will be adding weight to a reasonably light sports car. Going for forced induction for the sake of drowning out road and engine sound would be pure vandalism. As far as the audio goes, for it's time it was a good quality system, but things move on, either replace it or turn it off, that's what a lot of owners do just to hear the sound of the car.
As I said at the start, you have bought the wrong car!
07-27-2015, 12:01 AM
#7
Lack of underbody seal does not help. 
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07-27-2015, 12:08 AM
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07-27-2015, 12:14 AM
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Simple answer is, you have bought the wrong car, how you describe it is the way it was designed. Put yourself out of your own misery, sell it and test drive some other options till you find one that sounds right to you.
personally I and most other owners love the sound of the car, first time I drive mine ~I thought the engine sound was unique, raw mechanics rather than an over engineered bland sound, the road noise gives me another piece of feedback as to what's going on. If I were as sensitive as you to it I would never have bought a convertible or a car with wide tyres and with minimal sound proofing. Some owners have fitted sound deadening, do a search but you will be adding weight to a reasonably light sports car. Going for forced induction for the sake of drowning out road and engine sound would be pure vandalism. As far as the audio goes, for it's time it was a good quality system, but things move on, either replace it or turn it off, that's what a lot of owners do just to hear the sound of the car.
As I said at the start, you have bought the wrong car!
personally I and most other owners love the sound of the car, first time I drive mine ~I thought the engine sound was unique, raw mechanics rather than an over engineered bland sound, the road noise gives me another piece of feedback as to what's going on. If I were as sensitive as you to it I would never have bought a convertible or a car with wide tyres and with minimal sound proofing. Some owners have fitted sound deadening, do a search but you will be adding weight to a reasonably light sports car. Going for forced induction for the sake of drowning out road and engine sound would be pure vandalism. As far as the audio goes, for it's time it was a good quality system, but things move on, either replace it or turn it off, that's what a lot of owners do just to hear the sound of the car.
As I said at the start, you have bought the wrong car!
Once upon a time, saloon cars were all like it too. In the days when they were small and light too.
Though road noise is a Honda thing; it's part of the excellent, lively feel. Switch to a Drittereichwagen.
07-27-2015, 12:14 AM
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Adding some washer to the striker plates made a big difference to wind noise with the roof up for me.
Simple test is to pull down on the roof handle at the front of the roof whilst driving above 50mph (ish) and see if it gets quieter.
Speakers are obvious, also get some sound deadening in behind them as people say, some under the spare wheel well will help as that is right behind you.
This stuff is a good, cheaper alternative to dynamat
End of the day though it's a fairly raw car compared to most, if you can't live with it, get something more comfy and full of heavy sound deadening, or a sensible daily to waft along in.
Simple test is to pull down on the roof handle at the front of the roof whilst driving above 50mph (ish) and see if it gets quieter.
Speakers are obvious, also get some sound deadening in behind them as people say, some under the spare wheel well will help as that is right behind you.
This stuff is a good, cheaper alternative to dynamat
End of the day though it's a fairly raw car compared to most, if you can't live with it, get something more comfy and full of heavy sound deadening, or a sensible daily to waft along in.