Just bought our first Toyota, a used 2000 Corolla CE w/ 89k miles. The engine purrs quietly like a kitten, but when driving (especially up to speed on the highway), the road noise is give-you-a-headache-after-a-while loud. It sounds like tire noise (for sure not engine or exhaust noise), but it is way loud.

1) Is this a common issue?

2) Any suggestions as to how to address it?

Thanks!

what did you drive before the corolla?

Try driving on different surfaces, such as fresh asphalt and roughened concrete, to see if the noise changes depending on the road. If the noise you're hearing changes drastically- the tires are probably to blame. Keep in mind that Corollas aren't luxury cars, and thus don't have as much sound insulation as a Lexus. Some road noise should be expected.

If the noise is the same on different pavement, have a mechanic or someone familiar with troubleshooting drivetrains, take a look. Weak or failing transmissions, differentials, CV joints, and wheel bearing can make sounds like road noise. If in doubt- get it checked...

I've never noticed my Corolla ever being that loud compared to my friend's Audi A4. Perhaps you need to check your tire pressure. It may be under inflated. You could also try switching to different tires or try installing some sound-proofing behind the console if the noise really bothers you.

Thanks for the replies.

I previously drove a full-size truck (1989 F-150) & a full-size van (1996 Econoline). The van has fairly loud engine noise and you had to raise your voice for conversation, but was no where near as bad as the Corolla.

The noise definitely changes on different surfaces; FYI I drove on a fairly smooth cement highway and then a newly paved asphalt highway, both 55-70 mph.

We're checking the tire-related things, pressure etc. The tires sure look good (treadwise), but maybe they're just real hard or something?? The tires are Douglas 185/65R14's, I'm not sure how many miles are on them.

Good thought on getting the other various systems checked.

How would one go about adding sound-proofing? The inside of the wheel-wells feels like thin plastic; is that something that can be adjusted/sound-proofed?

Other thoughts?

Thanks!

Sounds like your tires may be to blame. I don't find my Corolla overly noisy, although it is a bit louder then some of my other cars (my old F250 diesel took the cake on noise!). The other thing you could do, and this would be both expensive and a lot of work, is to cover the floorboards/door panels/ fenders with something like Dynamat or another type of sound insulation. The problem is that this stuff is expensive, and very heavy (so you'd probably notice a decrease in mileage if you added it to everywhere you needed coverage).

The best advice: drive with the windows open and you won't notice the road noise

cheapest to do is to pull your seats and center console, take the carpet out, and add another layer of sound dampening padding to the floor. its cheaper than the butyl mat material. but go after the tires first, get something nicer.

I think we're going to start with the mechanical issues. It appears we have wheel bearing problems with the front tires; worse on the driver's side, but passenger side also needs work.

Kinda stinks for having just got the car, but oh well. I suppose it's good that we found some problem that may indeed be causing the extreme loudness.

We're getting quotes on the wheel bearings, and then we'll see if it's suddenly "all quiet", or if we'll move on to the tires and/or sound-proofing.

Thanks again!

Night and day. That's all I can say.

Epilogue:

It turns out that if the wheel bearings are bad, the car will be *real* loud when driven. We had our mechanic replace the two front wheel bearings (both sides were totally shot), and then the car was incredibly more quiet. It was like night and day.

Now we're very happy with our corolla (just need to get a replacement read window motor & find out if it really isn't supposed to not have a trunk light, but those are for other threads.)

Thanks for all your help & suggestions!

I'm glad I found this thread. I just took my corolla to a dealer with some drivetrain noise. The car has only 44,000 miles but sounds like bad bearing or diff. How common is this in Corolla? I was surprised that the dealer charges $75 "diagnostic fee" even though the car is under warranty. Is this something new with Toyota?

Thanks fish, you were right, the dealership waived the fee when they decided the bearing was covered by a drivetrain warranty.

Here is the bad news: new bearing and same noise. It's a tire! It fooled me (and mechanics as well). No more BFG traction T/A for me!

I have a 2002 Corolla with 100k miles on it. The Corolla will never ride, or sound, like a luxury sedan. However, tires play a huge role. I added some sound -deadening material to the floorboards a while back and it marginally improved things.

I am getting ready to change out my struts, as they are shot, and maybe that would improve things by absorbing shock better, and reducing its transmission to the rest of the chassis? Something to try.

If anyone cares, this is what I found on tirerack on traction T/A:

"If NOISE and RIDE COMFORT are important factors to you when considering a tire, then DO NOT BUY THESE!!! Once my tires hit about 18K miles, the noise started and gradually became louder. Now (at 22K) miles, the noise is just about unbearable. It starts at around 30-35 mph and gets louder (higher pitch) as speed increases. Me and my family go long driving every weekend (4 hr drive - one way) and the noise is just too much and causes fatigue. The ride feels like were riding on knobby tires. Every other aspect of these tires are fine. But, again, NOISE and RIDE COMFORT are in the toilet! I hate to get new tires at this point as there is still lots of life in the treads...but we cant stand the noise any longer. By the way, I bought these tires based on the majority of good reviews on this site. Of the hundreds of "good" reviews, about 20 were bad...and those people also wrote about the loud noise..but I didnt think twice about those bad reviews since there were so little of them. So, when you read the reviews, read all of them (including the bad ones). Sometimes, the bad reviews are more telling than the good ones."

This sums my experience very good, even to the same milage my problems started! The problems with tire reviews that most reviews are written on new tires. Problems like this take time to develop.

I think most tires are quieter when they are new. They have a little more tread which provides a little cushioning.

As the tire tread wears down, there is less cushioning and they will get louder.

It is too bad that the traction T/As get so bad that they become unbearable.

Does not sound like a very good brand to recommend.