Road Noise

[doobie77]

Noise is mostly a matter of 3 factors:

- Aerodynamics. The Bronco is clearly bad in this regard, about the same as a Jeep. You can't improve this but you can not make it worst by avoiding roof racks, aftermarkets lights etc.

- Insulation. Like the Jeep it's gonna be pretty bad because of the removable thin roof. You can make this better with sound deadening material. One package on the Bronco comes with those insulation panels under the roof. Same for the Jeep although you can find much better ones than the OEM (The Assassin kit is the best on the market for the Jeep).

- Tires. You can improve this aspect as well. M/T are the worst for noise. A/T are not all created equal. If you have to go for big tires (at least 33") and have a A/T look, I would recommend the Discovery AT3 4S tires. By far the best A/T tires in the world for driving on the street (from a performance, noise and comfort point of view) as confirmed by tire rack customer reviews, Facebook group comparisons, website reviews and online forums. The thread is not as agressive looking as KO2 though. So the next best thing for you for noise and road driving but with more agressive look will be KO2 or General AT/X.

All things considered, I wouldn't pay for expensive features you will never use like sway bar disconnect or lockers. So for on street driving with good off road look, I would recommend a Outerbank and swipe the 32 tires with Discovery AT3 4S 33s, or KO2 if you really want the agressive look.
And if you happen to ever hit a bit of off road, with that Bronco and tires you will beat any SUV (think Subarus, RAV4...) and be able to do a lot of basic trails, which from what I understand you don't even plan to do.
Do not forget that unlike the Badlands, the Outerbank has mid package standard yet is still less expensive. The Lux package which includes mid package will therefore be less expensive on the Outerbank. You will probably save 5-10K with going for an Outerbank with the same look as the Badlands (33" KO2 tires). A no brainer in your situation.

Great info here...thanks! I agree OB prob makes most sense for my needs. I was hoping to get the 33’ AT’s from the Bandlands for the OB model. Not sure how flexible the Ford options are. I would think that would easily be accommodated by selecting the wheels and tires from badlands model for OB. But again, not sure how flexible they will be. I had a bad experience adding wheels and tires to my 4Runner. A lot of rubbing of the tires, so I had to modify to some extent. Have u used noise insulation? If so, is it effective? Thanks again

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[HCGxKaLiBeR]

So based on what OP is describing: Don't offload much, highway DD driving mostly.

I would suggest the OP to pick Outer Banks with Lux and sound deadening options.
It is quieter with the smaller tires and much cheaper without fancy offload features like, sway bar disconnect, drain plugs, heavy duty bumper, under body panels, advanced 4x4 transfer case, etc.

If money is no issue, go for Wildtrak. It is basically a direct upgrade from Outer Banks. It gets V6 and beefier tires. Looks more aggressive. It also has sports mode and advance 4x4 system, which you can set it to auto and never bother it again.

Bronco is a boxy car, it won't be good as modern SUVs.
So I would suggest test drive a Wangler, hard top with sound deadening to get a feel of it in person.

 

[broncosor]

Sound deadeners on a Wrangler gives you 4dB so it is effective yes. Will it be equivalent to the noise level of a Subaru Forester? Absolutely not. Will it be ok for most people? Yes.

Almost no chance to have a Ford option for 33 tires on the OB. However I know that 33 KO2s fit without any issue on a Jeep Sahara that uses also 32 tires like the OB. I would bet you won’t have any issues going 33 on a stock OB but you won’t know for sure until you do it. Worst case scenario you get a small lift kit with spacers for $300 and you are good to go

 

[MVP]

If I was you I would definitely not buy the Badlands. If you aren’t going off-road the sway bar disconnect and lockers are going to be useless.

You will be able to save a ton of money by going to an Outerbanks or another lower trim and still get what you want.

If I was 100% on streets I would definitely buy a street tire. They are going to handle better and be better in the rain. I think you could even get a bigger street tire like a 33 and it would look really good. They will also be cheaper.

But that’s me. I just don’t gets spending money on features you will never use.

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