coolcow

Ever since my transmission replacement, I feel that I hear more tire noise (or road noise) in the cabin on the highway. The noise is very sensible to the road condition. However, the car is as quite as before on local (at least, I don't notice any difference).

My dealer refused to look at this issue and insisted that transmission fix had nothing to do with this and they could do nothing for me.

Am I too sensitive? I'd like to hear your experience about the road noise. Thanks.

ES350Bob

Did they rotate your tires for you before you feel you started noticing this noise?

I can understand they would say transmission work has nothing to do with increase road noise but to humor you they should at least check out what is going on in case it is not coming from tires and is somehow related to work performed.

static

Maybe one of the body plugs came out or was partly dislodged while they were working on it.

osokuko

It is possible to have increased road noise if they readjusted your tire pressure. I found on my first car the dealership had set the Michelins tires to 37 psi which made the road noise coming from the rear seat area just slightly notable, but they made the car ride way to stiff due to the hard sidewall. So I lowered the pressure to 32 psi which improved the car ride but the lower pressure increased the road noise coming from the rear seat area a lot.

This new car came with Bridgestone tires which I noticed seems to have a softer sidewall rubber compound than the Michelins. The Bridgestones are dealer set at 38 psi and ride smooth with nearly no road noise coming from the rear seat area.

In other words the Bridgestones ride softer than the Michelins at higher tire presure settings.

I have heard no road noise coming from the front of the car.

Check your tire pressure and see where there set too.

I’m beginning to think that dealership set the tires to 37-40 psi so when you test drive the car is sound quieter inside the cabin.

coolcow

I believe that mine has the Michelins tires, set to 37 psi. The road noise is mostly from the front seat area. I also checked the plugs. At least from outside, they are all there.

LexBob2

The sticker on my car says the manufacturer's recomended setting is 30 psi. The car was delivered with much higher pressures (40/fronts & 38/rears). I have them set at 32 psi which is working fine.

Frozen

I vote for too sensitive.

psp

I vote for quiet. I'll change to summer tires when I need to replace.

coolcow

I double check and they were set at 30psi.

Citylights

I switched from the Michelin's to the Toyo Summer tires. It was a great change that I made. Not only are the Toyo's much quieter over concrete surfaces but the stopping distance dramatically improved...The car feels much safer to drive.

VVT-i

You may need to take a look at the steering boot inside the car by the brake pedal. If the boot come loose you will hear a lot of noise coming from the outside of the car.

jjbodean

i think the longer you have them the more youll find that the toyos are crap. we got more complaints out of them on the es330 than any other tire out there.

wishihad1

i agree with vvt-i, check the steering boot. there is a tsb for this issue.

wanderer99

This is the TSIB on the exact issue you describe. Picture is below and this is inside the cabin, below the steering wheel and near where the brake\accelerator pedals are. Its the place where the steering column enters the car from the engine bay. You should be able to feel around the base of the column while laying on the carpet and determine if the rubber ring is seated correctly. You'll know it when you see\feel it.

Regarding your dealer stating that the transmission issue (replacement) could have nothing to do with this. Well... read the title on this TSIB Mr Lexus Certified Master Technician. When the tech refuses to look at this and insists that they can do nothing for you.... that's Lexus dealer service for you in 2007.

toneman

Ain't that the truth! The loaner ES 350 I drove a couple of weeks ago had the Toyos, and IMHO they made the loaner feel more sure-footed--especially while I was pushing the loaner through some nice high-speed sweepers--than the Bridgestones that are on my ES. Okay--I didn't check the tire pressure on the loaner but the tires had over 10K miles on them, vs. 5K on my Bridgestones...so even if the loaner was running slightly-lower tire pressures than recommended (for the ES 350, which is what I'm running in my tires), I think the extra mileage may offset that "advantage" somewhat.