Why is Lexus so loud inside the cabin?
#46
Lexus Fanatic
#47
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
You might think not a fair comparisons. Prior to me switching out the run flats on the sports car I can say without any doubt it was not a quiet vehicle. Loud just like the RX. So I suspect a reduction by approximately 6 db just by replacing the tires. Maybe.
#48
Lexus Fanatic
True. I did a simple test with the same meter on my phone in the IS350 today returning just a few minutes ago from San Francisco. Avg was 69-72 db @ cruising.
You might think not a fair comparisons. Prior to me switching out the run flats on the sports car I can say without any doubt it was not a quiet vehicle. Loud just like the RX. So I suspect a reduction by approximately 6 db just by replacing the tires. Maybe.
You might think not a fair comparisons. Prior to me switching out the run flats on the sports car I can say without any doubt it was not a quiet vehicle. Loud just like the RX. So I suspect a reduction by approximately 6 db just by replacing the tires. Maybe.
Whether we perceive something as quiet or not also doesn't only depend on the decibels. Frequency, vibration, all play a role.
#49
Lexus Champion
#50
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
You also need to understand that the "decibel meter on your phone" is not a scientific instrument lol. A phone is not designed to measure decibels, and while that app is kind of cool (I have it too) its not an accurate figure.
Whether we perceive something as quiet or not also doesn't only depend on the decibels. Frequency, vibration, all play a role.
Whether we perceive something as quiet or not also doesn't only depend on the decibels. Frequency, vibration, all play a role.
So it's not scientific but go with what you have and stick with it. Don't change it up from one vehicle to the next. Now who's to say this app isn't the most scientific software but it's the mind boggling variety of phones that skew everyone's results? The speaker & software, placement of speaker, size of opening etc in a Samsung vs Apple will guarantee that result in your test & mine will be different. The key is consistency throughout the test. But they aren't that far off.
http://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-b...09/sound-apps/
Last edited by rxonmymind; 02-15-15 at 02:07 PM.
#51
Lexus Fanatic
Whats going on around you makes a big difference too. Just for grins I pulled mine out today, I had a 40 mile or so highway drive I did today. Driving up there it was VERY windy, we've had wind gusts up to 60MPH, windy enough to buffet the GS around, so thats pretty windy. My app read about 77 decibels in the cabin with a lot of headwind and surrounded by traffic at about 75 MPH.
On the way back, the wind was to my back and it had settled down, and nobody was around me...it read 69-71. Same stretch of road, same type of pavement, different circumstances around me.
On the way back, the wind was to my back and it had settled down, and nobody was around me...it read 69-71. Same stretch of road, same type of pavement, different circumstances around me.
#52
Lexus Fanatic
Whats going on around you makes a big difference too. Just for grins I pulled mine out today, I had a 40 mile or so highway drive I did today. Driving up there it was VERY windy, we've had wind gusts up to 60MPH, windy enough to buffet the GS around, so thats pretty windy. My app read about 77 decibels in the cabin with a lot of headwind and surrounded by traffic at about 75 MPH.
On the way back, the wind was to my back and it had settled down, and nobody was around me...it read 69-71. Same stretch of road, same type of pavement, different circumstances around me.
On the way back, the wind was to my back and it had settled down, and nobody was around me...it read 69-71. Same stretch of road, same type of pavement, different circumstances around me.
#53
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Whats going on around you makes a big difference too. Just for grins I pulled mine out today, I had a 40 mile or so highway drive I did today. Driving up there it was VERY windy, we've had wind gusts up to 60MPH, windy enough to buffet the GS around, so thats pretty windy. My app read about 77 decibels in the cabin with a lot of headwind and surrounded by traffic at about 75 MPH.
On the way back, the wind was to my back and it had settled down, and nobody was around me...it read 69-71. Same stretch of road, same type of pavement, different circumstances around me.
On the way back, the wind was to my back and it had settled down, and nobody was around me...it read 69-71. Same stretch of road, same type of pavement, different circumstances around me.
#54
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Not just the wind, but, today, in the D.C. area, was also so darn cold (7 degrees at my house this morning on the way to church) that, in addition to the wind noise alone, the low temperatures themselves did a number on other noise-making components as well. For instance, I noticed more than usual suspension stiffness and thumping (from cold fluid in the shocks), tire noise and stiffness from cold rubber, and engine noise during the LONG warm-up.
#55
Lexus Fanatic
Every tire is louder in the rain...
#56
Lexus Test Driver
FYI, Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring are not loud tires by any means, in fact they are incredibly quiet. Check TireRack, and look at their ratings. I have these ACT Touring tires on my ES, and they are the quietest tire that have been on the vehicle.
Your particular set of tires may have issues (slipped belt, cupping, etc.), but in general these are great tires and have completely exceeded my expectations for what Goodyear could produce.
Your particular set of tires may have issues (slipped belt, cupping, etc.), but in general these are great tires and have completely exceeded my expectations for what Goodyear could produce.
#57
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
FYI, Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring are not loud tires by any means, in fact they are incredibly quiet. Check TireRack, and look at their ratings. I have these ACT Touring tires on my ES, and they are the quietest tire that have been on the vehicle.
Your particular set of tires may have issues (slipped belt, cupping, etc.), but in general these are great tires and have completely exceeded my expectations for what Goodyear could produce.
Your particular set of tires may have issues (slipped belt, cupping, etc.), but in general these are great tires and have completely exceeded my expectations for what Goodyear could produce.
On a Diymobile car audio forum I posted a thread titled "How loud is your car". A forum member participated and came back with this...
"Just checked out my '91 Corolla sedan.
Idle - 47db
60mph - 77db
75mph - 79db
I'm on good stock size Michelin's and that was about as smooth as asphault gets around here. Car is all stock."
~End quote~
In the same ballpark as my Lexus. Not zip code but ball park. 7 db higher @idle and pretty dead on at both speeds. Isn't that something?
#58
Lexus Fanatic
I want to believe you but the numbers on the meter don't lie. Take a reading for yourself. Over a concrete causeway I'm hitting 82 db. On regular freshly paved smooth new road 75 db. These tires are fairly new and have the better postage size gram weights on it for optimum balance.
All else equal, and especially with fairly new tires, it's generally normal for there to be more audible road noise on concrete than on smoothly-paved, on-porous asphalt. It's also normal for there to be more road noise on porous (anti-skid) dark asphalt surfaces than traditional smoothed ones.
#59
Wind noise I can live with. That's really true of all SUV. Even the Mazda CX-9 which we looked at and liked aesthetically was fairly loud with it's very slanted pillars that are the steepest I've seen. It's the "roar" of the road noise coming through the floor and wheel wells that is MOST annoying.
Funnily, when I had to replace tires, I went with the more expensive higher rated Pirelli tires, but they produced high pitch road noise when going over rough surface old concrete roads. After 5000 miles, I took it back to discount tires and they were generous enough to switch them with the OEM cheaper Dunlop Grandtrek Touring A/S for no extra charge.
Lesson Learned: Buy tires for which the vehicle's sound insulation and NVH characteristics are designed around.
Last edited by chikoo; 02-16-15 at 08:15 AM.