I tried your position on my 430 because why not and I read 58-61 at idle and 64-77 at 60mph with a big variation due to my tires spiking high on anything but perfect pavement. I'm envious of how silent I'm sure your car must be on the interstate

 

Great idea. I have a db app on my iPhone from niosh. I'll do a check on my car for fun and report back.
Update: the Niosh app is jumbled. So no readings.

 

Those numbers sound really high. Make sure its weighting in dB (a).

 

It is, it's hyper sensitive and if I so much as move/breath it picks up a .5 dB. I'll switch the weighting a little and put it in hold average mode and see if it gives a more reasonable number vs the most sensitive settings.

 

Excellent idea! I just downloaded one and I'm going to run a few tests. I need to treat myself to earplugs. ;-)

 

What else would you say is close to as quiet as an LS (pavement and wind noise)? It sounds like you've driven a lot of cars and are attentive to noise.

 

Pretty much all the flagship sedans, S Class (which I now have), 7 Series, A8 etc are as quiet or similarly quiet. My S Class isolates better from road noise than the LS. Range Rover, other high end SUVs are also very quiet but the issue with higher profile vehicle is wind noise at speed.

 

I used an app on my phone, so maybe not the most accurate, but at 70mph the level was 87 on my 2007 LS460. Makes me think I need to redo the window seals but I'm not sure where to start on that

 

The LS460 is quiet but there are lots of cars on the market these days that are quiet as well.

My 2012 LS460 is quiet for the most part but there is some wind noise coming from the driver side window. Also the engine is pretty loud when it’s cold. After it warms up though, it’s buttery smooth and completely silent.

I think a fair assessment would be to qualify it such that for a 12 year old car costing less to far less than $20k, it’s very quiet and refined. But there are other things that are cons such as no blind spot or cross traffic alerts, lane keeping assist, radar cruise control etc. Imho, the car feels old and it’s because it is.

 

Those apps arent accurate at all lol. I promise you it is not 87 db lol

 

I don’t have any training or education regarding sound measurement. You seem very knowledge about this subject. Can you enlighten us as to why it could not be 87dB.

 

87 is someone yelling at you and very close to a lawnmower.....oh and is straight up damaging. An open top car is not even that bad unless you are in a 90s Jeep trying to do 85 lol!

 

Lets put it this way, exposure to 90 db after 30 minutes causes hearing loss. 87 db is LOUD.

I don't know much about it in general, I have just measured a lot of cars.

 

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I figured it was not accurate for an app being used via phone. I'd be interested to know what it should be at which means I need to get behind the wheel of another one to be sure. It had been quite a long time since I'd driven a LS460 so I was going off of a decade old memory of how quiet it might be