I would think that squeaky heavy metal armor wouldn't be great to sneak around in. But nothing seems to indicate otherwise.

it even has a mod to increase sneaking

Somewhere in game you find out that armor weight affects sneaking. Metal armor weighs more

I wish it looked as badass as in Fallout 2

Ahh, if it's related to a quest or something it might be awhile until I find that out. I tend to ignore quests in favor of exploring. 38 hours in and have only done 3 quests.

Power Armor torso has a mod that enables stealthboy-effect when crouching.