Oh!... for a quiet ride!

[kithmo]

I haven't noticed the door card draught on the Gen 4, but did on the Gen 3 and it was very uncomfortable on a cold day.

The Last Ford I had, a 2008 Mk4 Ford Mondeo 2.0 Diesel, had extremely annoying tyre roar from the rear end. The quietest car I've had was a 2001 Mk4 Vauxhall Astra 1.6 petrol. 

[Joseph D]

On 9/10/2019 at 9:04 AM, Wooster said:

"The rear is 33 PSI, so you are only 1 PSI short".  Sorry - you are NOT correct.  My 65 section tyres are spec'd at 35psi front, 36 psi back.

Yes, you are correct, I am not correct – for your Gen 3 Prius.  I did fail to notice that your Prius is a 2010 MY.  However, the information I gave is correct for the Gen 2 prius, so sorry about that.

[Wooster]

I always thought the 'door draft' was Toyota's way of keeping the door skins dry - helping to prevent rust forming.  But, good point, if the draft can get in the cabin, so can noise.

I found this the other day, I wonder if anyone has any experience of it.  "50% less noise" is a substantial claim!  Goodyear Tyre

[Chris Dance]

I wonder how the less noise Goodyear tyre would be on snow and ice? 50% less noise is good. A lot of road noise is from the road surface; in UK we have some very noisy roads.

[Ten Ninety]

9 hours ago, Wooster said:

I found this the other day, I wonder if anyone has any experience of it.  "50% less noise" is a substantial claim!  Goodyear Tyre

I don't think that sound suppression system is available in tyre sizes appropriate for the Prius. Continental do something similar as well, but again not available in our sizes.

In any case, I will never buy Goodyear again after being repeatedly suckered in by their own hype and by positive reviews elsewhere, only to find they offer terrible economy, horrible soft sidewalls and dreadful life. In fairness, neither the Efficientgrip Performance nor Eagle F1s that I have fitted to recent cars have been any worse for noise than the tyres they replaced, but they weren't any better, either. 

[Chris Dance]

Thanks Jay, That has put me off Goodyear tyres. I have always liked Michelin Tyres. I do very low mileage so the tyres on our Prius should last a while yet but they are useless in snow and ice. 

[TonyHSD]

Goodyear efficient grip performance tyres are one of the best in its class touring tyres, they are quiet, comfortable and if car been carefully driven can last long mileage too. Yes , they have soft side walls but this is what actually make them different from most other tyres, and this has more benefits than negatives but different people likes different things. Despite are soft tyres they corner well, provide excellent grip in dry and particularly wet plus great water displacement, low aquaplaning risks , and braking performance is one of the best. If you push them to the limit they may loose against Continental in corners but comfort is way better. They have positive reviews for a reason . I personally get from them over 50k miles as if I don’t rotate can do over 100k on rear ones and around 60 k on front. Something important to note:  they don’t loose performance characteristics when getting low on treads, in comparison with other brands those Goodyear’s can be good till almost no treads left on them, only risks of aquaplaning will go higher but lower speed should prevent any dangerous situations. Also with the time they become even quieter and not the other way around like most other tyres brands including some premium names. What the negatives are: obviously the soft walls, easily kerbing and damage beyond repair, plus faster wear if driven under correct pressures and pushed to the limits. I buy them every year and I am happy driver, I think they do suit perfectly a hybrid cars. Just sharing my personal experience, I don’t work for Goodyear or represent them in any way. 

Regards 

[Wooster]

Thanks for your comments on tyres guys.  A slight change of direction.....  Toyota's might be noisier than other cars, as their money is spent on (probably) the best drive train in any car, and not on the best suspension etc.  So, I was wondering, is a Lexus CT200 a much quieter car?  Same drive train as the Prius / Auris / Corolla but a more expensive car that is more 'up-market'.  Is the cabin more refined?

[Catlover]

The Ct200 platform is the same as the Auris I believe, so shorter then your Prius, therefore rear passenger leg room less. The coefficient of friction will be higher then your Prius, so less mpg.

i looked at CT200 but I didn’t think the interior was much different, if any to a Auris and worse then a Prius. The bigger Lexus had a very fine interior.

Then Gen4 Prius drive train is different to the Gen3 and Auris. Can’t nail down what but I would say the HV Battery is different, and although the changeover from Battery to engine, and vice versa, is so much smoother. I getting 10mpg better then the Gen3 I had, and a bit more over the Auris hybrid the wife has.

[Ten Ninety]

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

 I think they do suit perfectly a hybrid cars. Just sharing my personal experience, I don’t work for Goodyear or represent them in any way.

Fair enough. Everyone has different experiences. Let me share some more detail on why I will never buy Goodyear again myself.

On my Gen3, I went from from 17" wheels on Michelin Primacy to 15" on Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance. Running both at my usual 39psi, fuel economy was immediately noticeably worse by around 5mpg, despite the reduction in size. This failed to improve after scrubbing in - I could only get close to the mileage I was getting on the 17" Michelins if I pushed them all the way up to 45psi which had the added benefit of improving the awful jelly-like handling. I am one of the least 'sporty' drivers on the road these days and actively dislike fast cornering, but I still found the Goodyears to be unbearably imprecise at standard pressures. As time went on, I wasn't comfortable with running pressures so much higher than recommended, so I dropped back to 40 as a compromise. I can state categorically that those tyres did not get quieter with extra wear, and after 20,000 miles the fronts were worn down on the outside edges (despite the overinflation) which was absolutely appalling given how gently I drive. By comparison, the Michelins had gone past 60k. 

That wasn't enough to put me off Goodyear completely, though. I subsequently put 17" Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 3s on my wife's Auris hybrid, again replacing Michelin Primacy. They actually delivered only slightly worse economy, similar cabin noise and similar comfort and although they woollied up the handling a bit that wasn't a concern. I actually thought they were decent tyres at first. However, the sidewalls proved to be horrendous and, in my view, a serious danger. Over two years, two of the four needed replacement because they'd developed bulges. Then, when my wife hit a pothole with the offside front, the sidewall actually tore straight through so the whole tyre ripped completely off the rim. Fortunately she managed to retain control and no serious damage was done to anyone. However, I was shocked at how the entire tyre had simply disintegrated just from hitting a hole in the road.

Unfortunately, during that initial period when I'd thought the F1s were decent, I'd decided to fit a set of Asymmetric 2s to my GS. Perhaps because of the lower-profile 18" size, the sidewalls weren't so much of a problem. The issue instead was a catastrophic reduction in fuel economy, despite replacing similarly E-rated Bridgestones. I lost a full 10mpg, which translated into somewhere around £5-7 per week. I finally got shot of the things as they'd worn out after two years and a mere 30,000 miles. However, I worked out that I'd lost so much money in fuel over that time it would actually have been cheaper to throw them in the bin immediately after purchase!

I'm sticking to Michelin from now on. The OE Primacies on the Auris and Gen3 were fantastic tyres for both economy and wear, and weren't any noisier than the Goodyears I replaced them with on either car. I've put CrossClimates on the GS, which has returned economy to more reasonable levels. 

[TonyHSD]

Pretty bad experience, exactly opposite to mine. If that happened to me I would probably never buy any Goodyear tyres again even for a bicycle. 👍

[Catlover]

My recent experience tells me most “tyre” noise is actually road noise. Friday I went from Chester area to Rhosneigr on Anglesey. I took the longer slower but more picturesque route of going down past Wrexham and picking up the A5 through Llangollen, Corwen, Capel Curig and over the Menai bridge. Beautiful countryside, but very noticeable was how quiet the road noise was when I left Llangollen. Really quiet. So I reckon road surface creates most noise, and the cost of changing tyres before they worn out could well an expensive excercise.

Couldn’t really hear engine noise either, very quiet, and impressed with the Gen4 Prius how smooth the transition was from Battery to engine and back again. In the Gen3 it was barely noticeable, but the Gen4 is undetectable. 

[Garth-1]

I have followed many discussions about tyres on many different car forums.  It strikes me that one thing that is never mentioned, but is blindingly obvious to me, is that a new set of tyres - having more rubber and a deeper tread - is almost always quieter and smoother than the old set they replace.  What else would you expect?  So when I hear that "I replaced brand X with brand Y and my driving experience was transformed, well .. that's what new tyres are for.  Of course there are differences between tyres, but you have to do the comparisons when all conditions are equal including wear, time of year etc.

[Wooster]

Are you still following this thread?  I think I've found the reason for the resonant 'thud' on my 2010 Gen 4 Prius. 

I mentioned before that the doors seemed to give off the same 'thud' noise when I bump them with the soft part of my hand.  I've already stuck on heavy anti resonant pads to the inside of the door skins.  They removed the cheap 'ting' noise when they were tapped with a knuckle but not much else.  I came across the service manual for the 2014 Prius and it shows a 'cushion' pushed up against the door skin - it being bolted to the side impact bar:

My doors do not have this pad.  Further, I can't retro fit it, as the side impact bar runs in a different direction and doesn't have any holes for the bolts:

I suspect Toyota modified the door and changed the angle of the side impact bar to incorporate the cushion. And (I'm guessing) they added the cushion to stop the door skin resonating and annoying their (more pedantic!) customers.  So, I know the solution but I'm unable to do anything about it. 

 

[QuantumFireball]

I believe there were some NVH improvements made with the 2012 facelift, so this could be one of them.