Drove an '06 SE the other day and it definitely seemed quieter than my '04 SE. It's not tire wear, because my RSA's have plenty of tread.

I'm wondering if Nissan added some sound-deadening somewhere along the line (?)

 

Nissan might have added more sound-deadening materials.

but your 04 max is about 1~2 years old. of course new car has to be
quieter than yours. car has hundreds of thousands of screws, bolts and nuts.
some of them had to be loosen by now which will make noise

 

You can always put in sound deadening like I did. Check the thread on it. It works.

 

well my 04 max had 20 miles on it and once you got on the highway all you heard was wind noise, and road noise. it was so loud but could be drowned out just by turning the radio up. my titan bought with 32 miles on it now has 2660 and still has little to no wind/ road noise. the only thing you actually hear is the exhaust note

 

Well, I know things loosen up, but I'm talking primarily about road noise. I still have no rattles or squeaks, so what I hear is primarily the tires and some wind noise.

I could be wrong, but I really don't think the sound level in my Max is any louder than it was when new, but of course I would have adjusted to it over time. It just seemed to me that the '06 was a little more isolated from outside noise than mine.

 

If you wanted to eliminate wind noise, you could add som deadener. A barrier loader, such as Second Skin Overkill, would do wonders to road noise. For some resources read:

Sound Deadening Sticky (A definitive resource)

+550sqft. 'LEXUS QUIET' Sound Deadening Installation Worklog

Shoot me a PM if you have ANY questions regarging deadener.

 

Well, sorry to say that your VIN was one of those "bad apples"... One thing I did take note of w/ the 6th Gen MAX (albeit right after renting an '04 Camry), that the road noise was inconspicuous--very inconspicuous... I wouldn't have bought the 6th Gen otherwise... Your case may be one of those rare ones... Although, I do notice as of late (approaching 20K miles) that I can hear my RSAs a lot more now than before... Wondering how soon I will have to replace them on down the line...

 

In my '04 I had the front carpet and strut insulators replaced in warranty, TSB for both, made a big difference in road noise.