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88 4runner V6 auto.
In my quest to make my truck quieter I did the followng with only very minimal improvement.
Replaced door seals
Dynomat on floorboard, outer door skins, full length of outer side panels, and rear wheel wells
1/4" closed cell foam tape on inner door skins and full length of inner side panels
Extra carpet on floorboard
Additional rubberized undercoating on all 4 wheel wells
After all this with only negligible improvement, it makes me think it's just as good as its gonna get or I'm missing something.
Later models were quieter,,my '95 4Runner 3.0 Auto was quiet. I used a sound deadener for another vehicle and the difference was negligible. ( Product similar to Dyomat but fraction of the cost from Russia.)
Based on your use of foam tape and replacing door seals my assumption is you base complaint is wind noise? The main cabin vent is in the pillar right next to your ear that's not something your likely to fix without causing other issues.
I applied lots of vibration dampener (peel & seal / dynamat) on floor and sidewalls and insulation (temp and sound insulating fiber mat AND anti-fatigue mat and/or closed-cell exercise mats on my floor, so the body noise itself is very comfortable.
The bigger challenge to me and more difficult to change is the scream of the 22R-E, especially at speeds above 65 MPH. Perhaps heat and sound insulating material on the engine compartment side of the firewall AND under the hood like on later models would help.
I also hear some wind leak through the door seals. Fresher seals would probably help. An upgrade would be parallel seals - adding another one stuck to the door frame parallel to the stock one on the door itself.
There's hum from the tires. I wonder if applying thicker rubberized material on the whee-well would help.
But then again, there are more fun things to do with our trucks than projects.
Heck, I'm a music lover and musician at heart yet I have been putting up with torn paper cones of my after-market speakers since I got the truck in 2012. HMMM... maybe I'll put the next stimulus check toward fixing that
Based on your use of foam tape and replacing door seals my assumption is you base complaint is wind noise? The main cabin vent is in the pillar right next to your ear that's not something your likely to fix without causing other issues.
Its a combination of wind and road noise. And I cannot pinpoint a specific area. Seems to be coming from everywhere.
Im familiar with the vent you mention. On my other truck I had it taped over with no noise change.
I might try that just to see if it makes a difference.
I applied lots of vibration dampener (peel & seal / dynamat) on floor and sidewalls and insulation (temp and sound insulating fiber mat AND anti-fatigue mat and/or closed-cell exercise mats on my floor, so the body noise itself is very comfortable.
The bigger challenge to me and more difficult to change is the scream of the 22R-E, especially at speeds above 65 MPH. Perhaps heat and sound insulating material on the engine compartment side of the firewall AND under the hood like on later models would help.
I also hear some wind leak through the door seals. Fresher seals would probably help. An upgrade would be parallel seals - adding another one stuck to the door frame parallel to the stock one on the door itself.
There's hum from the tires. I wonder if applying thicker rubberized material on the whee-well would help.
But then again, there are more fun things to do with our trucks than projects.
Heck, I'm a music lover and musician at heart yet I have been putting up with torn paper cones of my after-market speakers since I got the truck in 2012. HMMM... maybe I'll put the next stimulus check toward fixing that
Yea the firewall is always a challenge unless you are ready for some work and spending a lot of time. Im not there yet but close. LOL
On my latest 1500 mile trip last month on the NMBDR, I ended up using ear plugs..
I ended up pretty satisfied with my sound deadening job...road and wind noise is significantly reduced, but like Rad4Runner, the 22r noise remains a problem, especially at higher RPM's. Sounds like you've already done some work on the wheel wells...one thing I did that maybe made the biggest difference was removing the front fender liners, getting peel and stick deadener on the inside of the fenders, and hushmat megabond on the tops of the fender liners. That area between the liner and the fender is a big drum, so you really want to prevent the fender itself from vibrating. Ditto for the door skin...I put peel and stick on the inside of the door skins so when you tap the outside of the door or fender you hear a muffled thud instead of a bass drum.
I ended up pretty satisfied with my sound deadening job...road and wind noise is significantly reduced, but like Rad4Runner, the 22r noise remains a problem, especially at higher RPM's. Sounds like you've already done some work on the wheel wells...one thing I did that maybe made the biggest difference was removing the front fender liners, getting peel and stick deadener on the inside of the fenders, and hushmat megabond on the tops of the fender liners. That area between the liner and the fender is a big drum, so you really want to prevent the fender itself from vibrating. Ditto for the door skin...I put peel and stick on the inside of the door skins so when you tap the outside of the door or fender you hear a muffled thud instead of a bass drum.
That’s a good idea. I hadn’t thought of doing that but it’s worth the effort to try....
I think you're mostly out of luck. Modern vehicles that are quiet were designed with noise in mind...reduce the source of noise, dampen the noise that can't be eliminated, move it to a different frequency, optimize the aerodynamics, etc. techniques. My house is 70 years old wood frame construction, stucco over chicken wire over, tar paper. Well-built, but not designed to be insulated from sound and heat/cold. My neighbor has an older Chevy pickup with a V-8, which exhausts through aftermarket components. It seem that it is tuned to the resonant frequency of my house, specifically the two bedrooms right next to his driveway. When he cranks up at 0330, the windows rattle, and the rooms become resonant cavities. Everything vibrates. I don't hear him coming as much as feel his vehicle coming and going. His engine is very well tuned and idles down very slow. That hits the resonant frequency dead center.
Trying to modify the house, specifically the walls would be futile. I could refer to the code enforcement and/or law enforcement authorities. His vehicle and he are not in conformity on several counts. I could sue him. Not likely to be productive and would cause ruffled feathers. I just co-exist. Same for noisy older vehicles. Noise is caused by vibration. Reduce the amplitude and/or shift the frequency to a less problematic range. Changing the frequency could involve stiffening the vibrating item e.g. door skins, floor pans etc, by adding mass or stiffeners. Lay on five coats of undercoating should make your "cabin" structure less likely to vibrate at all. Getting some slick areodynamic mirrors could help at freeway speeds, maybe. Modern jet transport airplanes are remarkably quiet, when I think about the earliest jets Boeing 707, KC-135, 727, earliest 737s, Douglas DC-8, DC-9 etc. They made a hell of a racket. When I see the modern jets climbing out overhead, its just a whisper. Different engine designs turbofans vs turbojets, acoustic treatment of the engine nacelles, etc. They even spend a lot investigating the noise made by extended wing flaps, landing gears, etc.
When I had to make several 15 hour trips on I-5 between Washington and California back and forth last year, in my '89 Yota pickup, earplugs were my solution to the road noise, wind noise, engine noise, speedometer noise etc. Good luck on your noise control efforts, but I wouldn't expect much of a result. My $0.02.
One area that can be a big noise source that hasn't been mentioned is the transmission and tcase. The gears and drive train are actually pretty noisy (even when in good shape), and a lot of noise can bleed up around the shifters. Pull off the shifter boots and stuff a bunch of fiberglass insulation in there - pack it in tight. You might be surprised at how much it helps.
One area that can be a big noise source that hasn't been mentioned is the transmission and tcase. The gears and drive train are actually pretty noisy (even when in good shape), and a lot of noise can bleed up around the shifters. Pull off the shifter boots and stuff a bunch of fiberglass insulation in there - pack it in tight. You might be surprised at how much it helps.
Good point. Made me remember the 2nd gen 4Runner. They had that seal in the firewall that the steering column shaft passed through. We replaced those all the time. They transmitted an amazing amount of engine noise into the cab.
i guess i'm an anomoly. i don't find the 1st gen 4runner particularly noisy. i drove it over 8,500 miles in one month, going coast to coast to coast, and the noise never bothered me. no earplugs, and the cd player only used about 10% of the trip.
my red '87 is my DD, and has been since mid-2013, with 99K miles put on it. noise has never been an issue, or annoyance. but i also drove a cj5 for 20 years, and that IS noisy. so is my '48 dodge dump truck. but i don't mind.
i'll have to come back to this thread later on once i finish my truck's interior work.
i am in the process of doing the same thing. all my seals are in good shape but otherwise im gonna do a full sound treatment in the cab.
measured the spl in my truck on my typical drive home, windows up, air on recirc but otherwise off, doing 70 mph, with no radio on. noise level on my dosimeter averaged 82 db.
i am on wildpeak at3w tires, but they're even more quiet than the goodyears i had on when i bought the truck.
once do my full sound treatment, i'll measure again and report back with results, if not on this thread (if i remember) then on my build page. this thread has give me some additional places to go after.
I ended up pretty satisfied with my sound deadening job...road and wind noise is significantly reduced, but like Rad4Runner, the 22r noise remains a problem, especially at higher RPM's. Sounds like you've already done some work on the wheel wells...one thing I did that maybe made the biggest difference was removing the front fender liners, getting peel and stick deadener on the inside of the fenders, and hushmat megabond on the tops of the fender liners. That area between the liner and the fender is a big drum, so you really want to prevent the fender itself from vibrating. Ditto for the door skin...I put peel and stick on the inside of the door skins so when you tap the outside of the door or fender you hear a muffled thud instead of a bass drum.
I'm curious, does your truck have overdrive? Mine is an '86 22r and when I fixed the overdrive, the noise level was cut in half.
Oct 5, 2020 | 12:19 PM
