I have a '12 SH-AWD. The road noise seems awefully loud for a car of this type. I was initially thinking it was the tires, but I am having the car dropped off next week to have the doors packed with sound deadening material. I will post my opinion on the difference it makes/if any.
Do anyone else agree that the 4G TL is loud? My brothers old 2015 Altima 2.5 seemed quieter.

 

tires.
what kind of rubber you got on!?

 

 

cheap ass rubber!!!!!!!!!!

i suspect previous owner put new tires to sell car, even if that meant grabbing the cheapest tire

 

Yes that was my initial thought too. My brothers altima had michelins on them. I think they were the primacy? Probably spelled wrong. I will be looking to upgrade soon, but I have to wait until I get out of school. ( about 4 months left )
Any recommendations? I have a local shop who said they would cut me a deal on some nitto motivos.

 

tires are so subjective!!!
what do you want the car to do well in??
also depends on climate...

I run sumer tires YEAR round because TExas. and I have a 6MT that I like to have fun with,

but if youre just looking for a general all season, the Motivo's are great!
I just picked up Nitto Invo's!!

 

Lol @ cheap ass rubbers. Make sure you always have good rubbers. Trust me I had stock michelin tires on that were 6 years old. I couldn't hear myself think it was so loud and bumpy driving. like driving on bricks until i recently upgraded to big boy rubbers. Lmao

 

Being AWD, traction will not play such a strong part in comparison to the FWD. So, I am looking for a tire that will excel in highway trips, as my wife and I take a vacation every 3-4 months.

 

The rims are the 18 inch 5-spoke ones that come with the tech package? I have the tech package.

 

This is an interesting mod. I did this (DYI Triple Seal) on my 2009 and it seems to improve road noise in city. Once you get to highway speeds, it's louder. I don't think there is a way to get around that.

https://acurazine.com/forums/fourth-...al-diy-938122/

 

I added more door seels too. I do believe It seemed to help with wind noise. But who could hear it over the roar of the tires?

 

well, every one has different tires.

 

One thing you might try is to get a tube of Honda Shin-etsu grease. It's expensive, but it has kind of magical properties. Put a very thin coating on all your weatherstripping, including the sunroof seal (wash the crud off the seals first). It will make a difference in quieting the interior of the car.

 

Thank you for the information. I will look into that. Does it soak into the seals and make them swell?

 

Don't know if it makes them swell, but possibly so. After a bit, you can't tell it's on there (keep it to a light coating). In other words, you won't be getting it on your hands/clothes, etc once it's been applied for a few hours. Makes a big difference, not only for wind/road noise, but also for minor rattles or squeaks.

 

Thats pretty amazing how a grease application could make such a difference. I ordered some last night! Thank you. Should be here tuesday. Wind noise is suprisingly great already. I got up to 110 last week after I got called into work for an emergency. I cannot wait to see how quite it can really get.

 

Update: Applied Honda Shinetzu grease last night on nearly every rubber seal on my car. Took me about two hours. I let it sit over night and I drove into work this morning. Wind noise was minimal to begin with, but appears to be even softer now. The lack of wind noise now seems to point even more focus into the tire roar. One problem down. One to go. Tire upgrade is next, but the grease did a great job at cutting wind noise. Thumbs up.

 

I ditched the OEM Michelins and put Michelin Premiers on my TL. There is a lot more siping on the Premiers and thus the tire is louder, especially in wet or slushy road conditions. OTOH, they handle just fine in the summer and perform very well in the winter and in heavy rain. It's a trade off. If you want quiet tires with the best highway ride, the best are going to be soft and as a result treadlife and wet/winter performance are both going to underperform when compared to the Michelins you can buy a a real tire shop (no, the MX-4 OEM isn't the same as the MX-4 you can buy aftermarket). The OEM tires are cheaper to make but improve performance on initial tests JD Powers, Consumer Reports, Car and Driver, etc run on new cars. With the Premiers, as you increase speed, especially if you are accelerating hard in wet conditions, you can actually hear the tire siping at work in the TL. As for road noise, Honda and Acura products have never been know for their quiet, feedback free style. They're a little louder and coarser than a Camry or ES350 but are a lot more engaging to drive. If you want to drive around in serene silence, get a used LS460. IMO, it is the best road trip (straight line Interstate style) vechicle you can buy. 80 90, 100 MPH, it's just the soft tones from the radio you'll hear. That's with the special Firestone high performance OEM tires on it of course, and these last 25K-30K if you're lucky and the replacement bill for them is a number I don't even want to type and look at. But they do work at keeping the car silent.

 

Yes the LS is an incredible machine. I have never sat in a more comfortable seat in my life. I am working on getting my wife a new SUV first. I want to wait and see how the new LS turns out first before I make a new purchase.

 

The new LS, if it lives up to the billing, is going to be an amazing car. OTOH, Lexus is said to be "sharpening" the new model to better compete with the flagship offerings from Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Personally, I'll be disappointed if they stiffen the LS to the point it loses the character and identity it's had since the inception of the LS400. The tomblike silence regardless of speed, the almost complete isolation from vibration or harshness caused by bumps or irregularities so the LS seemingly floats over everything coupled within it's sheer ability to eat interstate miles while completely pampering occupants is what the LS has always been. Friends of mine made fun of me when I first bought it (is that your grandfather's Buick?, etc) implying it was an old man's car. Then they rode in it. Every person should have the opportunity at least once to take the LS on a longish interstate cruise. It's simply amazing, And all with the absolute best that Toyota has to offer re: reliability and durability as well as quality of materials. That said, the TL is still the car I choose to rip around smaller roads all summer and when there is snow and slush on the road in winter. The SH-AWD system is absolute magic in slippery conditions. The ELS sound system in my tech package is also a generation ahead of the system in the LS. I mean there is truly no comparison whatsoever, the system in the LS sounds flat out cheap when you compare it to the ELS. That's saying something since the TL is 1/2 the price of the LS. I'm just glad and lucky I can have them both.