chrtorres

Hey All,

I've an 03 GX470 - picked up during summer. Love the truck/family hauler. All service records show maintenance were performed at dealer at specified intervals. I've been hearing the dang woo woo woo woo noise between 35 and 50 miles and hour.

***Current tire size 265 65 17/stock rims came with truck***

I took the truck to local Lexus dealer (Ray Catena) and detailed the the noise. The truck was purchased from another Lexus dealer in Greenwhich CT. I stated i'm thinking it may be the wheel bearings.

They check the wheel bearings - all is good. However, they did state the inside tires are scalloped/feathered. Obviously I'll need to get new tires. But would this mean a bigger issue is looming?

I've actually found a video clip online of exactly what I hear - about 27 seconds you hear it more pronounced.


I'm aware of the TSB Bulletin for 03 - 08, this covers 4 years/50k from date of bulletin but the car is out of warranty.

Any help is greatly appreciated

edit - just found this link

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...h-speed/page-2

chiph9

Inside tire edges feathered? Did they talk about getting an alignment?

Chip H.

chrtorres

ChipH - Yes they did state inside edges are scalloped/feathered. No, they didn't mention an alignment at all.

They did say to talk to the dealership that I purchased the GX from - I've already made an appointment. I found it strange they didn't detail what might cause the issue. In reading around - some say suspension issues could pop up.

The issue is why the noise on only 1 side of the truck if the wheel bearings are good. Also why all 4 tires are feathered?

chiph9

Another possibility is worn bushings. Still, a bit odd that it's all four wheels.

Tire pressures ok? Within 2 psi of what's on the driver's B-pillar sticker?

Chip H.

IanB2

Could be that the tires were rotated at some point, leading to the abnormal wear on all 4 while the actual wear is only happening on the front tires, for example.

Wheel bearings I wouldn't think would only make noise at 35-50mph, when I had one fail a short while ago, it was "crunchy" sounding even at very low speeds, but wouldn't make any noise with the front end jacked up and spinning the tires by hand, tough to diagnose.

I'd get a proper alignment, and some new tires, as it looks like you need these anyways, and cross your fingers that it's your issue.

BlackCat81

You have no idea how noisy feathered tires can be when driving. It's very difficult to differentiate between bad tires and a failed wheel bearing, unless you have access to a lift and a mechanics stethoscope. A quick and easy way to see if the tires are the problem, is to cross rotate them. Also, keep a sharp ear out and see if you can hear it when breaking at slower speeds. Generally tire noise can be a bit exhasperated by braking and coming to a near stop.

chrtorres

Thanx for the information - responses below

- ChipH, Tire pressure all good. I'm assuming that since the wheel bearing were deemed fine that the bushing/linkage would be as well per the local shop i visited this earlier this week.

- Ian82, That's where my line of thinking was going initially. If the previous owner kept rotating the tires - that doesn't say alot for the dealerships mechanics. I'd hope they would've mentioned to the previous owner of the feathering. However, if the previous owner never bothered to listen then my issue now. I've no crunching sound at all and the truck doesn't veer off to any side much. it will veer to the right slightly.

- BlackCat81, I'm assuming they had to place the truck on a lift to even look at the wheel bearings. Normally I'll ask them any mechanic to show me once on the lift but didn't for some reason this time. I'll pay a tad more attention to breaking at slower speeds - can't really remember hearing to much of a sound.

There was no charge for me bringing the truck in to check for this issues. I'll be going back to the dealership where I purchased the truck on Saturday morning. I've already detailed what i've already done. I can get new tires, road force balance and alignment from an independent shop probably cheaper than dealer prices.

This sucks on 2 levels -- wanted to get some new rims and tires (18s 4 runner or FJ's) but now just want to see if everything else checks out first

The previous dealer couldn't tell me what may have caused the issue. I would've assumed that they could have pinpointed it.

IanB2

Do you have any buddies with 6-bolt Toyota or GM's that would swap you wheels/tires so you could do some road testing of your own? That would rule out tire noise as your issue, and only cost you some time, and likely some beers.

chrtorres

That's a great freaking idea - i'll see if i can get a friend that has a toyota sequoia or runner between today and tomorrow to check.

chrtorres

Update ---

So I went back to the original dealer today and had them give the truck a serious once over. They checked wheel bearing and suspension. I stated I had already visited a Lexus dealer close to me and they couldn't find the exact issue. Guess they took as a challenge and pulled all the records on the vehicle and crossed checked all the service the PO had done.

The existing tires were purchased at 50k miles on the truck - so 30k miles later (80k on truck) the tires are seeming to wear -- they only state it could have been the PO use of the vehicle in snow and bad roads up here in the NorthEast.

Am I satisfied with the answer - meh. I'm I ecstatic that all else is great right now - sure am! I'm off looking into either Michelin or Continental tires w/Road Force balance for the truck.

Thank you all for the input. I never got a hold of my friend with the sequoia to swap rims.