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Toyota Camry Road and Wind Noise
Just traded in a 1997 Camry (4Cyl LE) towards a leased 2009 Camry (4Cyl LE). I drive 52 miles a day on the highway and find the road and wind noise of the 2009 to be something awful compared to the 1997. The 1997 had gone 157,000 miles with el cheapo Goodyear Integritys and the 2009 has Michelin something or the other. Maybe the tire difference can account for the road noise but wind noise and general acoustic
isolation has taken a nose dive over the years IMO. Can anyone shed some light on this?
isolation has taken a nose dive over the years IMO. Can anyone shed some light on this?
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Also, opening a window and listening to reflections from walls and parked cars seems to confirm that the tires are the source of the sound. Tires are Michelin Energy MXV4 S8 with mixed reviews. Road noise above 50 MPH is deafening IMO. Going to take it back to the dealer.
I also use NAPA SilGlyde on the door seals about once a year.
We've had a 2002 Camry since 2001 and it has no such defect and we love it. Guess we just assumed that the newer Camry's would have the same or better quality. Not so in regard to this defect. Looks like Toyota would have fixed this problem by now and provided it to the field as a repair kit maybe.
Yes, we have high expectations of Toyota, but that's what they have built their reputation on, and their vehicles are generally superior. We'd hate to see Toyota now start losing ground as the US makers did over time. That's how they did it. One little defect at a time. Toyota and their Deming concepts know better than to let something like this cause customer dissatisfaction. By the way, neither the new Ford Fusion and Taurus, nor the Buick Lucerne has this problem. Wish there were a better answer for us. We'll have to sell it if we can't learn to "live with it" as suggested.
We are in touch with Toyota via their Corp. 800-331-4331 number and have a “case #”. They are “researching” the issue. Will keep you posted.
Wind noise though, like water leaks, squeaks, and rattles, is hard to pin down and harder yet to fix. Good luck.
The '09 suffers from more wind, road and rain noise. Yes, rain noise....Heck, it sounds like someone is popping corn during anything beyond a drizzle. However, the road noise is exacerbated by the POS Michelin tires Toyota chose for better MPG.
I haven't really noticed that problem on mine. However, I think they have cheapened up the materials like everyone else.
Normal;
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Closeup (panning required);
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I have not paid attention to this topic before and was pretty much set to buy XLE V6 which I test drove 4 hours ago. After driving on highway 50-70 mph wind noise was so loud on both sides (driver and passenger) that we walked away from the deal at the end and feel very good that we DID so. I really think it has more to do with body shape, mirror location than anything else. It reminded of 1997 Blazer I owned while ago. Oh man, I was glad when that car was gone ....
The car we were attempting to replace was 2001 Avalon XL with 90K.Super quiet comparing to XLE. You can hear mosquito on the back window when driving.
I guess it all depends where you are coming from. When I made the transition from Blazer to Avalon, it was like going to heaven. I guess if you own a "blazer" now, you may think this is normal. I definitely do not want to go back ....
My 2000 camry does not have this issue. Has anyone esle found the problem to be annoying to the max??
It's not a problem for me, because I never drive with the rear windows open, usually only the sunroof.
Not me. Wind noise with a window or windows open is a given IMO. It's wind noise with all windows closed that the OP and subsequent posts were mainly concerned about.
Furthermore, driving with windows open on a highway may be hazardous for your eyes due to flying pebbles. The windshield of my previous Camry has a fracture from one. I would wear goggles in a convertible with the top down....Seriously!
>on older asphalt and any concrete hiwy.
Exactly my findings with the 2009 I have. It's the Michelin MXV4 S8 tires. Drive in a parking garage with the front windows down; it sounds like you're at the seashore during rough seas compared to my previous Camry.
I find those tires also give a very harsh ride at the recommended pressure (32PSI for I-4). One sure way to make a Camry ride like a Corolla. I set mine to 30PSI (recommended for V6). Reduces the road noise too.
>Any suggestions on products or fixes?
Change the tires to address the road noise. You don't need tires rated for 179 MPH and losing 1 MPG for tires with higher RR shouldn't be that big a deal. Alternative is installing better acoustic insulation which is a material and labor intensive exercise.
Sometimes I think he was right.
ps he drove Lincolns (big) because someone forced him off the road in his small car and about killed him.
If you still have those contact #s, I would appreciate it.
1) Quietcar in the trunk --- made very little difference to the noise level
2) Quietcar in the four doors. Made a significant difference. But I noticed that the plastic barrier and thin door panels still let too much noise thru.
3) I then put the Home Depot insulation to block off the big holes in the metal door. I also put some of this stuff directly on the door panels. This made a huge differnce to the noise and I now think there is no significant noise coming thru my door panels. The doors now close with a beautiful sound too.
4) Quietcar on the hood. When I had the hood liner removed I noticed huge increase in the wind noise and road noise that came thru the firewall. After I put Quietcar coating on the hood but did not put the hood liner back up the noise was much worse. So that got me thinking that the main noise input into the car is thru the firewall. I had no easy way to put Quietcar coating on either side of the firewall. So I lined the cowl with the peel and seal. This reduced the wind noise significantly.
On a quiet road (no other traffic) I got a noise of 63 dBA. I did not have the sound level meter before I started all this work so I can't tell you what the noise level was in my car before but I am using a professional sound level meter (not the one from Radio shack) and edmunds has measured the 2007 camry at 68 dBA. The 63 dBA was on original Bridgestone tires. I changed my tires to Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S and got a sound level improvement of 1.5 dB.
As I said the camry firewall is a bad design and I feel it is letting in most of the wind and road noise. Other people have suggest the windshild may also be at fault. In my testing (I generated white noise outside the car) I tried some experiments to figure out if the windshield was at fault I found more noise coming out of the ventilation system.
At some stage I would like to get to the firwall and get some Quietcar coating on both sides.
So, I've read that the tires can be changed to make it somewhat better. And, there are sound deadening materials that may be employed.
My wife and I bought the car to travel and are concerned about the effect of noise levels near 80 dBA for extended periods of time. I've seen info that indicates the gov't considers levels above 75 dBA for extended periods of time to be damaging to hearing. Seems that it will be necessary to spend maybe $1000 to make the car safe to drive for long distances.
Has anyone ever had any luck with Toyota to fix this?
It also helps greatly if you discharge a spray can of undercoating in/on each individual wheelwell liner.
Tires and acoustic insulation (or lack thereof) for road noise. Winshield and wing mirror placement for wind noise.
One way to confirm abnormal road noise due to tires is to drive in say a parking garage with the front windows down. That way you hear the tire noise from outside reflected from the walls.
"63 dBA was on original Bridgestone tires. I changed my tires to Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S and got a sound level improvement of 1.5 dB".
So you will get a 1.5 dB noise improvement with the best tire out there.
I moved to Dallas from Indy and because of Concrete road surface on nearly every road my noise level increased from 61.5dBA to 64 dBA (at 70mph). Rough concrete surface or rough roads does cause more noise to come into the Camry cabin because of the door seals. Now I believe my 2007 Camry had a design fault in the door seals and they have not fixed the issue in the 2011 model.
So even with a lot of work to get the noise levels down (61.5 dBA on asphalt) the high frequency noise is still annoying. I can't wait to change to a new (quieter) car.
I believe Toyota neglects insulation on the LE models and brings more care to the more expensive models. Example, just tap on the roof of your car and you will find it sounds hollow: no inside coating there for sure! Very disappointed with this car (which by the way is not that economical compared to my I-4 1993 Touring model!)
I just bought a certified 2011 Camry, only 16k. I took it to the dealer twice, and finally the dealer changed the rubber of the 2 front seats. However, the problem still persits. It's too noisy and annoying on the high way. The dealer was helpful but that's a problem, that's hard to identify. Going into the high way, the dealer couldn't hear the voice. I guess, it's something I have to live with or just.. sell the car. Thanks.