trtrtr59

Just back from the first highway trip in this car and had a couple observations and questions regarding quietness.

For starters, this is my kind of car - gets me there with little effort along with a goodly amount of comfort. On the nicer stretches of highway it is extremely quiet and is particularly well insulated from engine noise, however, on older beat down sections of tarmac I notice a goodly amount of road noise. All the noise is underneath the car, if that makes sense - I seem to hear it more through the floor pan and back through the car. This car has the 17" Michelin Primacy's on it so a decent enough tire.

Also on particularly rough patches, we could hear a light interior rattle. I thought it was from the pano roof, maybe the interior shades vs the roof itself?, but wife thought it might be the dashboard somewhere. Not worth asking the dealership to try and duplicate here in metro area as rattle only appears rarely on beat down truck rutted and patched stretches of interstate at 70mph.

I am curious if anybody knows what sort of sound deadening Lexus has in the floor pans, and secondly if anyone has applied additional soundproofing in the interior on these cars and what your results were? Also, any thoughts on the roof rattle?

All in all though, very satisfied with the car. Oh, and loved the new adaptive cruise control for road trips!

mrsteve7

I've had a dash rattle for months. Seems to come and go. Lexus dealer couldn't replicate when I brought it in to have it looked at. I only hope it gets bad enough to be located!

lesz

It is hard for me to judge whether there is anything abnormal about what you are describing as more noise on rougher pavement surfaces. My judgment for my 2013 ES is that it is exceptionally quiet. On smooth pavement, even at highway speeds, there is virtually no noise from the road, engine compartment, or wind that enters the passenger compartment. On rougher road surfaces, there is a bit of noise from the road, but my subjective judgment is that it is still quite quiet.

With regard to the rattles, because of the way that sound can echo in the cabin, it can be very difficult to determine the source of a rattle or squeak. When you say that you and your wife think that the source of the rattle is different, that is an example of how hard it is to pinpoint the source of a rattle. In various vehicles, I've had rattles that seemed to me to be coming from one spot, and they turned out to be coming from the extreme opposite end of the cabin.

That said, there have been reports from some of rattles from the panoramic roof. Just because of the larger glass surface and more moving parts, the panoramic roof can be more subject to rattles than the smaller standard sunroof. Another spot that can be subject to rattles/squeaks on the ES is the hinges on the assist handles above the doors, and there have been reports of that being the case even when owners, at first, seemed certain that the rattles/squeaks were coming from other locations. It is easy to determine if those assist handles are the source of rattles or squeaks by just holding them in place with your hand when the rattles are happening and seeing if that eliminates the rattle/squeak. If that is the source, it is easy to correct by just adding a bit of foam rubber around the hinges on the handles.

jollick

I would also be sure your tire pressure is correct and set to the recommended pressure.

mcomer

Less likely on your 2016 but eventually the spare tire gets a bit loose,
The bolt backs off and/or the pressure drops slightly. The resulting
rattle is the devil to isolate, happens at odd times and resonates
in the cabin in places you can not pinpoint.

lesz

Adding to my earlier post, I thought of another potential source of rattles on the ES.

Check the headrests on the driver's and passenger's front seats. Make sure that they are actually locked into one of the available positions. If the headrests are in between two positions, they can chatter. and, there is the potential for that chatter to actually sound like it is coming from the sunroof.

trtrtr59

I will check those assist handles; tire pressure is at 32 (recommended 33psi); I have already had the spare up and out and cinched back in properly. I have to say, I was a little surprised to see there was no sound proofing mats or texture in the trunk - just bare metal and the carpet skin. Still though, a remarkably quiet car.

imrankh24

Yea please lmk as soon as outfits your rattle cause I have a similar one on my 15 too so once you fix it I will do that as well.

chromedome

I've got an occasional dash rattle on rough roads. I found out it came from the steering wheel area and it went away after making minor adjustments to the steering reach and rake. Probably something to do with the extendable flap that covers the top of the steering wheel.

imrankh24

What were the adjustments you made?

chromedome

I smacked the top of the steering column with my hand. Hard and with some shouting Then I moved the steering closer to the dash and a bit upwards.

Arty101

Back in the day, that's how we were treated. Nowadays, LPS would be after you butt (LPS = Lexus Protective Services) for Lexus abuse

dwhartwell

I own a 2013 ES300H. Compared to my 2003 5 series BMW this car has a lot of road noise on rough pavement. It's horrible. On smooth pavement, its quiet. When I bought the CPO, it had new OEM Bridgestone's on it. Horrible tires. After 3 months I replaced these new tires with Pirelli Cintaro P7's based upon a large number of reviews stating how quiet they were. Well better, than the "stones" but not great. I was disappointed to say the least. As per comments in the test review of these P7's, they were not that great on wet pavement. Kept those for about 25K miles, and they got louder. They were half worn and I replaced them with Michelin MXV4's (OEM version). They have been quieter than the P7's but still there is a lot of road noise over rough pavement. They are a superior tire all around however especially in wet road grip and no or little increase in road noise as they wear. Now with 30K miles on them.
What really ticked me off with the Lexus is that my 2016 Toyota Highlander LE Plus has LESS road noise over rough roads than the ES300H. This is simply WRONG in every way given that the Lexus compared to the Toyota should have been much quieter. Note I'm talking about road noise. Not wind noise. The wind noise on the Toyota is louder than the 300H but not by magnitudes.
I've driven a 2016 Avalon Limited Hybrid and the road noise is very close to the same as my 300H. I have Tinnitus and a quiet car is important. On longer trips I put in ear plugs otherwise my ears ring louder.

dchar

jgscott

iTrader: (1)

I noticed something not too long ago. I'm ok with the quietness driving my 2013 ES350.

A few month ago one of my family members drove, and rode in the back seat. I was not so happy with the road noise I heard riding in the back seat. I was surprised that the back is not so quite at all. If you have never rode in the back seat try it one day. Anyone else rode in their ES back seat?