Wife reports: "growling noise while driving"
 

Oh boy.....
I'm at work, haven't got to check this out yet, she called told me it was "growling" while she drove home. So apparently not the transmission, or at least not a completely broken transmission.
RX300 AWD 2002 model, any ideas as to what to check out first?
In the past (with other vehicles) I've had similar noises be the wheel bearings. I'm hoping it is something like that.
Give me some good news please! :sad:

Thanks,
Patrick

Maybe it is nothing more than the brake pads wear indicator screaming on the disk...

I was going to look at it today, but I forgot, I have to go to Jury selection today....My one day off between 3 nights and 2 more nights of working and I have Jury duty. I completely AGREE with it, and am happy to participate, the timing this week is just off...

It sounds like it could be the wheel bearings.

Has the growl just started or has it been going on for awhile?
A few years ago I put a set of Toyo tires on my wife's RX300 and over time the road noise just kept getting louder and louder. The noise got so loud it became unbearable and with only about 35,000 miles I replaced them with a set of Michelin LXT M/S2's. The noise went away and the ride is better than with the Toyo's.
I had the Toyo's on my Tundra and they were a good tire on the truck. But on the RX the tires had more road noise than on the truck.

Last year, I had a "growl" - especially when making turns, regardless of depressing the brake pedal.

I thought it would be a costly repair.

Turns out that there was rust on the rear rotor... the Toyota shop lubed it. I didn't believe that was the problem, but the tech insisted that was it.

One year later, still no growl...

Huh??? Lubed the rotor???

The brake caliper slide points get sticky if the lube is gone. Maybe she is hungry?

Turned out wife just drove home on a mostly flat tire......

Thanks for everyones replies.

Wimmins, gotta love 'em. :D

She USED to be quite mechanically savvy...she had an old Jimmy she worked on, had a '69 Road runner drag car, bought a ZR2 Blazer and took it off-road. I guess now that she doesn't HAVE to be, she's lost it.