Giulietta Veloce road noise - will smaller alloys help?

[hughpelc]

Hi All,

I just bought a 2010 2.0diesel 170 Veloce - delighted!
My one complaint is that the road noise is loud to say the least. I live in Sheffield and the roads are terrible which really doesn't help.

I have the 18" alloys and I'm considering swapping them for smaller alloys. Has anyone done this? Did it make a tangible difference?

Cheers

[blaineuk]

Would imagine it would make it better, I have 17's and its fine, do you want to swap wheels, I want 18's.

[Alfahorn]

hughpelc said:

Hi All,

I just bought a 2010 2.0diesel 170 Veloce - delighted!
My one complaint is that the road noise is loud to say the least. I live in Sheffield and the roads are terrible which really doesn't help.

I have the 18" alloys and I'm considering swapping them for smaller alloys. Has anyone done this? Did it make a tangible difference?

Cheers

I've got 18's, as the tyres wear you get a noticeable amount of road noise. I would check your tyres first.

[velocemitch]

Mines on 17's and it's still noisy, has been from new. I've whittered on about this before on a couple of Alfa forums it's a 'feature'.
Sadly some people are too willing to jump to the defense of something indefensible, the road noise on the Giulietta's is much higher than most modern Cars.

[StescoG66]

I get the feeling it is very tyre sensitive. Also led to believe that some suspension parts is hollow to save weight and this too can make things at times rather loud.
My car is on 17" Prielli P6000's at the front and on certain surfaces it can be deafening. Whereas the - admittedly newer - hire car I had in Italy was on 16" Contis and it was whisper quiet by comparison. I'll be paying close attention to this when the fronts are due for replacement (not anytime soon as they have done 15000 miles and still have loads of tread)

[velocemitch]

I'd suggest that diference wasn't the Tyres but the road surfaces. I've always found the road surfaces in the UK to be far noisier than the continent (except Belgium!).

[Alfahorn]

Road surface is a signifacant factor, however also some tyres are also more noise sensitive than others.

Personally, I have driven probably 50 or 60 Giuliettas, I've found the issue manifests it self as tyres become worn.

[velocemitch]

Sorry, wasn't a pop at you, I've had this discussion a few times though and some people get a bit daft about it.

The first Giulietta I tried on a test drive was on 18's I very nearly didn't get one it was so noisy at motorway speeds. In the end I did get one and hoped the 17's would be less noisy. I can't say they are much better. I've tried P7's and P=Zero assymetrico, both were are bad as each other. Wear rate didn't make much difference, though they have a habit of going out of shape on the rears which doesn't help.

Perhaps a different tyre make would help, but I doubt it would make a massive difference.

I also stand by what I said about noisy road surfaces in the UK, I've driven my G in Holland and it was much much better. I've noticed this before too, we seem to have a special way of making Tarmac noisy in the UK and the Giulietta responds badly to it.

[HughSheffield]

Thanks for the comments.

Sounds like I'd have to drop right down to 16" to get a noticeable difference and that would be a shame? Road surface is definitely and issue, the roads I commute on are awful but I've made a couple of trips recently on decent surfaces and it is an improvement. I'll certainly check for tyre wear too.

blaineuk: thanks but no thanks
velocemitch, stesco and alfahorn: v helpful advice, thanks!

[HughSheffield]

Oh, for what it's worth I have Pirelli Cinturato P7's at the back and Autogrip AG66's at the front. There isn't much wear on any of them.

Cheers again guys.