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Hi folks, all this talk about Shin Etsu grease and door seals and quiet rides drove me to measure sound levels in my car (2014 LS460L AWD) under three conditions: engine off, engine idling and car stationary, and car on highway at 78 mph. The measurements for each set of conditions were taken within a few seconds or minutes of each other. I repeated them a few times, and these values are typical. The phone was positioned near the gear shift lever. It's important to note that the highway readings were taken in a quiet stretch of well-maintained highway, and different road surfaces and tires will affect these values.
I first downloaded Decibel 10 and was very distressed that the app gave very high readings. I next downloaded db Meter, and its readings are more reassuring. I did not calibrate the apps. Now I don't know which one to believe! I tried a third app Decibel Meter, but it gave even higher readings which were clearly incorrect (~100 dB average on the road). I like to think my cabin is very quiet, so am inclined to believe the dB Meter. I welcome your thoughts and comments. Better yet, please post your readings
You have to be careful that you're measuring the right type of sound, not every decibel Range is appropriate for each application, some are for lidoseakers, some for rooms, you have to make sure it's measuring the right thing.
Mine measures 56-59 on most highways. In traffic it's a little higher.
Thanks, Steve. Looks like the dB Meter is on the correct setting and providing an accurate reading. I will Shin-etsu next week and post new readings from head level.
I'd describe interior sound like this...if it's not windy it's a tomb, if it is? Wind noise gets past my door seals. I have done the fix, my "problem is more the seals (or seal distortion). Personally I really don't care about it.
But the shear amount of insulation on this car is amazing, there aren't many cars that put this much or spend this much on sound insulation. It's much much quieter than most cars, very rarely do I hear road noise. And in the winter the insulation actually keeps the inside warm for a fairly long time.
This highlights how unreliable a decibel reading is from tool to tool and application to application. Edmunds has the 460 at 58.4 dB, and I only get a reading as high at 65.9 dB under full throttle or the absolute loudest road surface.
I'd describe interior sound like this...if it's not windy it's a tomb, if it is? Wind noise gets past my door seals. I have done the fix, my "problem is more the seals (or seal distortion). Personally I really don't care about it.
But the shear amount of insulation on this car is amazing, there aren't many cars that put this much or spend this much on sound insulation. It's much much quieter than most cars, very rarely do I hear road noise. And in the winter the insulation actually keeps the inside warm for a fairly long time.
I define a tomb as deathly quiet (buried in a box with no sounds whatsoever), and I have that sensation only when the car is off (about 35 dB on my dB Meter App; windows rolled up ). It's very quiet, but I would not call it a tomb, when the car is idling (~45 dB). When my car is running at 25-40 mph, there is sufficient road (tire) noise and engine noise (about 50-55 dB), although it gets quieter if I am coasting. At highway speeds, there is a fair bit of tire and engine noise (~65 dB), but wind noise is very subdued. Agreed, this car is orders of magnitude quieter than anything else I have ever driven, my previous LS excepted. I am just trying to get a sense of whether my LS is about average for interior quietness compared to other CLers' cars. I was hoping that sound meter apps would give objective answers, but it's becoming clear that these apps give variable readings, and so many factors can affect the readings. So, it looks like these judgements on cabin quietness are going to remain quite subjective. I am sure my car will get much quieter after I apply that Shin-Etsu grease
You have to have your expectations set properly lol. Yes its an extremely quiet car, but it is still a machine that rolls along the road at 80MPH pushing tons of air out from around it, in traffic surrounded by other huge machines doing the same thing all also generating noise. "tomb" quiet when applied to a car is a different thing. I will say this, I drive a wide variety of cars. I have driven pretty much everything that could be reasonably compared to an LS and while I have driven cars that also impressed me with their quietness, I have never driven a car that made me get back into my LS and all of a sudden think it was loud. In fact, quite the opposite. When driving say an S Class, I think "Wow this is quieter" then I get back in the LS and I'm like "no, its really not this is just as quiet". Outside of a Rolls Royce or Bentley I am very confident that this is one of the very quietest mass produced cars you can buy.
Your dB readings do seem high to me. I've used a couple apps and none of my apps ever get over 61-62 dB at a 75 MPH cruise unless the road surface is real rough or there is a real strong crosswind. Are you in traffic when you're taking these readings? You mention tire noise, what tires are you running? You also mention engine noise at cruise. The only time I ever hear the engine is at idle (DI tick), under moderate to full throttle load. Thats it. At cruising speed I cannot hear the engine at all. All ambient noise in the cabin comes from the tires and air rush.
Want to make it quieter? Check out: www.sounddeadenershowdown.com Don is a good guy to deal with and very helpful,
A Lexus kit is NOT shown but you can always order and install the CLD tiles and MLV where you want..... I had some CLD tiles left over from another project so I stuck a few of them on the hood and fenders.
dB readings are very difficult to obtain and interpret in a meaningful way. Where you take the measurement, the device calibration, weighting (almost all reported measures are weighted), etc. You may get some insights as to relative sound level before and after shin-etsu but the absolute readings are probably not very meaningful.
dB readings are very difficult to obtain and interpret in a meaningful way. Where you take the measurement, the device calibration, weighting (almost all reported measures are weighted), etc. You may get some insights as to relative sound level before and after shin-etsu but the absolute readings are probably not very meaningful.
Agreed 100%.
And also, pure dB doesn't 100% give you an idea of how you will interpret the sound or if you will find it bothersome. A lot more goes into it with frequency and modulation, etc. Two cars may have dB readings of 62, but one may feel much quieter inside.
As an example looking through his site, the LS already has pretty thick sound pads on the back of the door panels, etc.
Sound difference on the interior after CLD tile install was not really noticed BUT tapping on the hood and fenders was definitely noticed...... Check out the "CLD tiles on the cymbals demo" on the website.
The LS is quiet from the factory so I personally would NOT do any big $$$ sound deadening on it..... BUT, greasing the weather stripping is a "must do" maintenance item to preserve the rubber on any car or truck.
Your dB readings do seem high to me. I've used a couple apps and none of my apps ever get over 61-62 dB at a 75 MPH cruise unless the road surface is real rough or there is a real strong crosswind. Are you in traffic when you're taking these readings? You mention tire noise, what tires are you running? You also mention engine noise at cruise. The only time I ever hear the engine is at idle (DI tick), under moderate to full throttle load. Thats it. At cruising speed I cannot hear the engine at all. All ambient noise in the cabin comes from the tires and air rush. I downloaded your app, let's see what I get.
No traffic when taking these readings. I assume I am hearing engine noise along with tire noise when cruising, I could be wrong. Otherwise, engine noise only at idle and throttle as you indicated. I will change the phone position to head level while taking readings; it might make a difference. I have Michelins MXM4s with 25K miles. I am itching to switch over to the P7s sometime next year.... Maybe slather them with Shin-etsu too
Originally Posted by sktn77a
dB readings are very difficult to obtain and interpret in a meaningful way. Where you take the measurement, the device calibration, weighting (almost all reported measures are weighted), etc. You may get some insights as to relative sound level before and after shin-etsu but the absolute readings are probably not very meaningful.
Good points, Keith. Your inner audiophile is showing...
09-05-17, 08:12 PM
How quiet is your LS interior?
to measure sound levels in my car (2014 LS460L AWD) under three conditions: engine off, engine idling and car stationary, and car on highway at 78 mph. The measurements for each set of conditions were taken within a few seconds or minutes of each other. I repeated them a few times, and these values are typical. The phone was positioned near the gear shift lever. It's important to note that the highway readings were taken in a quiet stretch of well-maintained highway, and different road surfaces and tires will affect these values.
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