Ken7

Although I love the car, when I go over some rough road surfaces or broken pavement, I can hear some noise coming from the dash and the interior sides of the car. It's not horrible, but audible to me.

To put this in perspective, this is probably our 5th Lexus and all had rattles to one degree or another. My hearing is pretty good and my wife hears nothing. At times like this I wish my hearing weren't so good!

What's disappointing, is that my wife's 2015 Acura TLX can traverse the same roads without a single rattle. The car is very quiet...probably a bit quieter than the ES even on smooth roads. Quite a surprise to me. We also had a 2015 Fusion Energy and it too had no rattles.

Given that I can't recall having a single ES that was totally 'rattle-free', I'm wondering why this is the case. Do I just have an incredible string of bad luck or are most people finding this typical?

I'll be swapping out my 18" Bridgestone Turanza tires for Pirellis within a week or two and I'm hoping that helps the situation a bit.

corradoMR2

All my recent Lexus vehicles I have owned have had some form of squeaks but nothing major. My wife too does not hear anything

Interestingly enough, my NX is in the shop for a week now for a tap/rattle in the driver's side they still can't figure out, and in the mean time I have a '15 ES 350 loaner that 's very tight.

lesz

Check 2 things.

First check the tire pressure. New vehicles are generally delivered to the dealership with over-inflated tires, and tires that are inflated to 7 psi or more higher than they should be can often cause rattles.

Also, a common source of chatter/rattle on the ES is the assist handles above the doors on each side of the vehicle. When you hear the rattle, try holding the assist handle and see if it stops rattling. If that is a source of chatter/rattle, inserting some foam behind the trim piece over the hinges on each end of that handle should stop the rattle.

My 2013 ES has been as quiet as can be except for the fact that I did, under some temperature/humidity conditions have the chatter from the assist handles, but inserting some foam in the area of the hinges eliminated the issue.

Ken7

So weird that our Acura and the Fusion would be rattle free, yet the 'high end' Lexus rattles.

It's also funny that women are supposed to have better hearing than men, yet it's the guys that hear the rattles.

Ken7

Thanks lesz, I'll check into those assist handles. I did lower the tires from their 38psi down to 33psi. That didn't really help with the rattles.

I'm hoping the switch to the Pirelli tires may help a bit in lowering road noise and softening the ride a bit.

corradoMR2

lesz , agree with your post. The grab handle can make a squeak and tapping noise on occasion because the metal clips holding it is in direct contact with the metal frame opening. It's been a common issue with most of my Lexus vehicles.

Ken7, click here for the post and DIY. It should be similar on the ES as it has been on my CT, RX, and IS. You never know it could be the problem...

lesz

Two other common sources of rattles (on many vehicles) come to mind.

The headrests have about 5 positions into which they can "lock in". If the headrests are between two of those positions, they can rattle. Check to make sure that they are, in fact, locked into a fixed position.

There are plastic caps that cover the ends of the rails on which the front seats move. If the feet of a backseat passenger dislodges one of those caps, it can cause a very annoying rattle. You can quickly check to make sure that each of those plastic caps is, in fact, snapped into the proper position.

Also note that, even if you think that the rattles are coming from the dash or the doors or any other location in the vehicle, the way that sounds can reflect off of surfaces in the small interior cabin space can cause rattles to seem like they are coming from places quite far away from their actual sources.

TechNut

Every Toyota/Lexus we have owned has developed some mild rattles with time, but our ES is definitely the best of any car we have owned for some years. It only has a minor rattle on rough roads - like railroad crossings. It is much better at nearly 8k miles than our RX with 5k miles. I learned with a Toyota Avalon that chasing them can actually result in even more rattles. I have conditioned myself to ignore them unless really bad ... and my wife doesn't hear them either

So my opinion is that what you are seeing is pretty typical - at least from my observations.

Ken7

Thanks guys. I'll see if I can zone in on where the rattles are coming from, but it's only on rough roads. I'm really curious to see if changing the tires has any impact on this, though I doubt it.

If all else fails, I'll try Doug's approach, ignore them. I'm not sure that will be easy.

jollick

You can also bring it to the dealer and hope for the best. My 2015 is, so far, rattle free. I only had one on my 2013 that came from the chrome trim around the shiftier. One visit and 3 hours later it was corrected and has not come back.

Ken7

Thanks jollick, it's always an option, but I've never had much luck with dealers fixing rattles.

dxerg3770

Same here. Dealers don't like fixing rattles because its extremely time consuming. Unless there is a TSB out for the particular rattle it's unlikely it will be fixed, and that's if they even admit to hearing the rattle. Half the time, dealers take the car apart and do a half *** job putting it back on creating even more rattles.

corradoMR2

From my "rattle" experience on Lexus, lots of different sources, but you'd want to check the easier "DIY" ones yourself to save you the headache of the dealer and associated risks they may make things worse as dxerg3770 stated.

Validate the following by pressing, holding, or repositioning where applicable, yourself or with a partner so you can safely drive. The items with hyperlinks point you to another thread with more info on the issue and/or DIY.

1. Grab Handles
2. Sun Visors
3. Rearview Mirror
4. Headliner/Sunroof Area
5. Sunroof/Courtesy Lights Control Panel
6. Speaker/Tweeter covers on Dash, Doors, and Rear Shelf
7. Headrests
8. Rear Armrests
9. Rear Seat Adjustments (where equipped like the RX)
10. Seatbelt Height Adjustment
11. Door switch covers
12. Interior Door Handle Cover
13. Door Latch/Grab Bar
14. Door panel Top/Facade
15. Door Rubber Molding
16. B-Pillar Lower and Upper covers

This list may seem overwhelming but there are even more like within the door panel and B-pillar, but the above is the most common you can fairly easily validate. Hopefully it's one of these.

Ken7

Thanks corradoMR2. However the one thing that's not on your list may have been the major cause of my rattle. It turns out to be the unoccupied front passenger seat.

As I was driving down a bumpy road, the rattling began and I noticed the seat back was vibrating quite a bit. So I pulled over, moved the seat all the way forward and moved the seat back all the way forward. I then went around the block and drove down the same road. Noise was gone!

I then put the seat back to its original position, but this time stuffed a small hand towel in the seat crevice where the seat cushion meets the seat back. My intent was to stiffen the seat back. That too worked, but it was just a bit less effective than my first approach.

Either way it seemed to point the finger at the seat back itself. I can't begin to tell you how this strengthened my feeling for the car as I drove down bumpy roads and heard almost no noise.

So now I imagine I need to make an appointment with Lexus to have them tighten the seat back...if that's what they do.

Canesguy

I've had rattles/vibrations in the driver's door of a couple of my recent Lexus'. They are often associated with cold temps., and often go away by themselves. Unfortunately, as was pointed out, there is a poor success rate fixing them by the dealer.

BTW, all three of my Acuras, and my current Accord, developed multiple rattles after several months, or a year, and were more intrusive. In fact, of all car brands I've owned, Honda products were the most rattle-prone, and showed the most interior wear. Hopefully, their newer products (although not my Accord) are better.