New Corolla GR sport 2.0 TS

[Wath owl]

Hi, after having  test drives in 2 different 2 litre touring sport models, which were about 1 year old, I decided to order a new GR sport at the end of September.

At the time of order it became apparent that the Gr Sport now came with 18" wheels as standard. I thought they looked very smart and a definite improvement on the 17" ones on the test cars that I had driven.

I then made the fatal error of watching every YouTube review of my prospective car that I could find and was a bit dismayed to find that quite a high level of road noise was reported by many of the testers.

Could someone please comment on their real life experiences with the car and if you find it is an issue.

I did wonder if it was down to the standard fit Falken tyres?

If anyone can give me the benefit of their experiences with regards to this issue it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Pete

( the car is due to be delivered on 12th January)

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

Well for the wheels there is no doubt that larger size with lower profile tyres will be harsher drive and more noise plus easier to damage the wheels and more expensive tyre replacement, basically the best size for Corolla are 16” or max 17” wheels, TS GR where coming with 17” as far as I remember. If you prefer to keep 18” wheels change of the tyres to different premium brands can make a significant difference in noise and comfort levels especially if you go for all season tyres that has softer rubber and v shaped thread patterns, they tend to dampen the road noise and vibrations better than standard summer tyres and a lot better than HP and UHP tyres. Btw Toyota official store on eBay sells 16” oem Corolla wheels at £150 per wheel which is a good price plus often coupons apply to this price so looking even cheaper 👍😉

[Rosgoe]

I have the 1.8 corolla h/b with 18” wheels and yes it has more road noise than the auris I had with 16” wheels however I do think that this a lot to do with the rough road surfaces that seem to be more prolific these days. I had a 21 plate Yaris as a courtesy car which had 16” wheels I think and found the road noise much the same.

there has been loads of comments on the forum about those falken tyres but if you look at the noise ratings produced from them on a drive by basis they come out at one of the lowest, I am going to try some different ones when they ware out and will see what happens. Welcome to the forum👍

[Wath owl]

Many thanks for your comments, very interesting about the all season tyres being quieter.

[trashman1965]

My 2.0 Excel has 18 inch with Falkens and I find it quieter than my previous MY18 Auris on 17's...extra sound deadening helps for sure but overall I find the new car a lot quieter (and yes, I was worrying after seeing previous comments too). Forget it, look forward to and enjoy the car. Worry about noise if you find it bad (you will think its noisier than a non-hybrid if you haven't driven one, just because there's less engine noise most of the time).

[TonyHSD]

25 minutes ago, Wath owl said:

Many thanks for your comments, very interesting about the all season tyres being quieter.

That’s what some people are saying and it does make sense to me, I use dedicated summer tyres Goodyear efficient grip performance 2 205/55 16 and I have winter tyres Nexen winguard sport 2 fitted to my original wheels 215/45 17 and the winter tyres are quieter than the summer in almost all surfaces and the car is way more comfortable especially in the cold days because the winter tyres has softer compound and the V shape, therefore I believe the all season ones like Michelin cross climate 2 or Goodyear vector 4seasons gen 3 will be better tyres for the Corolla even at its original size of 18” plus they give you all year round safety where falkens summer are full stop in frost and snow. 👍

[Wath owl]

Great comments & advice. Many thanks, my mind has been somewhat put to rest.

I'm really looking forward to taking delivery of my new Corolla but the noise issue has just taken the edge off my excitement.

[shufman]

Hi Pete,

I do find my tyres a little noisy and sometimes it bugs me more than others. In my work I’m a passenger in lots of different comparable cars and my car is mid rank in terms of noise in my opinion. I do think that any car (Focus etc) similar to the Corolla on the same size wheels will make a similar amount of noise so it’s not worse than the opposition in this regard in my view, but I’m still gonna change the tyres in Novembers service to Michelins so I’ll do some noise readings before and after and put the results on here. 
 

Oh and they’re VERY sensitive to wrong pressures .. more than 2psi out either way makes a big difference to the noise/frequency 

 

[Cyker]

The pressure thing is good advice!

Also, re. tyre noise ratings, remember they are for OUTSIDE the car - In my experience, whenever I've bought tyres with a higher noise rating than my previous tyres, they've often been quieter inside  

[Wath owl]

Thanks Ian, be very interesting to hear how you go on with the Michelins.

I've read elsewhere that Primacy 4's are pretty quiet.

[shufman]

I hope so 😄 I’ll post what I find on here. 

[Red_Corolla]

It's all about the sidewall height. Corollas have relatively small wheels and therefore an 18" rim can be compared to a 19" on a bigger car in terms of sidewall thickness.

For example, I have a C-HR on loan from the dealer this weekend and it's 225/50 18 tyres are much better at dampening road noise than the 225/45 17 on my Corolla. The C-HR has bigger rims, but that doesn't matter because the whole wheel size is much bigger and therefore the tyre walls are still thicker, which is where the ride cushioning and silencing comes from. They're also Michelins rather than Falkens and I suspect that also counts for a lot!

[Wath owl]

Thanks for that. Yes the 18" tyres on the Corolla are 225/40 so is a thinner sidewall. What type of Michelin tyre is on the C-HR?

[Red_Corolla]

11 minutes ago, Wath owl said:

Thanks for that. Yes the 18" tyres on the Corolla are 225/40 so is a thinner sidewall. What type of Michelin tyre is on the C-HR?

Ill have a look tomorrow. In my experience, it doesn't matter too much. When you buy Michelin, you get a damn good tyre regardless of the model. I never put anything else on my bike. I would think Primacy would be the right choice for a Corolla - nice all round compromise between grip, life and economy.

[Pauliob]

I have a 2021 excel with 18's the tyres are falkens and have a really thick rim protector 

[Wath owl]

What's the road noise like with the 18's?

[shufman]

1 hour ago, Wath owl said:

What's the road noise like with the 18's?

its not horrendous but I find the frequency sometimes a bit head rattling. Could be me of course! It’s a bit subjective. The Excel has acoustic front glass which probably helps too - I dunno if all the 2.0 cars have this or it’s just the spec.  Plus there’s not a lot  of other noise to balance it out. Like I said previously if you put 18” wheels with low profile tyres on a Golf of Focus then I think the noise levels would be very similar. The upside is that the steering is accurate and has good feel when you feel like having a bit of a thrash. 

[Red_Corolla]

14 hours ago, Wath owl said:

Thanks for that. Yes the 18" tyres on the Corolla are 225/40 so is a thinner sidewall. What type of Michelin tyre is on the C-HR?

They're Primacy 3s

[50p]

14 hours ago, Pauliob said:

I have a 2021 excel with 18's the tyres are falkens and have a really thick rim protector 

I have these too but sadly they did not protect the alloy wheel ☹️

[john p williams]

19 minutes ago, 50p said:

I have these too but sadly they did not protect the alloy wheel ☹️

That`s the Driver`s job David.😉

[TonyHSD]

I would agree it’s a drivers job but sometimes even the most careful driver can stop just that tiny bit closer to the kerbs and done, damage is there because the wheels are kind of poking out first even with rim protectors. Btw the tyres with largest rim protection on any car I have ever seen are the oem for Prius 2016 toyo R41 https://www.toyo.co.uk/tire/pattern/nanoenergy-r41 which actually are very good tyres too, we bought a set for gf Auris and she was happy although a bit too late as the wheels were already kerbed, Last week I swapped back to the oem 17” and on the very same day I touched the kerb 🤣👌, no damage though but perhaps just as reminder once I wear out the tyres on them to leave them in the storage waiting to take the car to her final destination hopefully not soon and meanwhile I will buy a new cross climate 2 for my 16” wheels. , price difference of £30+ per tyre its huge. 👍

[50p]

4 hours ago, john p williams said:

That`s the Driver`s job David.😉

true! I know it's a case of 'a bad workman always blames his tools' but an auto dipping mirror whilst reversing would be useful 😏