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Extreme road noise in new Outback

70K views 119 replies 50 participants last post by  zdshi 
#1 ·
Hello all- I have a new 2017 Outback Premium, and the road noise is deafeningly loud at freeway speeds. Also noticeable at lower speeds but not quite as bad. I've read on this forum and elsewhere that most people seem to consider the new Outbacks pretty quiet in the cabin, so I'm wondering if there is something wrong with mine. I know this is subjective but the roar is so loud at around 60mph that using the radio is pointless. I've never had a car this noisy inside the cabin before and its ruining an otherwise nice new vehicle.


The noise is constant and seems to be a combination of tire and wind noise- not so much engine noise but that's loud too upon acceleration (not cruising). It's like they forgot to insulate the car at all. Sounds like I'm driving a Jeep Wrangler with a ragtop and giant knobby tires.


Anyone else having this issue? FYI- tires are the Bridgestone Duelers if that matters.
 
#2 ·
No, mine is extremely quiet even at freeway speeds. The predominant noise at 70mph is wind noise on new bridgestone duelers, now with 500 miles on them.

If yours is brand new, I would return it immediately and do a side by side drive with a technician of another new outback of similar trim.

My guess is, if it's truly road noise, there's something wrong with one or more tires.
 
#7 ·
On my '16 OB Premium with the same tires, my cabin was quiet on most road surfaces. Some road surfaces were considerably louder than others, in some cases causing me to pull over to check my tires. It was just the road, and I was glad when I got back on ungrooved roads.


I did have one instance where my tires were loud on normal roads, but that was right as it started going flat on the interstate in mid-southern PA with no close towing (road hazard plan) or Subaru dealer (to replace tire and assure warranty maintained).


When I was talking to the tire experts, they said some tires are directional and/or should not be transferred from left to right once used in one direction at highway speeds. I wonder, were your tires recently rotated? If so, I wonder if they were torqued properly, and not swapped left to right.


Also, when you are driving on a straight section of highway, do you have to fight to stay mid-lane or can you almost let go and it tracks straight and true? Might be an alignment issue, like a curb was banged as an example.
 
#9 ·
Mine's a '17 2.5i Lim. Super quiet without the crossbars across. I occasionally get some road rumble but that's to be expected. That's even with the sunroof sunshade open 24/7.

I drove my mom's '10 Pilot today due to unfortunate circumstance and it was significantly louder than my OB even with the sunshade closed. There are hard mounted crossbars. Previously when comparing to my '04 Corolla I thought the Pilot was silent whilst my Corolla was a windstorm, but comparing the newest car to the now oldest car there's a huge difference.

Even with a smashed rear windshield, my OB was fairly quiet on the drive home last night.
 
#12 ·
I have a new 2017 Outback Premium, and the road noise is deafeningly loud at freeway speeds.
Did you not test drive an Outback before buying one?

That said, the noise level in our 2016 Outback Premium is slightly higher than our 2015 Legacy Premium, but it's still one of the quietest vehicles my wife and I have ever owned. Conversation at normal voice levels is typical at 65 to 70 mph on paved roads, although some rough road surfaces will increase tire noise significantly.
 
#84 ·
I had the same issue with my 2015 OB w/ 32k (predominantly all highway, interstate driving.) I had a growing growling noise in the vehicle and took it in and it was found that both rear wheel bearings were bad and had to be replaced under warranty.

Question now is, shoddy beearings from a supplier or something else?
 
#22 ·
Needed a new car for the wife two months ago. We test-drove a Nissan Rogue, a Honda CR-V, and a Subaru Outback. We got the Outback, and a big reason for that was that at normal highway speeds, the cabin noise in the other cars was more pronounced. The Outback is as quiet as we have any right to expect from a sub-$30,000 car.

The OP's car must have something wrong with it.
 
#23 ·
OP here- I am on vacation this week, without my Outback, so will address this when I return- but I will say that no sane person would consider my car "quiet"- it has more road noise than any vehicle I've ever driven. Could be a bad wheel bearing or window seal, what is odd is that I can't point to a specific location in the car where the noise comes from- it's just loud, as if the car has no insulation or very thin window glass.
 
#27 ·
It is all subjective to what you are used to as well. I felt my 2017 2.5 limited road noise was really loud too. I was coming from a 2003 expedition that was considerably quiet while driving, our Audi A6 is really quiet.

I agree wit the OP though. I thought the road noise was really loud for a new car and a company boasting about how they made improvements to the 2017 for road noise. Tires do make a huge difference in noise as well.

I went on the extreme side of things and Dynamated the entire car while replacing the stereo system. Made a huge difference. I found very little sound deadener in the doors, floor pan or panels of the car. Most of the "sound proofing" seems to be the carpet kit as it was really thick compared to other cars I have pulled the carpet out of. You can check out some pics of my craziness HERE LOL
 
#28 ·
I'm interested in seeing if you find a resolution or if there is nothing you can do about the road noise. In the alex on autos review ( skip to about 14:40), Alex noticed it was a good bit louder than other vehicles in the class. On my test drives I have not experienced the same results.
 
#32 ·
Just out of curiosity, I'd like to hear from someone who has a Premium (not Limited) and doesn't find it noisy. I notice a lot of posters seem to have Limiteds, and am wondering if the Limited has better sound insulation/thicker window glass, etc. My glass is all marked "Subaru/Carlex", no markings to indicate acoustic glass or anything like that.
 
#34 ·
I'm a new 2017 OB Premium owner, as is my partner. I made her drive hers today so I could take some measurements. :) We were going 60 mph on a new-ish concrete highway and a regular asphalt highway. On both the average db was 88-90. I used the Decibel Meter Free app on an iPhone.
 
#37 ·
Ok all, I am back from vacation now and back in my OB. I did get a chance to drive another 2017 OB Premium at a dealer and noticed that although the wind buffeting noise was still pretty noticeable at freeway speeds, the road/tire noise was significantly less- not completely gone but a more typical level. On the same freeway stretch mine is loud enough to mask the hvac system on high fan.

I did use a sound meter app on my iPhone - in both cars. Both were reading 76-80 dbC at freeway speeds, but in the dealer car I drove the tire noise was much less noticeable - that annoying tire rush/ drone was just not there.

The wind buffeting noise when crosswinds hit seems pretty typical for these cars and I can deal with that- but this road noise is killing me- it's like they forgot to insulate somewhere in the car or the window glass is paper thin. It's like traveling with a window cracked open. Even passing traffic is loud compared to any other car I've driven.
 
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