Are most trucks noisy on the inside ?

The Pete 379 gets a little loud, for example, I can understand a talk channel when I turn it up to a volume level of 12-14. With the engine off, sitting still I can understand the same channel at a volume level of 4-5. Also, the faster I drive the louder i have to turn it up. At 85mph, I just forget the radio and listen to the music coming from over 500hp belowing out those 8" stacks. But, I guess most mega carrier drivers will never experience that.

 

It depends on the truck. I drive my truck by the sound of the engine and rarely look at the speedometer. I turn the radio up so you can hear it but it does not overpower the engine. Having a conversation with my passenger is not an issue.

I got rid of my wind and most of the rattles by replacing all of the door weatherstripping.

One of the last rattles I have us from the passenger air ride seat.

 

It doesn't leave the yard but often, but still does every now and then....I have an 86 Freightliner with an old Cat in it. You almost need ear plugs when driving it, lol. Having a conversation with a passenger is near impossible. Brutal. 1,555,000 miles and counting. (And people say Freightliners don't last).

 

Newer ones are pretty quiet. I've been driving a 2013 cascadia and it's super quiet. Makes a weird burning smell from the exhaust after treatment that I don't like, but it's a nice driving rig otherwise. The old 2006 Columbia with cat engine made a pretty good racket at idle.

 

The floor (padding, dampening, deadening) on our newest Mack's ('09 and newer) is 3" thick because of the heat shields for the DPF, that combined with everything, I can barely hear road noise. Here's a comparison of quietness, a container on chassis, when empty is a noisy creature, they rattle, shake and creak. In my Mack, unless I'm on a rough road, I can't hear a single sound of the container, forget it's even there. But, in our former (now owned by our O/O) '04 Columbia, even on the smoothest pavement you can hear every sound that container makes, like it's sitting in the cab with you. It really does depend on the truck, this past week we had to borrow that Columbia from our O/O because my radiator blew out and we didn't have a spare daycab for me to drive. The Columbia and my Mack have the same stereo, when listening to regular radio, I generally keep the volume at 18 to 20 for a nice level, and often turn it down. In the Columbia, I had it turned up almost to the point of distortion before I gave up and decided to listen to my teeth rattle.

 

Even though trks seem loud they're really quite comfortable to have a conversation in.I have never had an issue with too loud of a trk

 

This is a question that the answer is relative to the person and there is no right answer. I mean that I can't hear people speaking in a truck for some reason while other can. I am driving a Ryder rental which is brand new and it is just as loud inside as the 9 year old truck it replaced. I can't tell the difference and neither could a sound meter. On the other hand I was in a tow truck (Pete long nose) which the guy put in a lot of sound deadening, including spray on ceramic coating to keep the heat out of the cab and that was like driving in my Dodge pickup, just right to hold a conversation with someone but speaking a bit louder.

 

I won't drive an otr trk that requires earplugs.Can you imagine your hearing after a few yrs of loud trks.

 

I hear a statement a lot, "rides like a Cadillac." That's not a good thing, IMHO. Cadillac is the biggest POS that GM makes. Can't hear anything, can't feel anything, first sign of trouble comes when you see the idiot lights on the dash. And we all see another Cadillac broke down on the side of the road.

You have 5 senses. You see what's in front of you. What do you feel? If you put 100000 miles on a truck, you should eventually be able to feel when something isn't right well before you see an idiot light. What do you hear? I want to be able to hear the engine. I wouldn't drive a truck that I couldn't hear the turbo. Your senses connect you to the truck. The truck connects you to the road. Hmmm, perhaps that's why so many people drive like they lack sense...

 

Not going to hear anything when only going 62 MPH down the highway. LOL Get up to speed limit and look at rear mirriors and watch parts fall off. LOL