89 corolla coupe road noise problem

[bowtomecha]

I have an 89 corolla sr5. It has about 204,000 miles on it. The problem is that I need to crank the volume of the stereo just to hear it over the road noise. I can hear the car on the road a lot. I know that some of it is this loud muffler the previous owner put on. Sounds like a racing rice rocket. But the rest is this road noise and engine noise. Could it be the suspension? I dont know if im willing to have the dash taken off to "dynamat" everything. What options do I have.?

[TokyoRacer]

Earplugs. I've just gotten used to it, so it doesn't bother me.

[REN69]

Muffler is probably the culprit.. replace it with a regular muffler. If the noise persist, it could be anything.. tires, wheel bearings, holes on the floor, etc. I doubt the suspension would cause road noise though.

[89yotarollagts]

do you have your spare tire and all that crap in the trunk ??? are your seats up !!! i know that if your trunk is empty and your seats are down its twice as loud

[cobrajet25]

My '90 sedan is noisy on the freeway, too...one of the few things I don't like about the car. Could be crappy or overinflated tires. Might try swapping the tires, otherwise you will just have to get used to it. And get rid of the rice boy exhaust, of course! Regards, Aaron

[Snip3r]

I once read a Consumer Report on the Rolla GTS. And one of the problems that they had with it, (and they had very little) was the amount of road noise. I've had mine now for a year, have a biger muffler on it, and it is loud, but not unbearable. But the littel rattles in the door trim and dash are!!

[RakeRon]

Try checking your weather stripping to see if any of it needs replacing. Its an old car so I wouldn't be surprised if it needed some new stripping by now. Also when was the last time you had your tires balanced? An out of balance tire can make alot of noise from the vibrations.