2005 Civic road noise

How many miles on those tires? They may be worn, and that could cause increased road noise. When I bought my 2004 Civic last fall, the dealer threw in new tires as the originals were worn at 39,000km (24,000 miles).

I know what you mean about the seal coat surface. I have to drive on some of that myself. There is some noticeable road noise on such surfaces with my Civic, but it's not that bad. I just turn up the radio to drain it out.

I should add that my Civic still had the original tires when I test drove it, and road noise was very noticeable even on the best surfaces. So again, my advice is to check your tires first.

Just turn the radio up a bit...

JT

(Who hates living in a nation of wusses)

Crappy tires. Replace them. Anything else is a waste of money.

Even the new Civics have a lot of road noise according to Consumer Reports. They say the same thing about the Accord and my 2003 Accord is so noisy on some types of pavement that the radio is drowned out -- one of my few complaints about the car.

My wife's 2005 honda accord hybrid is incredibly quiet even on rough roads. It was made in Japan and probably has different tires than other accords.

I replaced the original tires on my 2003 Accord because I didn't like their performance in the wet -- got Goodyear Tripletreads. While there were changes in road noise, it still can drown out the radio on certain pavements.

I've seen one example (my sister-in-laws) improved noticeably by having the car undercoated. I wouldn't do that on a used car if you live in a road salt area or the pacific northwest, but if you are somewhere relatively clean and dry it might be worth a try.

Most Accords seem to come with Michelin MXV4s no matter if the assembly location is Japan or the US>

That may seem funny, but it's a fact. I drive I-95 100 miles every day. AS my tires wear, I find the radio gets louder and louder, enough for me not to hear my cell phone when someone calls. When my wheel bearings went bad, I thought it was the worn tires (severely worn on the inside due to lowering springs, at that time), and I just cranked the radio even louder...