I drove about 45 minutes today at around 60-65 mph on a 6- to 8-lane concrete highway with my convertible roof up (closed), and it was one of the very few times I didn't enjoy being in my '06 DB9 Volante. The noise from the outside was excruciating and - to make things worse - my wife was along. She had earplugs in her purse and inserted them after about five minutes, thank goodness. There was constant tire noise, the sound from semis and other large vehicles was awful, and the A/C on full-blast (it was 93 degrees and sunny) just added to the roar.
Yeah, I know. "If it's too loud, you're too old." Maybe that's true; I don't actually remember anything quite like it before.
So...I know later Volantes have better insulation in the convertible top, but I don't think I can do anything about that. But one thing I'm wondering if it's worth addressing is the degraded insulation on the inside of my 16-year old wheel well liners. Has anyone done anything about this? On my car, the plastic film on the outside of the foam insulation has disintegrated to varying degrees, and the foam itself is not in great shape. I'm wondering about replacing it with something else, as it seems that you can't buy the insulation separately from the liners themselves, and they're over $300 each.
My tires are Pilot Sport 4S, and they have a lot of miles left on them so I don't think I'll be replacing them anytime soon.
Any thoughts or suggestions to decrease the amount of outside noise that intrudes into the cabin? Thanks!

 

I found i got a lot of tyre and road noise in my 2006 Volante

I replaced the wheel arch liner insulation which had started disintegrating with self adhesive sound insulation foam

I added more sound deadener (fat mat or similar ) to various panels within the cockpit and under teh arches (later cars have more sound deadening)

I found a grommet at the bottom corner of the cockpit, in the rear quarter panel that was not in the hole leaving a open hole (20mm diameter) straight through the the road.

All these together made the car significantly quieter.

 

I removed muffler and have straight pipes... sound is glorious

 

Check to make sure your top was fully seated / latched to the top of the windshield and the windows aren’t slight dipped. I’ve had both happen without dashboard errors and make the road noise much higher.

 

Gave me a chuckle. Thanks.

 

There is a brotherhood of those who understand...

 

I had a friend at work once tell me "I think my hearing is going. Recently I've been in the car with my wife and I realized I hadn't heard anything she was saying for the past two hours. I'm kind of worried.'

"Dude. You're married. Your hearing is fine."

It may also simply be the road surface contributing, I think the major highways here in Florida, 270 etc. are louder than the roads where I used to live in the DC area. That may be a function of everyone drives like a lunatic here, or it may be the paving type. I definitely notice a difference at comparable speeds on various roads here. I have a coupe V8 Vantage so it's probably quieter than a volante, but it is noticeable. Also on the stock tires, which are definitely loud.

 

I decided to order some Second Skin Audio products: their Damplifier Pro; Luxury Liner Pro; and Spectum liquid sound-deadener. I'm going to focus on the doors and wheel arch liners, but also pay some attention to the cavities between the body shell and the chassis components. Then I'll use anything I have left over to augment the existing floor and boot sound insulation. I'll report back!

 

there are gaps in the body that have a bit of sound deadning material. you'll see the cavity under the wheel liner, next to the door...

There doesnt seem to be much you can do about the top but the next best place to cancel road noise is lining the floors as thick as you can get it. dont hesitate to do 2 layers...youll thank yourself the next time u drive.

g'luck!!