jloftus

Of course it's somewhat ironic, since one of the selling points of Lexus is its quiet smooth ride.

:-)

jloftus

Yeh when I push on those wood thingys by the doors I get the same noise - looks like it's probably (mostly) them. They don't appear to be solidly
attached. Seems to be more in the really hot weather I get it, so it could also be an expansion/contraction issue w the outdoor weather and the AC.

imrankh24

Exactly my issue on my 16 built in Kentucky.

jloftus

Hello again my Fellow Lexonians,

Like some others here, I was able to replicate the 'cracking' exactly by merely pressing on the wooden thingys glued onto the side of the doors.

Maybe they aren't on tight enough or something. It seems like I get more 'noise' in the really hot weather. Like maybe some expansion/contraction
of the wood versus the surrounding plastic with the AC and/or heat from outside.

I also noticed you hear it when hitting certain types of bumps too.

JL

jloftus

HI imrankh. I wonder if it's happening in every single new ES 350 ?

Does it work out after a while, or maybe people are just getting used to it, and just come to accept it as part of their
daily experience w the car?

I'm noticing it less in the past week, but it could just be because the weather is now a little cooler in NE PA.

JL

imrankh24

Yoo dude I don't think it happens with all but most cause the showroom model didn't do it. But I noticed mine the next day and thought its only cause if the weather but not the case I will get it checked

Brn2fish

Ok folks, as I promised, here are some updates on mine cracking noise.
First, I totally agree with Lex222 description.
Mine does exactly the same in the same situations.
Just a couple of days before my appointment at the dealer, I went on 300 miles fishing trip and, oh boy, what a loud noise was when entering parking on a unpaved road...
Now it is at the dealer for the third day. The mechanic will need to remove the headliner to pinpoint the spot. Yes, they confirmed the noise.
My loaner does not have that noise (1K miles).
So I am keeping my fingers crossed and will keep you posted on the results. So stay tuned...
Have a great weekend!

Universe93

It seems like it's getting harder to control these cracks and creaks. It seemed to be that only houses had these problems, with the extreme temperature changes, change of seasons, etc.

But now cars are the same now - even with cars that used to have "drum-tight" build quality, like Lexus, BMW, MB etc. Cars are exposed to the same temperature changes as a house, so why not?

lesz

When I bought my 2013 ES about 3 1/2 years ago, there was occasional minor chatter, depending on temperature and humidity, that came from the assist handles above the doors. After I dealt with that by adding a bit of foam padding around the hinges of those handles, there isn't even a minor squeak, rattle, or chatter anywhere in the cabin, even when driving over bumps, expansion joints in the pavement, or otherwise less than smooth pavement, and that is regardless of changes in temperature or humidity. So, that tells me that it is still possible for Lexus to build a car without those annoyances.

jollick

Same here on both of my ES.

Brn2fish

OK,
yesterday picked up my car from the dealer.
They kept it for a week.
They were able to identify "loud popping noise" coming from the right rear roof area. Placed insulation between moon roof housing and the body of the vehicle and tightened bolts up to specifications (Question: were those bolts not properly tightened at the manufacturing plant?).
Test drove it for a "several" miles - the sound no longer present.

Upon my arrival home, pulling into a driveway ... bam!...my "favorite" sound is back...

Going back to the dealer on Monday to test drive it with mechanic.

Anyway, I am very unhappy with the situation when almost 50K car from well know manufacturer demonstrating product integrity shortfalls.


My first five months of driving it was noise-free and my loaner did not have the noise .

jloftus

So apparently it was never the moon roof to begin with. Yeh mine stopped making noises for a bit, and now it's restarted.

I can ask the dealer about it, as I'll soon take it in for it's 5000 mile checkup. Not sure what brought it on this time. I had an incident
where I had the right of way and a car pulled right in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and just managed to avoid a collision.

Maybe the 'trauma' from that got something loosened up in there? But it's hard to believe the car could be that delicate.....

It could be that these mysterious sounds are coming from multiple places in the car.........

Lex222

This is definitely the case for me. In my prior posts I noted how the creaking and cracking was worse when it was hot. Now that it has cooled off, the creaking and cracking that I had when it was hot has been reduced, but now I have different creaking and cracking from different places. Almost all is coming from the driver's side. In fact, a week or so ago, I brought it in for a different reason and the tech was able to reduce the popping sound coming from the seat and eliminate a buzz I had somewhere near the passenger door. But that is it. One thing that could be the cause of the changes in where the creaking and cracking is coming from is that the lower outdoor temperatures has resulted in my tire pressure being lower than 33 PSI so perhaps the ride is somewhat softer, although I cannot tell the difference.

I'm thinking that it is just something I will have to live with. I even recorded a video with my phone that I sent to my service adviser where the cracking sounds are obvious although it is impossible to determine where they are coming from in the video. He wants me to bring it back, which I will eventually do, but it just seems like this car is destined to be creaking and cracking from various places as long as I own it. Disappointing that Lexus could let this happen.

jloftus

Yes, of course I didn't notice anything when I test drove it with the salesman. It could be some global issue with the way
the cars are manufactured. Possibly the dealers know it's a problem that's just intrinsic to the car, and so when people
come in they kind of 'go through the motions', 'finding' something and doing some simple patch ups, knowing that since
it's so sporadic it'll disappear and most owners will think it's because of the 'fix', (until it comes back again).

I thought it was all those wood things attached to the doors, but then a couple of days ago I got a series of louder 'crackling' 'popping' sounds,
and I'm sure it wasn't those - it was much louder too.

It's probably not the dealers' fault: they don't have any control over how they're manufactured. Maybe they are having problems meeting production targets, and so end up rushing things a bit at the plants? Or hurrying through quality control?

jloftus

I doubt I'll even bother bringing this up w the dealer - I just don't believe it's anything that's 'fixable', and I still love just about everything about the car
anyway.

I'm sure if I brought it in they'd go out of their way to address it: but if it's actually something that's occurring in many places in the car there's
little they can do to completely eliminate it.

The dealer I have for Lexus is so far really great - much better than the dealers I've dealt with for Honda and Chevy. For example, I noticed a few long scratches on the car, and called the salesman. I thought he'd tell me to make an appointment w the body shop. Instead he told me to just come up there any time, and he'd get some rubbing compound and see what he could do.

I went up there the next day, we went out and inspected the car, and he took the rubbing compound and a cloth and rubbed out any scratches we
could see. When I left the car was back to 'picture perfect' appearance.