|
I have a Toyota Corolla, 1999, 5 door, 1.6litre. Bland, but 100% reliable. Does everything I want, but the tyre noise is driving me crazy! There is almost no noise insulation. Nothing under the carpets, nothing on the bulkhead between the engine and driver. I've tried carpet underfelt. No effect. Spent £100+ with 'noisekiller.co.uk' for a noise suppression kit. (Rubber and foam underlay for the carpets.) Looked impressive, but no real effect. I've changed the front tyres (needed changing anyway) from the original Michelin to Continental on the recommendation of the tyre shop owner. No difference. Tried the Toyota Owners Club web site. Had one reply (underfelt) but no solution. I may have to sell the car, simply because of the tyre noise. Does anyone have any solutions?
|
|
What were you driving before? ie what are you comparing it to?
|
|
My Rover Sterling had bad tyre noise. Never got to the bottom of it. It was so loud I couldn't use the hands free. Obviously some road surfaces much worse than others. I'd learned to live with it but when I changed cars I realised just how bad it had been.
|
|
|
|
My comparison is with just about anything! I used to have a 1990 Cavalier GL. A friend of mine has a Daewoo Matiz, I've ridden in a 4 year old Golf, I've recently drove a 1 year old 1.6 Astra Club. All were much quieter. The Matiz and Astra were even compared on the same piece of road. All of these other cars had a variety of noise insulation products under the carpets. My Corolla has a thin carpet sitting on the metal.
|
|
|
|
|
Wooster: Try test driving other similar Corolla. That will tell you if all have this problem or if it is specific to your car. The problem could be that for some reason noise//vibration is being transferred from the road to the passenger cell via some failure - eg suspension components or rubber dampers.
|
|
What an obvious thing to do! Thanks for that. I had just assumed that as all Corollas had zero noise insulation under the carpets, they were all as noisy as mine. But it is just an assumption.
|
|
I've another general question on this site about tyre noise, so can I pose a direct technical question? When a manufacturer designs a car, do they 'design in' a quieter ride? Or is at all down to how much noise insulation they put in afterwards? The new Avensis, and the new Vectra boast about being quiet. Was this designed in, or do they just have more / more sophisticated noise insulation products added?
|
|
In a simplistic way: Assuming you have a given amount of noise, then using ever more costly means you can reduce the noise that reaches the passenger cabin. You can start by covering the noise source in a "box" such as is done with many Merc/BMW diesel engines. You can use better quality rubber dampers to isolate the transmission of vibrations (sound/noise is essentially vibration), or you can place sound absorbing material in other secondary places. You can also coccon the passenger compartment, to the extent that in the old S-class merc they used double glazed windows. Some BMWs use triple door rubbe-seals.
|
|
|
Struggling to believe a 99 Corolla is standard with no sound insulation. Is it possible you had some welding done for an MOT (or previous to your ownership) and the guy just forgot to put it in and had put the seats back in by the time he realised it? He might leave it out to save time. Grasping at straws here.
|
just read no insulation on bulkhead either. I am amazed. Grey import from Uzbekistan perhaps?
I would have thought the car is designed with sound insulation well in mind, not an afterthought. It is a major buying factor for many (including me in theory, though not in practice due to economics)
|
There are several generations of Toyota Corolla amongst my extended family, neighbours and friends(1995 to 2000 roughly).
None of them could be said to be noisy , even the diesel estate version is acceptable.
So I guess that something is odd about your car. I'll look under the carpets tonight in SWMBOs 1995 version.
You want noisy? - try passengering in a Nissan Teranno diesel at 1000rpm in 5th gear.My colleague thinks he is saving fuel.
|
|
|
|
|
No, it's 100% standard. It's got a Toyota Derby stamp in the owners manual and on a label in the boot saying it had it's pdi. The car was built in the UK. I've looked at other 97 to 00 Corollas in main dealer forecorts - and they are all the same.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Is anyone reading this stuff now that it is 10 pages from the front...?
Drove another Year 2000 Corolla. It sounded exactly the same. (Nothing wrong with my car then!) AND: I glanced at 'What Car Buyers Guide ("Every new model tested"), and read the review on the new style Corolla. I read words like "Non of the intrusive tyre noise that spoiled the older variant..." Strange how one mag' mentions it now, but I read just about everything before I bought the car, but not a word about tyre noise... Guess I'll have to sell the thing. Thanks for all your help.
|
Corolla always had a lot of tyre roar. Well document in AA road test ( www.theaa.com ). Family had every model from the 1984 1.3 12v to the latest one. It is only the new 2002 model that tyre roar is suppressed to level similar to european manufacturers.
However, the 1996 onwards Toyota Camry is very, very quiet. Even on the concrete sections of M1 (J0-J1) near staples corner. Not much noise different between that concrete section and smooth asphalt.
|
|
Interesting. Guess it proves that Toyota can build any spec into the car that they want to. But if they reckon tyre noise isn't important, it doesn't get any attention. On that thought, anyone have any thoughts on the (old 1999-2001 etc) Avensis? Is it a quiet car?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just out of interest, how come you didn't notice the obtrusive tyre noise on the test drive?
|
|
I guess I didn't think it was really bad - but as time (and miles) have rolled by, it's started to bug me. The car dealer was ok. But a 20 minute drive with lots to occupy your mind (driving a different car) is different from 400 miles in a day when I visit my Mum! Also, the car had Michelin (OE) tyres, and I had a car once that suffered bad tyre noise that was fixed when the tyres were changed to another brand. This time I changed them to Conti's, and it made no difference.
|
|
|
|
|
I've got a 2000 1.4, and, yes, it has bad road noise - compared to anything, really. I recently replaced the front tyres from Michelin Energy's to Goodyear GT3's - and they are even noisier ! However, they handle better so I don't mind.
|
|
Probably because the salesman had the radio on and kept talking. Got to watch those crafty salesmen. I always buy private if I can, salesmen get too good at lying and covering up problems - can usually spot the private seller liar though!
|
|
|
|
