mattds

Hi there,
I recently bought a 2009 es 350, it had 88K km on it (55k miles) and i seem to have a rythmic road noise. it increases with speed until it becomes constant. So it's obviously the tires (getting old or need balancing) or a bearing..

Being new to these cars i'm not sure and the whole car is very quiet so any noise seems to be more noticable.

My tires are the OEM energy's...which i've heard aren't too great. They have decent thread tho, however one sidewall looks as if it's wearing away (i don't know how else to say this lol). Could it be the tires? When do the bearings wear out on these cars - i seem to think that 90K is a bit too soon for bearings..

suggestions?

thanks
M!

nevernu

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...in-the-gs.html check out this thread

mlacomb

Which sidewall looks as if it's wearing away? One of the fronts? If so, you might just need an alignment. Keep in mind if one tire out of four is messed up, an alignment will straighten out the car - but the premature uneven wear might make the noise worse for a time.

mattds

It's def not wind noise, it's clearly sounds like a rolling noise....i guess i'm looking for clarification that it's not the bearings.

mattds

i do need an alignment actually, the car pulls very slightly to the left.

It's the left rear that seems to have a worn away side wall...which i've only ever seen on older tires...but i guess these could be going on 5 years...

SW17LS

You do need new tires it sounds like, I would go with the Michelin Primacy MXV4.

However your sound to me, with it being rhythmic sounds like bearings...

CDNlexES

i had a similar problem with my 2007 es350 with about 97K kms. i thought it were the tires, bridgestone potenza. so i changed them with michelin primacy but the noise was still there. then i had it aligned but the noise stayed. then i went back to the shop that aligned it and asked the mechanic to ride with me to find out where the noise is coming from. he 'diagnosed' it to be wheel bearing. initially i did not believe so i went to another mechanic for 'second opinion', he said the same thing. so i had the wheel bearing (driver's side) replaced. voila! the car is so quite.

btw, the first mechanic recommended to replace both wheel bearings. his logic, if one broke the other would break soon. second mechanic said no need, just fix the noisy one because these wheel bearings would normally not break until the car dies. it might have been just a bad wheel bearing.

mlacomb

My opinion is to replace both - if one's bad, it's possible the other isn't too far off. Of course, I wouldn't pay someone to change both if they told me not to, but if I'm doing the work - I'm only going to do it once.

Same thing with Shocks, Brakes, rotors etc - change one change both sides of the axle.

CDNlexES

time will tell ... i agree for brakes and rotors because these are considered 'consumables' that would never last as the car. i tend to agree also with shocks because the old one may not have the same 'tension' as the new one but not because it may go bad too.

mattds

I've been doing some more reading and thinking and I think it's the bearings, as the sound starts from a low speed (like under 20kph)

Is changing the bearings something i could do at home? I've pretty much rebuilt my jeep and do most of the maintenance on my older vehicles, is there a how to anywhere? I shy'd away from working on my VW because i didn't have all the torx bits, etc....

CDNlexES

the wheel bearing is 'pressed on'. if you have the machine/equipment to do that then perhaps you can diy it.

mattds

i actually do have access to a 12 ton shop press...i just hate working on my daily driver...lol.

oldgrump

What are you planning to do......replace all the wheel bearings? Before throwing parts at this car you should first attempt to isolate the noise at least as far as which side/which end of the car the noise is coming from. A second person and several drive-bys is required of course. Even then it could be difficult to locate the source of the noise. A failing bearing does not always make a noise and they also may not exhibit excessive (wheel) loosness......but jacking each wheel off the ground and checking for excessive wheel looseness would be a good starting point. Obviously if you were to find a wheel with excessive play, then you'd be replacing that bearing anyhow.....and it might also be the source of the noise. These cars, like most front wheel drive cars have an axleshaft support bearing on the right hand side which can also generate noise (like you're describing) if it's failing.
It's hard to isolate the noise and it could be confused with wheel bearing/other noise.
As far as replacing the wheel bearings.......for various reasons I strongly suggest that you find a reputable shop. Having the knowledge/experience, and the required tooling is really required here.
As it's a Canada car have you tried moving the spare around......starting with that tire with the questionable sidewall. You might get lucky and maybe it is a duff tire causing the noise. Also, if the tires are basically shot anyway why not replace them, and while the car is on the hoist someone can check for other obvious issues.

mattds

thanks oldgrump...i wasn't planning on replacing all the bearings...but at times it is quite noticeable (relatively speaking as these cars are well insulated). I have begun to notice a bit of very slight wobble on the highway...so i'll try the wheel looseness thing in the next day or two...

mattds

so as suggested i took some time i did some investigating and i can clearly 'feel' the noise in the form of a slight vibration when sitting int he back seat with my feet on the floorboards...i can feel it.

from my knowledge this would indicate tires? as bearing don't tend to give vibrations right? and the car has no other symptoms... anyone local feel like allowing me to swap wheels for 5 minutes? lol