Randomly when my car is idle (i.e. in drive but say at the traffic lights stopped) I tend to hear a bit of a "rrrrrrrrrr" (rubbing type) sound. My last RX did this and this current one does too (still a 2nd Gen 05 RX330). On my last car, when I placed my foot on the rear exhaust tip and adjusted pressure the noise would stop. I could tell this worked as one night it was doing it while I was parked up and got out of the car and could find the noise externally. I know there is a metal bracket between the exhaust and something else but I have adjusted that to no avail. Has anyone experienced this symptom and if so how was it resolved? Is it possibly the exhaust mount not doing the job properly anymore?

 

You have loose exhaust heat shielding most likely. Check the shielding including the piece near the fire wall.

 

I will do some searching on the forum to discover where these items are. While I am doing that, anyone got any further insight as to where exactly I should be looking?

 

Follow the exhaust pipe all the way from where it bolts into the engine block, and look for the aluminum shields that are positioned between the pipe and the chassis of the car. These loosen and rattle over time. You can bend them some times away from the pipe and chassis to eliminate the rattle.