A lot of noisy gravel getting kicked around
 

Hey, all. Owner of a shiny new Z here. :tup:

Having come from a very old sedan I'm probably not used to the noises a real sports car makes, but I hear a lot of rocks and gravel bouncing around when taking certain roads, particularly when I'm first pulling out. I realize this car has much larger tires and is a lot closer to the ground, but I'm just a bit paranoid.

Is this something that's common with sports cars, or am I just imagining things?

totally normal. just drive faster and you wont notice it.

It's normal for 370Z but not for all sport cars.

I know it's a horrible noise... sounds alot worse than it is. Big rear tires + big rear fenders = loud gravel

yeah its pretty damn loud in there, especially when it's raining. Nice to hear at times...just crank up the music if you want to drown it out

Not too big a deal but I wish they would have done something to insulate the fenders a little more. 350s are like this too.

Ah, that's good to know. Thanks.

It doesn't bother me per se, it just sounded odd and I got a little worried. :)

Yeah I was worried about this too at first, it's normal though. My wheelwell liners look like they've been sand blasted, lol.

You'll get used to it. Not sure if it's common on sports cars though. The rear wheel well is all metal connected to the frame and there are no plastic covers like you'll find in the front.

i lined my rear wheel wells with nerf. works like a charm :P

One of the primary goals of the designers was weight reduction. There is no sound insulation in the wheel wells. There are threads on the forum that detail DIYs on installing sound deadening materials.

nerf? like the footballs? pics?

The noise always makes me cringe just a little..bothers me that rocks are marring the underside of my car even when I can't see it. It does sound worse than it probably is..it seems even the smallest pebbles make LOUD noises!

Two words: Sticky Tires

I had heard about this issue before I bought my Z, but, man it is noisy (see "Top Gear" episode on the Nissan 370Z vs BMW Z4 below, Jeremy Clarkson talks about it). It does qiuet down a LITTLE bit, when some of the road crap gets build up on the fender wells, but is due to no noise insulation to save weight as previously mentioned. It is a bit anoying, but I've gotten used to it now.

I've almost gotten to like it a bit, makes me realize that it's a car that was built for speed and handling, NOT quiet luxury. If you want quiet luxury, get a Lexus.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aRC12i8vIRc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>