Coach Noise

[montanaB]

Another questions for those who have owned many class A units. My Vectra is my first class A and I love the ride but on the highway there is noise from the cabinets, and who knows what else that moves around. In other words it is not dead quiet like a bus. Does this kind of noise disappear on a $500,000 coach? Or is it just a reality of having a home on wheels.

 

[montanaB]

Another questions for those who have owned many class A units. My Vectra is my first class A and I love the ride but on the highway there is noise from the cabinets, and who knows what else that moves around. In other words it is not dead quiet like a bus. Does this kind of noise disappear on a $500,000 coach? Or is it just a reality of having a home on wheels.

 

[Dsouthw524]

Depends on the noise you are hearing! If you are hearing noises from plates,pots and the like, your salvation is to place them in such away that they don't rattle or to put material between them to absorb the sound and impact. I do not think youo are hearing the cabinets themselves unless you can pin point the cause and then have the offending item repaired.

You indicate your unit is your first class A, have you RV'd before? The answer may aid in fully answering youor questions.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[ichn2go]

DSouth has the answer.
Don't mean to be trite, but a bus doesn't carry the "stuff" that you do in the cabinets. Insulate between the items and PACK the compartment so the items do not roll around.
You can get soft neoprene dots in various sizes from Boaters World that you can use as "feet" or to replace some of the felt on the stove top and doors..
It takes some doing but you CAN eliminate most of the rattles. Take your time and eliminate them...
Its a shame they don't make a spray for rattles as they do for flies...Good Miles

 

[montanaB]

Yes I am new to the class A. Before this unit we only had owned class C. As far as the noise, I should have been more specific. When I brought the coach back from the dealer (400 miles) There was nothing in it yet. All cabinets were empty. The sound I was hearing was like a creaking noise in the coach structures or cabinet banks. Could not pinpoint it yet.

 

[ichn2go]

Sorry Montana, you need someone to ride with you to check out the creaks and groans. Could be most anything at this point in time. If you are concerned , don't load the coach , call Winnie to document your concern, you should makenote of the date,time and who you talked to at Winnie document everything. Be sure , if it has slides that you extend them all the way and then after you bring them in hold the button(s) a extra 5 seconds. If its the cabinets ,,,I really don't know,.Good Luck

 

[rebelsbeach]

Jimmy gives some good advice....

On the subject of loading the coach to prevent rattles,we use the shelf lining material that keeps things from sliding....We place small squares of the material between each different size of dish.

I also think you need to have someone ride along with you to pinpoint the area that is creaking..

 

[John Canfield]

Our noise level depends on a couple of factors, primarily how smooth or rough the highway is and what direction the wind is blowing.

With the wind at our back on a nice Interstate highway, the quiet of the coach is absolutely amazing

. Punching into a 20 or 30 mph wind, the noise level is very annoying and tiring over the course of a day's drive. This noise is not of the creak/groan variety but just the rush of the wind.

When we are on a road where the coach rolls around, I think we get some frame and house twisting and I do hear the occasional metallic clunk; one noise in particular happens somewhere on the starboard side forward and sounds like it might be related to the slide mechanism but that's just a guess. It is intermittant and inconsistant so we mostly just ignore it.

On rough roads we sometimes hear our new roll-up screen door screen rattle inside its carrier. Sometimes the curtain track carriers rattle, sometimes the pull down left/right shades flop around.

Yesterday on our drive from Tok to Valdez there was the usual construction and even a few frost heaves here and there. One in particular didn't get noticed for its severity and we hit it going too fast (too fast in this case meant we were going 30 instead of 10 mph) and I heard the loudest clunk from the front end I have ever heard, however I think it was a normal sound for that situation.

Our driving instructor (we took Dick Reed's RV Driving School class) was really impressed with the quiet of the cabin and he has literally been in dozens and dozens of coaches.

I think the suggestion of getting somebody to ride with you that is more experienced in class A's is a good one; or try to do a test drive of a similar coach or even another brand. It's difficult to know if your coach noises are usual or unusual.

There was just a topic on rv.net a couple of days ago asking the question of how quiet was your coach. Virtually all of the posters reported that they never hear any noise - my conclusion is that most of them must be hard of hearing. Probably the Prevost or MCI bus-type coaches are significantly quieter than the usual class A, but they also cost mega-bucks and weigh 10 to 20,000 pounds more.