Anybody else wear ear plugs when the top is up?

Top up is for rain or long highway drives. Need a good hat and gloves. Mr Bill has the perfect hat

Tom, I hear you, but I can't! I used earplugs in my Spyder when I put the top on. Noise level was high side-curtains in or out.

Mine is a bit noisier, but what bothers me the most is that I hear other noises that I don't normally hear when the top is down. They make me think something is wrong.

~WB

Interesting subject--I only figured out the benefits of ear plugs
last year on some long trips. You can but inexpensive, disposable ones at Walgreens or any drug store. Packs of 12 or so.

I put Dynamat in my car last winter and that made a world of difference but the car is still too loud to hear the radio. So I jam in the earplugs then turn the radio way up. The plugs stop lots of the road and wind noise but you can hear the radio going 75 this way.

I always used earplugs flying airplanes until noise cancelling earphones became available.

I wonder how something like those Bose earphones would work in a Speedster?

They'd be illegal. For that matter, earplugs are, too.

$50.00 fine, first offense here.....

Who needs a top, anyway?
(Those words will likely come back to haunt me.)

Call me a weirdo, (not you Barnco) but I look forward to putting my top up for the winter.
Of course I've spent many hours, plenty of various wind-proofing materials and heater improvements. Still, I get a kick out of it.
In fact, I think it's about time to start cutting fire wood!

Hard to see how earplugs are illegal when the noise reduction
is only a fraction of the noise reduction provided by the double thickness window glass in my Mercedes 430SEL.

Maybe thick window glass should be outlawed since it greatly reduces noise more than earplugs.

Leave it to the bureaucrats---right?

Screw 'em.

Guys, I have just a small problem in this area. My top does not come off. The noise level in the SAS Creme Brule Coupe is actually not too bad as there is a good seal around the engine cover. But, I do like the idea of ear plugs for longer trips and will give them a try. If Jack says it - it must be good!!

Charles--it IS a good solution ---but you have to pay your OWN fine!

We wear earplugs on the highway. They are not visible under our beanie/hats so the CHPies don't bust us. I can still hear a siren or a horn, which is the main concern with earplugs. They help reduce the road fatigue on those long highway trips.

I've got a pair of Sondheisen ear buds that hold back most of the outside noise so I can hear all of tunes on my IPOD. The regular ear buds from Apple don't cancel noise much, plus they don't have much bass response. I can still hear sirens and car horns and all that stuff with the Sondheisens, but it's in the background. They're small enough to be innocuous, and they'd fit under a winter-ish road hat easily. I'm in Jack's camp, though - they may be illegal, but screw'em.

My daughter-in-law works for Bose and has beta-tested their noise-canceling ear buds and says they work very well. May be a tad pricey, but well worth it.

I honestly don't have a lot of engine noise at turnpike speeds, but the wind noise is ferocious! That, plus the wind buffeting (even with a wind break in my roll bar) makes for a pretty long day. The ear buds help immensely!

My earplugs are hooked into an Ipod under a beany and some Heavy Metal
keeps me ROCKING and a ROLLIN !!

Cabanaboy - my ears keep warm too : )

I have a Bluetooth stereo headset. Illegal I know when driving, but you can also talk on the phone with them. And like Jim says, wear a hat and who knows what you are doing? They actually work pretty well in most cases, but not with the top up. They work well with the top down, and when running/walking/biking. Music quality is decent, and they are fairly compact and light. The volume is sufficient, but does not blot out the world. If you pause the music, there is a feature called clearsound which actually amplifies ambient sounds. Google Backbeat 903 by Plantronics, who just took over Altec Lansing's mobile stuff.

Earplugs are best for when the top is up, it lessens the audio assault of the reverberating exhaust note..........and damn the legality. I use earplugs at work, we use electric impact guns in a manhole: a 6' X 10' X 6' high concrete echo chamber. The thing is we can hear normal conversation just fine, it is the extremely loud sounds that are lessened by them.

Well, I have an idea: how about you go 3/4 deaf, get some hearing aids, then turn them down when you're in the car?

actually, in my condition w/ my JPS, I find the top up configuration to be quieter than the top down, owing mostly to the wind noise. on most trips I kinda like the engine noise and exhaust notes, although will agree that after an hour or so on the highway, I prefer the top up.

I'm thinking of doing the Dynamat thing w/ my car, and will peruse the Forum here to see where to put the stuff, how much to get and where to get it. My several days riding along the PCH and other byways large and small around Morro Bay in Will P's IM Roadster this sopring gave me a real appreciation for what can be done. The IMs, w/ top and windows up cruise along very nicely: quiet and w/ comfy seats. One can talk reasonably and/or listen to the radio, if you wish.

Kelly said it best! That is what I do! One does not turn them down,
just turn them off. It extends the battery life also. I don't have to go 3/4 deaf I'am already there. I got my hearing complements of the U.S. Army Field Artillery.

Al - Vince (El Diablo) was in artilllery as well (1st Infantry). His hearing seems to be OK, it's his brain that's f'ed up! 8-)

I have a real cool set of ear plugs that look like bosch spark plugs. Mr. Bill gave them to me at the last Bug In. I will wear them proud!

People think I'm a boob anyway so what the heck! (Not me, he's a professional tester)

GB, I think you're onto something with that pic. Now, if they would only make those to look like female genitalia, we could call them ear 'muffs'! 8-)

Come to South Africa, nice enough weather to drive with the roof down all year round. I've maybe had mine up 2-3 times in about 3 years.

I dunno, I love hearing my straight through exhaust. Dynamat does keep the rattles down though.