Barrington

Just got home from another trip to the Bay Area from Roseville, pretty much 70+ mph all the way and I really do not hear any wind noise from the roof rails w/ cross rails or anything else so far. 3600 miles on it and getting 22.1 mpg, so far so good.

Jerome

Got an opportunity to drive 2009 RX then 2011 RX (with roof rails) as loaner yesterday. Hitting 70MPH on the freeway with radio off on both cars, wind noise was about the same. Wind noise from the 2011 loaner is almost exactly like my 2011 RX's. My hearing is still excellent so I'm more sensitive to noises, especially with radio off when hauling the kids around. But let's be clear...the wind noises are not annoying or a constant loud whistling whoosh, they seemed subtle on calm day/reasonable speed, get a little bit louder on windy days. Without sampling more RX's, I would speculate that it's inherent of the design at high velocity to get some wind related noises or the roof rails enhance wind sounds.

alvinfaye

I had the wind noise on my RX450h,took it for 50000 mile ckeck in orlando. The dealer removed the crossbars wind noise is now GONE.

WindProb

Hello my friends! I got my RX350 with sport options. I am feeling buffing like wind noise on the highway. I just don't know what to do. I thought Lexus's forte lies in the isolation of the driver from the outside world. Any help?...

20mpg

Just want to give a conclusion to this thread.

I finally hit the 5K mark last month and took the vehicle to the dealer for service and see what they could do something about the wind noise. After dropping off the vehicle I was given a choice of a loaner, RX350 or ES350. Naturally I went for the RX350 to see if I heard the same noise. Upon hitting the freeway it became clear that this loaner vehicle and mine had the same wind noise characteristics on the driver’s side. I was starting to think maybe these new RX are just built this way.

The dealer finally calls me in the afternoon to tell me the car is ready for pickup. The service advisor said they were able to verify my wind noise complaint and they had adjusted some seals. He said come pick up my vehicle and drive it for a few days to see if the situation is improved. Excited that this may be fixed, I go get my car. The service advisor is busy someone else checks me out. Now this is where it begins to get strange. I look at my service invoice and it basically states they were UNABLE to verify my wind noise complaint. Furthermore the recommended action was for me to go on a ride-along with a service tech. So what did they do?? Anything? Unsure I wait to talk to the guy who told me they adjusted the seals. I waited and waited but he’s still busy with a customer. After 30 minutes I left because I had to get back to work. On the drive back, the wind noise is unchanged. I figured I could just call him later for clarification.

We play phone tag for a week and I still don’t know what (if anything) was done. I get fed up and just go make another service appointment for wind noise. This time I’m greeted by a different service advisor. He looked at my old invoice and immediately arranges for me to go on a ride-along with a lead service technician. After driving around the freeway for 5 minutes, I was basically told the noise I’m hearing is wind turbulence and there is nothing they can do about this.

Frankly, I’m still disappointed that nothing can be done. But I’m even more angered by the fact I was told they adjusted the seal when in fact nothing may have been done. I’m tempted to just go talk to the original service advisor but not sure if that will do any good.

What do you all think? Should I just accept the RX is like this? Or is Lexus trying to cover up a design flaw? Could there a secret TSB they don’t want everyone to know? Lexus must have forgotten to test this new RX through a wind tunnel.

20mpg

Ha...I found the same thing too. If only the driver's side window is down, I get wind buffeting so bad it tugs on my seat belt. To get around this, just simply crack open one of the rear windows.

20mpg

Agreed. That's the whole reason I'm not banging on Lexus more. It's just hard to accept because our other Lexus (ES) is so quiet. And my past SUV by Toyota and Honda were quiet as well.

20mpg

When I mean quieter, I should clarify that any wind noise on those vehicles did not exceed the ambient noise level of the vehicle itself. My prior vehicles were a Toyota 4runner and a Honda CRV.

The 4Runner was quite an enjoyable vehicle. I never noticed any wind noise that exceeded the vehicle's noise floor. The CRV on the other hand was a noisy buggy. That 4 cylinder engine was far from quiet but again I never detected any wind noise too.

One can argue the RX has a low noise floor to begin with making all other noise more noticeable.

20mpg

I should also mention when I'm driving, I don't drive with everything turned off trying to listen for every creak, rattle, or tussle in the vehicle. I like to have my fan setting on "lowest", not off, and the radio going at moderate volumes. At such an ambient level, I just find the wind turbulence annoying when I can hear it over my music.

After some more thought, I will bring this issue up again when I take my vehicle in for my 10K mile service. Maybe by then there will be some kind of TSB addressing this.

MEP7557

I had a 4Runner prior to the RX. My RX is so much quieter than the 4Runner and especially with regard to wind noise, big reduction. I have completely removed my roof rails and crossbars, not sure if that is part of it.

Good Luck, I hope Lexus resolves your problem.

20mpg

I already have my crossbars removed but left on the roof rails because I like the look of them. Did you notice more wind noise prior to removing all your roof hardware?

MEP7557

I have to say that they were on the RX all of 30 minutes. So, I truly have no comparison. I like the look without and it is so much easier to wash the roof.

Jerome

My previous 2003 Honda Pilot with roof rails and all, had less wind noise but much more road noise. My family's 2006 Toyota Highlander with roof rails too, has less wind noise than my 2011 RX350's. There are times that I'm not annoyed but also times when I'm annoyed by excessive wind noise (by Lexus standards), especially on days where the weather is calm and I'm taking it easy on the freeway, going between 60-70 MPH. I've driven two 2011 RX350's with the silver roof rails, and they exhibited the same wind noise at 70+MPH on the freeway. I'm starting to believe all the RX's (with the silver roof rails or not) are prone to wind noise at freeway speed 70+MPH. Lexus only think people drive 55-60MPH on the freeway?

Barrington

I have to agree with the post from The X Men above. I drive 125 mile trip all freeway 75+ quite often to the Bay Area and I really do not hear any noise from the roof rack. This car so far is quiet and smooth with no wind noise from the windows or the roof rack with the rails on it. I also have a 2004 4-Runner with roof racks and it is pretty damn quiet also. I feel that for an SUV both of mine are quiet and very solid feeling and it is very easy to loose track of your speed out on the open road because they are so quiet.

Jerome

Maybe I should say that I need to test drive more RX's in order to have a more informed conclusion. But here's my problem...it's the wife's car so I only drive it on the weekend and drive it exclusively with the radio off as we are transporting two kids. So as one can imagine, it quieter than having music playing inside the car (along with my good hearing), any detectable wind noise will be audible. On rare occasions, I drive the car alone and turn up the music 30-35 for the volume and I usually don't notice any wind noise. I guess my expectation was way too high for the quiet cabin everybody talks about in a Lexus.