circuitsmith Overinflated tires can certainly be noisy. They can also be very dangerous. 50psi is “suicide” high! Another danger is the droning which can put you to sleep. OP did not state what size the rental cars are but with the noise problem I would guess sub compact. I have usually had good luck with rentals but my last one was a 2008 Toyota Corolla with 1700 miles. Various interior trim pieces fell off. I would snap them back and they would just fall off again. When I returned the car I informed the rental agency. They replied most of them have the same problem. “Toyota is working on it.” What happened to Toyota quality?
You might want to experiment with different earplugs. I have a fellow horn player that puts in earplugs in our orchestra if we are seated in front of the percussion section or in the band when we are seated in front of the trumpets. She can still hear the music played around us, but it dampens the sound.
Certain frequencies may cause different reactions in different people. When I was in college and didn’t have a car, I would take a bus the 50 miles from the college I attended to my home. The little local bus company operated a fleet of Flxible buses on GM chassis and the buses had 8 cylinder inline Buick engines with open exhausts. My ears would ring several hours after the trip. I never had the problem on other buses. Our neighbors had a 1946 Buick Roadmaster with the same engine as the buses. They had a gutted muffler on that Buick and I had the same ear ringing problem when I rode in that car.
@sgtrock21
“What happened to Toyota quality?”
As a longtime Toyota driver . . . and my family members have driven Toyotas for well over 30 years . . . I can tell you it’s gone away
The headliner in my 2005 Camry is falling down. I bought it in 2012, and it was already falling down. The majority of the other Camrys of that generation (2002-2006) seem to have the same problem.
The headliner in my 1995 Corolla was still perfect, when I got rid of it in 2012
The plastic in the 2005 Camry seems to be very mediocre in quality. It has more interior rattles than the 1995 Corolla ever had
The upholstery in the 2005 Camry is inferior the 1995 Corolla upholstery
I could go on and on . . .
I actually like my Camry. But I fully well realize it was built to a lower standard than my 1995 Corolla
@db4690-- I agree with you about Toyota quality. I have a 2011 Toyota Sienna and the interior quality is no better than the 2006 Chevrolet Uplander that I had owned before the Sienna. I have had no major problems with the Toyota, but there have been no major problems with the Uplander that my son now owns and has gone 125,000 miles.
One problem that annoyed me on the Sienna was that the gas door wouldn’t open one time when I wanted to fill the tank. The station where I was trying to buy gas was 15 cents cheaper than the other gas stations. My wife insisted that we take the van immediately to Toyota, which we did. A technician figured out that if one person operated the inside release while the other pushed on the door at the right spot, we could get it open. We tore back to the gas station and the price was still the same. We were able to open the gas door and I filled the tank. Just as I hung up the hose, the price went up. I did have a proper repair made so the gas door now opens as it should–the repair cost $48.
Yeah, I like Toyotas just fine
But, I always need to remember that they are overrated, as far as build quality goes
My goal is to get another year or 2 usage out of the car, before I bring it to an auto upholstery shop for the headliner
Once it hangs down so low, that it interferes with my rearview vision, off to the upholstery shop . . .
Toyota is taking over for GM in substandard quality of materials and assembly, as well as uninspired designs. I hope they straighten out their issues.
It seems that lately, Toyotas have started to look less boring
But it doesn’t matter to me, because I don’t care if my car looks exciting
I’m impressed with the looks of the latest Corolla. Not nearly as boring looking as the previous ones.
But I’m sure the build quality is only middling
What is really disturbing is that I see a lot of Toyotas that are newer than mine, that have faded and burnt up paint. I might expect to see that in a 15 or 20 year old beater, not a 6 or 7 year old car
The fit and finish of our 2003 Toyota 4Runner is much better than our 2011 Toyota Sienna.
My colleague at work has a Camry which is 4 years older than mine, so one generation prior to mine
It’s got a lot of miles, and mine doesn’t
Yet the build quality on his is much higher
It’s interesting when you can see approximately when the cost cutting began
I suppose in the early 2000s, Toyota decided something like this “When we introduce the new Camry, Sienna, etc., we’ll cut corners and costs”
It probably wasn’t one single person that made the call. Perhaps the big shots felt that the customers wouldn’t hang on to the cars long enough for the headliners to fall down, the dash to peel, etc. All of these cars looked great when in the showroom, good enough to move them, anyways. But the longevity was no longer built in, as far as the materials used.
“I once was sad because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no legs.”
In my line of work (landscaping/handyman/whatever), I have to use a variety of (very loud) power tools that have the annoying tendency of severing digits, such as cut-off wheel and table saw. I have to repeatedly lift heavy weights (like when spreading 40 cu yd of mulch this week), and my sincerest hope is that I make it to SSA retirement age prior to my back giving out on me. (Of course, they keep moving the SSA retirement age no me!)
My wife, a bartender, is nursing a fresh head laceration from breaking up a bar fight this morning at 2:30 AM.
I would LOVE to have your problems, as would the majority of regulars who post here…considering the working conditions of the average auto mechanic.
But don’t cry for me, or my old lady…growing up in the shadows of Homestead, PA, I knew what an “old school” mill shift was: 6X12hour days per week…and after two weeks, they got the “day shift” on the “night shift” by working them 24 HOURS STRAIGHT. Then, it was off to home for 12 hours, and back to work for another 5 days in a row! If you didn’t like it–you could leave. If you attempted to change things–you got shot by the Pinkerton Detective Agency.
Kind of puts our modern-day gripes in perspective, doesn’t it?
That was a long time ago, like pre-1940. I worked in a steel mill in the 1970s and 1980s, and work rules prevented that. Workers could work overtime, but it had to be spread out. By the 1970s, safety concerns prevented overworking people like that. In the early 1900s, what you describe was definitely the case.
Yeah, I was referring to the Homestead Steel strike of 1892 there.
As part of their education, everybody should be required to spend a little time in a manufacturing plant of some kind. When I made bottle caps and cans, we’d often work 6 10 hour days to meet contracts, then layoff. It was a drag but the money was good.
@sgtrock How long ago did you rent the Corolla? A 2008 would be ancient for a rental car. Most are sold after about 3 years and 50,000 or more miles. One still in service at twice that period was probably owned by one of the bargain companies. The good rental fleets rarely have those sorts of obvious problems. I doubt this is specific to Toyota. It’s just a car that has been let go to pot.
I often suggest checking the sales lots of rental companies, but always suggest major companies only. They put more effort into keeping their cars in good condition. That company may have lost future business by renting you a heap.
MarkM It was November 2007. The Corolla had 1,700 miles on the odometer. The rental company was Enterprise in Huntsville, Alabama. They stated the loose interior trim problem was common to their 2008 Corollas and Toyota was working on it.
The OP gives the impression that all of the rental vehicles he drove were too loud (road noise). I would like the OP to list what vehicles he has used. I feel that he has some thing causing his discomfort rather than the vehicle.
“Yeah, I was referring to the Homestead Steel strike of 1892 there”.
@meanjoe75fan–I thought I saw you in that picket line.
Haw, haw. Just what I need…sarcastic comments from youngsters like you. Show some respect for your elders! 
I doubt the Enterprise explanation. It seems unlikely Toyota made a widespread change to their fasteners and they were all bad. More likely some previous renter’s kid had a grand time yanking on trim pieces and breaking clips and Enterprise never fixed them all, just shoved them back into place. There rates aren’t lower for nothing (when they are).
The worst of the lot was a Subaru preza? Ford fusion was not as bad as the others. Hyundai Tuscan, and most recent was Nissan Altima.