Noise after removing air dam

Hi, DId you figure out the cause of the whistling sound? I have the same issue.

 

Hello. No I did not but I did see people posting on this thread about some rubber plugs that cover up some holes in the A arms which is suppose to fix it. They say there is a Toyota TSB that addresses it. I have to bring in my wife’s highlander for service at dealer this weekend. I will as about the bulletin and see if I can get me a set of plugs for mine. I put the lower fairing back in my truck for now, but I sure hate the way it looks lol.

 

Has anyone figured out the difference or which parts are different between the Sport which has the ugly spoiler (which creates wind noise when removed), and the OR which doesn't have a spolier to begin with. I even tried removing the plastic/felt cover and that didn't fix anything. Really puzzling why we're having this issue (Sport owners) and other trim owners don't seem to have that problem.

 

I did some testing and I think I found where the wind noise is coming from. After using painter's tape to cover these holes on both sides, the wind noise is gone!!! Not sure if all the holes create the noise as I didn't try them one at a time but it's definitely gone now. I will stop by the dealership tomorrow (it's Canada day here today) and share this with them. Hopefully there will be a more durable solution than tape available soon! Not sure if the rubber grommets previously discussed (3rd gen) would fit and the question is, since some holes are necessary for drainage, which holes should be covered?

So any type of skid plate wouldn't get rid of that noise in this case.

 

Clean area really well and use some gorilla duct tape. Did it for my roof rails and it the tape has last 6 years.

 

I think those are probably drain holes, so I would try leaving at least one open.

 

I took mine off didn’t notice any noises

 

Jakedawgy you are the man for doing this and many of us are going to benefit from it. Thank you.

But it brings up the question: doesn't the TRD OR use the same suspension arms? Why doesn't it howl? Maybe the skid plate deflects the air under the arms enough to prevent it?

 

You bought an SR5. The plot thickens.

edit - does it have the felt "skid plate" like the TRD Sport? Does it have "wings" at the outside edges?

 

I took mine off my TRD Sport today and I don’t notice any difference. No whistle other than the turbo spinning up. I don’t doubt anyone saying this, but I was just curious and trying to replicate. So I drove a bit with the windows down (and up), radio off, AC off. And then did the same with the dam off. 35-40-45-50 up to 65mph. Not exactly scientific and not sure if this helps at all, but just adding my experiment.

 

If someone with a TRD OR could post some pics of the underside of the suspension arms we'd have a better idea if there is a difference with the Sport's.

I replaced the painters tape with black duct tape and drove about 50 miles, highway and city at various speeds and I can confirm the howl is definitely gone. Somehow it feels weird to put duct tape to fix a problem on a new 60k truck though. Hopefully Toyota comes up with a fix...

 

"Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped."
-- Mark Watney "The Martian"

 

I got this pic of the underside of a TRD OR control arm from another forum and they come equipped with 4 rubber plugs for the holes. I went to my dealership and indeed the pack of 8 plugs is listed in the parts list on OR and Trail hunter trims but not on the Sport. It is available for purchase for $51 CAD... I did order them but it's a shame Toyota installs them on some models and cuts corners on others...

So far the Sport comes with no cross member to install a decent and better skid plate and no rubber plugs to prevent the truck from turning into a whistle...

 

Thanks again Jakedawgy. Let us know if those plugs solve the problem and if they do, would you mind posting the Toyota part number for that kit?

 

Will do! Should have them tomorrow. I will share the part number once I have them!

 

Because it's a street designed truck, what would it need a skid plate for.

 

Because many owners opted for this model for its 6ft box and may use it to get off the beaten path and the truck as it stands has a sheet of plastic "protecting" it. My 2020 Sport had a metal skid plate stock. Not sure why Toyota went with felt covered plastic instead of metal plates...

 

Yeah mine has the felt skid plate I’ve yet to notice any noise , but! I haven’t driven past 60mph yet

 

Interdasting.

On my truck it actually quieted down once above 55. It only howled 35-55.

I've put the Cowcatcher back on for now, and no noise.

 

Dropping panties.