Dabigman

So my car makes a droning/hum noise when I'm driving but Lexus tech say he can't hear it, even when they were in the car with me.

I talked to Lobux via PM and did as he said but the noise persists so I thought I'd ask if anyone else experienced this.

The noise sounds like woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo in a very deep monotone pitch. It starts, or becomes noticeable, at about 30mph.

Here are the details and background on what I've done thus far:

My car is a 2006 350 lowered on H&R springs, stock everything else. About 6 months ago, I started to notice a droning noise or resonance coming from what sounds like my front left tire. I attributed it to being lowered and lived with it.

A couple weeks ago when washing my car I noticed that I had severe wear on the inside of my front left tire (the nylon braid showing). Interestingly the front left was far worse than the front right. I bought new tires but the problem of the resonating, droning noise is still there.

So not wanting to tear up the new tires, I went to dealer to have an alignment done, thinking the toe was messed up. Supposedly three techs drove it and nobody can hear anything.

The alignment report I got at the dealer showed the following:

Before:
LF Toe: -.02
RF Toe: .00
LR Toe: +.20
RR Toe: +.12
Tt Toe: -.02

After:
LF Toe: +.01
RF Toe: +.02
LR Toe: +.13
RR Toe: +.12
Tt Toe: +.03


Lobux suggested I jack up the front and check the suspension for loose bolts or play. I did that and everything looks/feels OK but the wheel in question was very tight and wouldn't freewheel much more than one rev if that matters. I am going to a shop that has a Hunter GSP9700 machine to check wheel run-out. If the wheel is still round I'm at a loss.

Anyone have any other ideas? This noise is driving me crzy, like a Tell-Tale Heart!!

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Could be a bad bearing or the brake is dragging. Either of those will make it harder to turn the wheel and could make a noise while in motion.

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

kill the car and bury it under your house! make sure the neighbors dont hear the car scream .

ISBU

The noise sound like its a tire noise. Since you did not change your rear tires, if you know someone to lend you a good set of tires for the back or swap with someone then you can eliminate the rear also. Tire noise make noise in certain speed and when you're slowing down. Bearing noise increase as you speed up and decreases when slowing down and also bearing noise will not make the sound that you described. Bearing noise is a constant humming or groaning noise and it gets louder the faster you go.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

^^My experience with bad wheels bearings on my Supra does not support your claims at all.

Dabigman

I put new tires on all four corners. The noise was there before and after.

ISBU

That's from my experience.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Toyota use angular contact double row ball bearings for wheels. Was your experience with a Scion/Toyota/Lexus?

ISBU

I used to work at a Toyota dealer. The bearing noises that I used to hear it from are camrys and corollas and even cressidas. So if they use new bearings I guess I could be wrong.

howdybob22

Test drove an 03 SC430 a while back that have a very similar sound to what described. Came back and described it to the sales and mechanic guys, and they confirmed it was the ball bearing. Also, I think Lexus dealership has a device that they can put on your car to listen to see if the ball bearing is going out. Since you're having H&R springs, this may attribute to the ball bearing is going out.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

No way. There are only two things that kill wheel bearings prematurely that the owner can do - install spacers or hit a curb hard. Spring changes couldn't possibly affect wheel bearings. Ever.

howdybob22

I agree with you mostly, but there is a small chance that it could happen hence the dealer could use this small reason to deny us warranty (after market springs causes the ball bearing to go bad). I'm so sure they would use it against us, and I doubt that Toyota/Lexus would listen to our reasoning. Regardless of what causes the ball bearing to failed, please do update if you find the real cause for the droning noise - for future ref to us mechanically challenge folks, me for one.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Small chance from what? A spring change? How?

They're required to PROVE the springs caused the damage. You have to prove nothing. What could they possibly say to create any doubt the springs have no effect here?

howdybob22

My take is that ball bearing is just like any parts - if you get a bad one, it could go anytime. If you use after market springs that add additional stiffness to the suspension, it could make it go bad sooner - This is what I mean by small chance (bad part + after market stuff that could effect it or make it go sooner). Hence the dealer can use the excuse of the stiffer springs + lower suspension to not fixed it under warranty. I did called Lexus to ask about this, and all the SA said was 'they have their tech to exam if the ball bearing was faulty, or the springs and lower ride causes it'. I'm a pessimist, I say they pick the ladder.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

That's an SA trying to scare you. There's no way a tech could make a determination between those two, and it would be child's play to take an engineering text from Fafnir, Torrington, Koyo, or any of the ball bearing manufacturers and shoot that argument dead where it sits.

My question to the SA would be - can you prove this in court? I know you can't. So why not save a lot of time and fix it now before it costs 100 x what we're looking at today.