I just noticed today that there was a LOUD rubbing noise when I drove my car. I thought it was the engine but when I stopped and revved my engine there was no rubbing noise present. I roll and the rubbing noise starts again. Since I recently put some s techs on it I thought maybe the tires are hitting a fender well or lining. Not the case, I checked all tires and wells no sign of rubbing no burning smell so that couldn't be it. What am I missing?! I'm doing my oil change tomorrow so I look more closely but any insight would be helpful. This just started today, last night it was fine.

 

sounds like your tires to me. how low are you and are you running aftermarket wheels with what setup?

pics of the car would help, did it rub the whole time? A.T.D (attention to detail) Is it rubbing everytime you drive or only certain times when you brake, etc.

 

Rubs every time I role. It's been dropped for months... no idea why all the sudden it would start rubbing. Stock 18s. Lowered on stechs 1.6fr 1.3rear i believe. Not nearly low enough to rub. I checked all four tires and wells no marks or smell of burnt rubber. I'll remove all 4 tires tomorrow to see whats going on.

 

^Trust me, you won't see actual tire damage OR smell burnt plastic/rubber from the liner/tire contact. I'm lowered near 3"...so I'm well versed in tire/liner rubbing. Your best bet is to remove the wheel and check two things :

1) Check that the liner is correctly pinned up into the fender well via all of the clips and such.
2) Check the liner for rubbing marks or possible burn-through.

GL!

 

So I finally had time to investigate today. Took off all four wheels and no evidence of rubbing. Inner wells are fine and are still new. My front driver has some rubbage from U turns but nothing else. I still hear the noise and it is definitely coming from the rear. Tires are 90 percent new and I can't seem to locate the problem. Anyone other inputs before I waste 55 bucks at my local Lexus Dealer to have them look?

 

If the rubbing sound is coming from the rear, I would suggest to check the rear wind deflectors(they look like mudguards and are in front of the rear wheels). They may have come loose and is rubbing away on the tire. You could probably get away with buying a new clip to resecure that deflector if the hole isn't rubbed away.

In this picture, it's the rear ones you should check.

 

^Mine was scraping the ground at one point.

My dealer noticed it and popped in a new clip for me.

 

I removed all of those 4 wind gaurds long ago. Could it be anything mechanic? It just sounds like tractor tires. But my tires don't sound like that. They are still NEW and I checked them for any damage they all look good.

 

Did you do an alignment after you put the s-techs on? I'm thinking that your alignment may be off after the install and it may cause the inside of your tires to feather, which can create that sound. See if you can rub the inner and outer part of the tire tread up and down to see if it is smooth or rough. If it's smooth, it should be okay, but if it is rough, that may be the source of noise.

 

Thanks for the response guys! Individual, I did get an alignment and yes I've checked the inner sides of tires. It has triangles to show wear but its smooth. Maybe I'll just take it in to check it out. For now I'll just blast music loud and pretend it is not there.