Hi, first post here.

After driving a 2002 996 C4 for a couple of years, I picked up a 2018 991.2 C4S last week. Performance is stellar, but I am surprised and a bit concerned by the amount of noise in the cabin. I'm certainly not looking for a quiet car but, compared to the 996, noise in the cabin from road and wind is exceptionally loud, to the point where cruising at 30mph in 4th you can't hear the engine at all. Even driving more spiritedly, the main component of sound in the cabin is road/wind noise, while the engine sound is relatively muffled. The complete opposite of the 996, which sounded glorious. Wind noise is not air leaking into the cabin, definitely external. I drove my friend's 991.2 C2S across to Belgium for the Spa Francorchamps GP a few years ago, and don't remember it being so noisy. My car has PSE and rides on 20" turbo wheels.

My question is, is this normal for the 991.2? To be clear, I'm not expecting a quiet car! Quite the opposite, I was just expecting to hear a bit more of the engine and a bit less white noise. Thanks for any insight.

Cheers,
David

 

What brand of tyres are on the car, and what are the pressures, front and back?

 

The tyres are Pirelli P-Zero N1 and tyre pressures are 2.2bar front / 2.7bar rear (as supplied by the dealer). I understand from searching the forums that the Pirellis are considered noisy but.... that noisy?

 

Yes.

also, drop your pressures down to comfort pressures. that helps quite a bit too.

 

I don't have a 991.2, but a .1, and don't think the aerodynamics or insulation changed much between the two, if any. I have a cabrio and I would say all the white noise in my car is from the road/tire and not so much the wind noise. I can still hear the engine fine. When I'm on a newly paved road, that's when it gets real quiet and the engine noise is... perfect. I would say check tires as first thing, make sure pressure not too high, and the treads are clean. Sometimes rock, pebbles, etc. that get on there, create noise as well.

 

Cheers, I will try dropping the pressures a little. But don't want to compromise the feel of the car, so I may just have to get used to it. I'm very pleased with with the car otherwise. I do miss the unmistakable sound of the old 996 3.6l NA flat six, but the 991.2 is so much more powerful and accessible, and still sounds good when pushed.

 

I've got a 2019 C4S, yes, quite noisy and mostly from tires. I have Michelin PS4S at 29/32 cold. That's about 2.2 bar.
Try rolling on a different part of the road, to the right or left of the middle, you will hear more or less road noise. Tire noise are also affected by the road suface.
So, last summer I added noise insulation to the doors and the inner fender wells. It made a bit of a difference.
My car right before the Porsche was a BMW 750iX, so quiet.

 

That's almost exactly what I run (32/38 psi=2.2/2.6 bar) in my C2, with 20" Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. I don't hear any road noise, at least not after I put the Michelins on. They were much, much quieter than the factory OEM Pirelli PZeros that came off the car. I strongly suspect it's the OEM tyres causing the road noise. I also think road/engine noise is very highly dependant on individuals hearing. Some folks need a Lexus like ride, others are like WHAAAATTTT?! as they drive down the road.

As regards to the lack of engine noise, vs. tire/road noise, if the car is not new to you, it would be an idea to check if the sound symposer was blocked by the previous owner with a filler, cap, or insert. The sound symposer system is two small 1" plastic tubes connected with some electrickery from the intake system to the car interior, the idea being to allow sound to enter the cabin It is for a "particularly emotional sound", as it's described in the Service Information Technik document for the 991.2.

 

No, the main component of my cabin noise is not affected by road surface. I can hear the tyre noise change, but the main sound in my cabin is a pretty deafening jet engine-like roar - anything above 40mph I can barely hear the tyre noise and can't hear the engine at all unless under hard acceleration.

It's going back to the Porsche Centre on Tuesday to be checked over; something's definitely not right. I've driven a lot of 911s, including a 991.2 C2S all the way from London to Spa Francorchamps, and it was definitely nothing like as noisy as mine. Also today, as I was driving there was a sound like water lapping, then rubber flapping, then a loud metal-on-metal scraping from the front nearside. I can't see anything wrong (I was expecting to see some piece of trim had come loose and dragging on the road or something) and that noise has now stopped...

Bit of a love / hate with this car at the moment. I saved for a loooooong time for it, and looks like there may be trouble ahead...

Here's hoping for some magic from the Porsche Centre and looking forward to some enjoyable driving ahead!

Cheers,
David