Toyota Corolla Sound Insulation

[TonyHSD]

2.0 definitely better performance and although on paper can deliver very similar mpg to 1.8 in reality 1.8 is a lot more efficient. I believe 2.0 will suit more private car owners where 1.8 is great for hyper millers and company car owners. 10-15mpg difference over 100k plus miles will return ££££ off the car price tag. 

[Roy124]

I would have thought the company car owner would not be interested in the economy aspect though his company might.

I experienced an example of performance over speed today.  I was cruising at a steady 50 on a reasonably good rural A road when I was overtaken by a a pure EV which was followed by a faster car.  That latter then overtook the EV before the EV had completed its overtaking manoeuvre.  That fast car then had to brake hard going uphill before taking a fast bend.

It might once appealed to my boy racer instincts but in our new 'green' world, how long will that performance be tolerated?

Sorry for the digression and I am not really a grumpy old spoil sport.

[Parts-King]

18 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

2.0 definitely better performance and although on paper can deliver very similar mpg to 1.8 in reality 1.8 is a lot more efficient. I believe 2.0 will suit more private car owners where 1.8 is great for hyper millers and company car owners. 10-15mpg difference over 100k plus miles will return ££££ off the car price tag. 

Don't know what the benefit in kind is for the 2.0 but from a company car point of view, the 1.8 will be cheaper 

[TonyHSD]

One day I will rent from somewhere 1.8 for a week, then a 2.0 for a week., I will drive the same and fill at same garages and will monitor to see how much really is the difference in fuel consumption, for me this is important and also will try the seats in design icon tech vs gr and excel, these are the two aspects that bothers me the most when my time for Auris replacement is coming. Prius might win at the end. 🤭👍Only don’t know from where I can get to hire these two models for a week with unlimited mileage?! Any help highly appreciated. 

[Roy124]

Tony, interesting proposition. An obvious source might be either Toyota itself or a Toyota dealer.  The figures Parts-King gave "the MPG was averaging about 56 for me {in a 2.0}, and 70 ish in a 1.8 version".

I suspect I might get nearer that high figure using the strategic network driving to the south coast in June and back from Cornwall later on.  Certainly that sort of journey gave me a much better mpg on a diesel Merc and cruising at 70.

[Roy124]

Just an update.  It's not engine noise! 

Long drive yesterday (1.8 Corolla) doing 70 and as you might expect it was noisy.  Suddenly it was as if the volume had been turned off as the normal road surface changed.  This lasted for a short distance and then the noise returned. 

It's probably the case that when you hear traffic on a busy road that it is not engine noise but tyre and road noise. 

Would low dB rated tyres be better, as long as grip was not affected? 

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Just an update.  It's not engine noise! 

Long drive yesterday (1.8 Corolla) doing 70 and as you might expect it was noisy.  Suddenly it was as if the volume had been turned off as the normal road surface changed.  This lasted for a short distance and then the noise returned. 

It's probably the case that when you hear traffic on a busy road that it is not engine noise but tyre and road noise. 

Would low dB rated tyres be better, as long as grip was not affected? 

Hi,

a large percentage of the Uk roads has horrible surfaces that makes any car noisy., as you had experienced change of road surface made a huge difference, happens to me on daily basis since I am a high miles motorway driver. Yes, tyres can make a difference and the one that Corolla comes with are not of the best to choose and some owners have replaced those with better ones like Michelin cross climates or pilot sport. If your car has 16” or 17” you will have greater choice of summer touring tyres which are one of the quietest to choose and also most comfortable. 18” low profile tyres usually comes HP and UHP types which are not the most comfortable or quiet, however better brands like Michelin or Goodyear can made a change worthy. Few tips about tyres when choosing and looking for comfort and performance., avoid budget ones, avoid uhp and these with large rim protectors or run flat or XL with higher load number unless they are specific for your car, avoid A symmetrical tyres, tyres made of hard rubber compound and those with large gap between threads as these are always noisy. The different thread pattern behaves differently on rough and smooth surfaces. V- shaped winter or all season tyres are slightly noisier on smooth surfaces but much quieter on rough Uk roads, where the ones with straight water drain canals , typical summer tyres are quieter on smooth surfaces but slightly noisier on rough surfaces. Here I can share my choice of tyres for summer and winter season, these are carefully selected for best comfort (low noise level) and excellent performance plus good fuel efficiency, all these factors are important for me.  Maybe the best tyre for all season is exactly something in between and it’s perhaps the Michelin cross climate and Goodyear vector 4 season, I haven’t tried any of them yet and can not give any information but other Toyota owners likes them., plus they are good all year around. 
Regards 

[Trewithy]

8 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Just an update.  It's not engine noise! 

Long drive yesterday (1.8 Corolla) doing 70 and as you might expect it was noisy.  Suddenly it was as if the volume had been turned off as the normal road surface changed.  This lasted for a short distance and then the noise returned. 

It's probably the case that when you hear traffic on a busy road that it is not engine noise but tyre and road noise. 

Would low dB rated tyres be better, as long as grip was not affected? 

This is exactly my experience and I was also wondering if it was due to the tyres although the noise rating for the standard Falken tyres is 69db so they should be quieter than a lot of other tyres.  Perhaps there is a lack of noise insulation over the rear wheel arches.  At motorway speeds this car is nosier than my previous car but it is much quieter around town. 

[Roy124]

1 hour ago, Trewithy said:

This is exactly my experience and I was also wondering if it was due to the tyres although the noise rating for the standard Falken tyres is 69db so they should be quieter than a lot of other tyres.  Perhaps there is a lack of noise insulation over the rear wheel arches.  At motorway speeds this car is nosier than my previous car but it is much quieter around town. 

Indeed my previous car was an older 220D Merc and probably 50% heavier than the Corolla with much of the extra weight undoubtedly insulation.  Just tap the roof of a Corolla. 

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, Trewithy said:

This is exactly my experience and I was also wondering if it was due to the tyres although the noise rating for the standard Falken tyres is 69db so they should be quieter than a lot of other tyres.  Perhaps there is a lack of noise insulation over the rear wheel arches.  At motorway speeds this car is nosier than my previous car but it is much quieter around town. 

There is one more thing, your cars are perhaps slightly quieter even on motorway speeds as the ice works at lower rpm and when that happens the other noises like tyre noise, wind noise are more pronouncing inside the cabin, sound proofing should be better than previous models but definitely not as good as European cars, German brands especially, they are the best for motorway journeys although lack of good reliable drivetrains 👍 

[Trewithy]

I have only had my Corolla for a couple of weeks and last week I was on holiday all week starting with a long motorway journey so I thought I should check the tyre pressures before I set off.  The recommended pressures are F/R 33/30psi. I was a bit surprised to see the garage had set them to 38/37, so I reset them to 34/31 as I normally over inflate by 1 or 2 psi.  When I set off the first thing I noticed was the car was quieter at motorway speeds than previously, no doubt due to the more compliant tyres.

[Roy124]

Kevin, interesting.  As I have just returned from Devon was the quieter drive due to the stop start driving on the motorway :)?

Seriously, how many people check there tyre pressure after the delivery or servicing?  Also interesting that a 5 and 6 psi drop in pressure didn't trigger a TPW alert.

[TonyHSD]

17 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

Kevin, interesting.  As I have just returned from Devon was the quieter drive due to the stop start driving on the motorway :)?

Seriously, how many people check there tyre pressure after the delivery or servicing?  Also interesting that a 5 and 6 psi drop in pressure didn't trigger a TPW alert.

Probably very few, my girlfriend has a new car recently delivered and I had a go and noticed immediately a roaring sound from the tyres with a huge side walls, told her it’s impossible, checked next morning they were 3.1 bars instead of 2.5, that is a huge difference. Set them all at 2.6 bar next morning and the car drive completely changed, nice and smooth plus ultra quiet. My car is the same, but if the tyres are over inflated becomes noisy and very uncomfortable, going over potholes it crushes like is breaking apart. 😬

[Trewithy]

25 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

Kevin, interesting.  As I have just returned from Devon was the quieter drive due to the stop start driving on the motorway :)?

Seriously, how many people check there tyre pressure after the delivery or servicing?  Also interesting that a 5 and 6 psi drop in pressure didn't trigger a TPW alert.

I guess that if the tyre pressure warning system was set when the tyres were at the recommended then you wouldn't get an alert until one or more tyres fell well below that pressure.  

I don't know how the TPS works on Toyotas.  Some makes can detect the actual pressure in the tyres others makes compare the rotation of the wheels.  If one tyre loses pressure then the diameter of the wheel becomes smaller which means it rotates at a faster rate than the other tyres, that's the way I think it works but I could be wrong.

[RabButler]

On 6/14/2021 at 1:00 PM, Trewithy said:

I have only had my Corolla for a couple of weeks and last week I was on holiday all week starting with a long motorway journey so I thought I should check the tyre pressures before I set off.  The recommended pressures are F/R 33/30psi. I was a bit surprised to see the garage had set them to 38/37, so I reset them to 34/31 as I normally over inflate by 1 or 2 psi.  When I set off the first thing I noticed was the car was quieter at motorway speeds than previously, no doubt due to the more compliant tyres.

A couple of weeks ago the ambient temperature was less than 10 degrees.  It makes a big difference. Last Friday I had to reduce my tyres from 39f/38r back to the 35/34 they were set at at the beginning of May. Motoring got quieter!

[TonyHSD]

On 6/15/2021 at 9:07 PM, RabButler said:

A couple of weeks ago the ambient temperature was less than 10 degrees.  It makes a big difference. Last Friday I had to reduce my tyres from 39f/38r back to the 35/34 they were set at at the beginning of May. Motoring got quieter!

Now exactly opposite, since temperature went down tyre pressures were down by 1 bar, had to top up some air lately. 👌 Regular checks and adjustments are always best 👍

[Roy124]

On 6/21/2021 at 3:14 PM, TonyHSD said:

Now exactly opposite, since temperature went down tyre pressures were down by 1 bar, had to top up some air lately. 👌 Regular checks and adjustments are always best 👍

One bar, really? That is flat!  One bar is 14.5 psi.

[TonyHSD]

3 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

One bar, really? That is flat!  One bar is 14.5 psi.

Oops, my mistake, not a bar but 1/10 of the bar from 2.36 down to 2.27 bars. 👍 Thanks for the note 👌

[50p]

Just noticed that my Corolla Excel 1.8 MY2021 has under bonnet insulation.

[RobTrek]

Hi everone,

To get back to the original topic, I also have a 1.8 trek edition and I find it very noizy on the freeway at 120kph. I noticed it right away as I came from a 2017 Audi A3 1.6 diesel. I hated my Audi in town because of engine noise and loved it on the freeway, now I love my Toyota in town and hate it on the freeway 🙂

The other things that bug me about this car are 1) the fake electric sound when you drive below 30kph and that you can't turn off as it's a security measure and 2) the constant engaging/disengaging electric motor sound that starts when you come down to a stop, impossible to unhear it and it drives me mad. Anyways...

So I thought the sound system was garbage and started looking into alternatives like the Focal Speakers but figured it would be better to put some sound deadening material in the front doors first. I ordered a kit from Amazon and will try to apply it in the next few weeks. I think this will make a bigger difference than changing the Speakers, and is also cheaper.

I don't think the bonnet insulation material will make a big difference because except when accelerating rather hard, you don't hear the engine noise, and even less at 120kph since there is a ton of road/wind/truck driving next to you noise.

 

 

[clix]

I also find our corolla 1.8 TS (Falken Ziex ZE914B, 225/45/17), a bit noisy on the motorway. In the city it is very quiet and relaxing to drive and on the motorway it is quite noisy.

As it was already discussed, I also agree, that a lot it has to do with tyre noise. It is the quietest on the worn out, but very smooth roads, that look like they were polished, and rough roads make it quite a bit noisier. It is big difference between the the road surface smoothnes and coresponding noise).

And especially in the tuneels, it becomes noisier still, it almost feels like the noise bounces from the walls of the tunnels, and coms rigth back trough poor insulated doors.

Because it feels like the noise is low frequency rumble, I do have some hope, that the sound deadening material on the doors, rear wheel arches and boot floor could help. It is on my to do list.

BTW, here somebody went to the extreme:

Toyota Corolla - soundproofing - Ahifi.cz

[AisinW]

Corolla and Auris 2015-newer has similar degrees of sound proofing.  The wheel arch are all coated with rubberized paint. The floor is more than a half are coated with body adhesive.  Overall, nothing need to be improved on that parts.  The roof and trunk are also pretty well insulated. The engine noise is relatively quiet even at 130km/h or 80mph.  The main noise came from the windows/wind.  Corolla and most Toyota does not have accousting side windows.  

The only improvement we can do is putting 2nd stage foam heavy vinyl carpeting to further reduce tires noise. Butyl rubber like dynamat is not needed anymore.  Corolla today is much  quieter than 20 years ago.  The dynamat materials only add weight. 

[Persimmon]

After driving several different Corollas (HB's and TS's, my own and rentals, old a new models), and applying a lot of sound insulation, including the outsides and insides of wheel arches, floor and boot, and trying out different wheel sizes (16, 17 and 18 inches) with various tyres (Continental Viking Contact, OEM Falkens, Davantis, Nokian Hakka Black), and driving several other cars to specifically compare sound insulation (BMW 2-series coupe, Audi TT, Mazda CX-30, old Lexuses and Audi A6's), I can tell this:

TNGA platform cars seem to be fundamentally noisy. Tyres, wheels, insulation can make a small difference, but the "hum" on non-perfect road surfaces always remains. Seems like the whole platform/chassis/suspension is structurally prone to vibration, which generates this airplane-like hum. 

Adaptive suspension (AVS) on some Corollas (like my new TS) makes a tiny difference, but I believe it is simply impossible to make a Corolla be as quiet as e.g. current gen. Mazda 3/Mazda CX-30 or prev. gen. VW Golf and Passat (I don't want to compare Corollas to luxury cars like Lexus or BMW). The only car which I found noisier in this class is the current gen. Kia Ceed — that got uncomfortably loud on a highway. 

Many people of this forum seem to defend Toyota, and repeat the same things like "the engine is so quiet which makes road noise more noticeable", or "all cars are noisy on bad road surfaces", or "it's all about the tyres". In my opinion, these are not helpful. Yes, noisy tyres and bad road surfaces make a difference to cabin noise on ANY car — you can't deny objective physics. But Corolla is noisier than MANY rivals in its class (my opinion of course, take it or leave it).

(One theory I have is that noisier petrol and especially diesel engines generate more vibration and sound in certain low frequencies, which interferes with the road noise making the whole sound stage feel less obtrusive. Corolla Hybrid + eCVT may lack that benefit. In general, I'd love to hear a nice V8 rumble, but not a slight road humming, even though objectively the engine would be louder...)

Now, it's a compromise. I loved my Corolla so much that I swapped my HB for a TS, and it's an upgrade for me, and I'm happy. It's quieter, but it's still noisy. TBH, it's the noisiest car I had since my first cheap 2006 Honda Jazz. 

I'm rambling here simply because I want those for whom the road noise is important to see this. It's not a huge deal, and it's one of the things you have to take into account when choosing a car. I'd say the road noise is the only negative I can think of about the Corolla. It's a 95% perfect vehicle 🙂

[Cyker]

My theory is it's because the TNGA cars are so much stiffer than the older chassis - It's very noticeable in the handling, coming from a Mk1/Mk2 Yaris to the Mk4 - and I reckon that is transmitting more road noise.

At the same time, they have tried to reduce the weight of the cars by using stronger structural components and thinner panels, and reduced heavy sound damping - That would lead to increased vibration transmission.

TBH I usually have the radio on so it's not been a major issue for me, and I can't complain about the noise so much when the car is giving me 70+mpg  

[Gerhard_Corolla]

Of course it's a multifactorial issue, as is always...

 

But the worst combination of them all for sure is:

poor road surface + Falken tyres + absence of acoustic glass + terrible sound system = drives people crazy

 

In Continental Europe the most, literally, loud complaints come from Spain and Portugal, where road surfaces tend not to be optimal. I have now driven the car in Germany and Italy, and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary in this class segment. It's a non issue even in B-roads in the former, and a small issue on those same roads in the latter, but because in Italy you're fighting for your life in every corner, the sounds tend to blur on the background!

 

'Class segment' is little bit dodgy nowadays, at first we were looking to lease a car, and there were pretty good deals on BMWs 118, a car that drives extremely well. But at the end we crunch the numbers and thought that leasing was not the right thing for us, so we researched within a certain budget what cars were available, and in each head to head comparison the Corolla beat the competition. I really liked how the BMW drives, but within the Corolla price tag, you're looking into the 116 territory and the Bavarian company only gives you four wheels and a windscreen, while the Japanese gives you extremely good security features and a better engine...

 

Moreover, I loved the looks, so we naturally decanted for the Corolla TS 2.0...

 

A BMW with the same engine output and near the security features of the Corolla would be around the 40k eur mark, which is well above the Corolla version we bought in Germany. In my opinion the Corolla has a little bit too much equipment and features, like the parking and driving assisted systems for example, that only adds complications and costs that could have gone to other areas of the car like better paint quality, handling feeling, door seals, general sound insulation, or a better sound system. But the security features are just outstanding! The emergency braking system, blind spot monitor, and airbags are noteworthy.

 

They even give you an airbag for your coffee in front of the cup holders!