Road noise and ride quality

There are lots of threads about Prius road noise and cabin noise. The older generations, as well as the new 4th generation and also the Prime Prius. Some owners have installed sound insulation.

And many threads about tires. Certain brands of tires definitely contribute to the noise level, but no overall agreement on which tire brand is best, or most quiet. The opinions are numerous. I've had cheaper tires that were very rough and noisy; but also more expensive brands that were unusually loud. It's hit & miss. Did you check the tire pressure?

 

The Gen 3 Prius is not a car that I would buy if my typically commute was at high speeds over bad roads -- the Gen 4 is much better .. but still in the eco-box class IMO. It's not what they are built to do -- we regularly use ours to get out of the city to the weekend places ... but it typically not high speed and when it is the roads are good ... and only 1.5 hours.

All of ours have the 17" tires -- softer tires like the Continentals ride better w/ little MPG penalty. Don't under inflate ---. there is only so much you can do.

 

congrats and welcome!
it is not at all surprising that a dealer would put cheap tires on a used car, most people won't notice.

switch to michelin energy savers a/s. not cheap but smooth as silk and worth every penny.

if that isn't enough, you can start adding dynamat to the easy places like the spare tire well, and continue from there. there are several 'how to' threads here with step by step instructions and pictures.

how many miles on your car? you might need suspension work.

all the best!

 

Which brand/model tires were installed?

 

Can you guarantee that Mr bisco? And they may be smooth.... but how 'bout QUIET?
I thought you liked the Defender better.

I might pull the plug sooner, rather than later on my Michelin Premiers. Noisest tire EVER!!

 

never had defenders. energy savers are extremely quiet, except on bad pavement, but still better than many alternatives.
for bad pavement, you also need wheel well sound deadener.

there have been a couple complaints about energy savers getting noisier after 25k or so, i may never find out.

 

It is a 9 year old car, it doesn't pay them to put non-cheap tires on used cars they are trying sell.

What is the tire pressure? While some of us use higher pressure than recommended on the door label, this definitely changes the ride quality, making it more harsh. So you should check the pressure, and if it is high, reduce it to 35 front / 33 rear.

 

Yes you will... You just have to Log Off once in awhile and go drive!

The Priemiers also get louder as they wear. The special "rain tread" widens out as they age. And not to mention the extra noise from the shallow tread to begin with.

And I agree with Fuzzy-Wuzzy, when I lowered the psi back down to factory specs, the tires got somewhat quieter (better than nothing!) and the ride is MUCH improved.,

 

time will tell. i'm just so pleased with them now though. can't tell you anything about handling, braking, bad weather or what have you, my average speed is 20mph.

 

You must be right behind Kevin! (krmcg) Nothing wrong with being a conservative safe driver.

 

Serious? Its like saying no power and no speeed. When you buy this, you buy FE. If you want smooth and no noise, you should have bought the Lexus ct200.

 

We have about 43k on the higher mile car with the 17 Continentals ... I will be putting them on the Gen 4's when they come due

 

Obviously you need to replace the shocks-struts, they were poor when new, now they are poorer.

Turn on the radio, pony up pandora on your phone, stream it to the radio, no more road noise.

The gen2 could be tuned to be a fantastic road beast, the gen4 comes tuned as a good road beast, the gen3 is not tuneable, you can add the TRD rear stabilizer bar and Koni makes a stock shock for it, that would help.

 

I have not noticed any reliable change in the car as it has aged -- the shocks last a long time (as all do today)

 

Obviously, one persons ceiling is another’s floor.

 

Well ... if you are trying to say that none of our drivers can tell ? You are not correct. Someone buying a 3 used and expecting it to ride like many other cars .. they are making a mistake. Asking what's wrong is not the way to discover the problem .. the way is to drive another and see if there is a difference.

I can walk out during the week and take my pick of many with different miles.

 

I came from a 1st gen Scion xB without a CVT. High revving engine with lots of road noise. Felt every crack on the road. Great car but at times, I felt like I needed to put on my Bose noise cancelling headphones on the highway. The Prius seems like a Lexus LS to me by comparison.

 

Time to wake up old thread

i did a long load trip that involved lot of 100kmh highway driving. Started wondering the weird noise car make at those speeds. At 80kmh nothing odd but at 100kmh there is kind of resonating medium loud sound that sometimes disappear going up/down hill, sometimes not. Here roads are sometimes rather worn (due to spikes at winter) but trying the other ”path” in the lanes does not have any impact hence tires probably not the source of sound.

Sound is kind of like tiny engine running at very high rpm and producing intake grawl or some vibration. But taking foot of the pedal does not make sound go away. At one point i was in passenger seat and my son was driving and i did not hear the sound at all, very comfortable, nothing disturbing. So it’s audible at drivers seat only. Could it be that some rubber grommet, panel etc is missing from drivers side foot well? Volvos have steering axle grommet that can come off and engine sound coming in (i had that happen once). Or could it be that the plastic intake ”system” with soo long thin plastic tubing is resonating? Or the engine cover?