New Car Ride And Noises

[Terry P.]

I recently purchased a 2006 RX330 and an surprized as to how rough the ride is and how noisy the vehicle is at 60 mph. The vehicle came with 18" rims and mud/snow tires. The ride is firm, but you can feel each bump and is more pronounced on a rough concrete roads. On the freeway, where I do most of my driving, I am reading more than 90 Dbm of noise.

Has anyone else with a new RX330 experienced these issues or od I have to live it?

[monarch]

More and more luxury SUV buyers crave sports car handling and the macho looks of 18" tires even though there is a substantial penalty in ride comfort and noise so what is Lexus supposed to do? Anyway, check your tire pressures and air them down to about 30 psi for better comfort and quietness.

[Rx330driver]

My rx330 also has those 18 inch wheels. I also have a Toyota Sienna with the same engine, that i find to have much much more noise than the Rx. Im not complaining because i know its already much better than other manufacturers. The way the car looks makes up for the annoying things about the car. :whistles:

[COZ]

90 dBm!? Since the dBm is used for measuring electrical signal strength I'll assume you meant dB. A constant 90 dB is like a running lawnmower! Is it really that loud? My RX is a louder than I would like, but not that loud. I would suspect the mud and snow tires. They aren't designed to be quite and some tires much noisier than others. On my Camry I switched to Yokohama AVIDs and it made a huge difference in sound. They don't make those tires in a size 18 so I'm searching for a new quiet tire for the RX.

[cantsleepnk]

90 dBm!? Since the dBm is used for measuring electrical signal strength I'll assume you meant dB. A constant 90 dB is like a running lawnmower! Is it really that loud? My RX is a louder than I would like, but not that loud. I would suspect the mud and snow tires. They aren't designed to be quite and some tires much noisier than others. On my Camry I switched to Yokohama AVIDs and it made a huge difference in sound. They don't make those tires in a size 18 so I'm searching for a new quiet tire for the RX.

I have the 18in OEM Michelins and they are dead quite. When we got the car I insisted that the dealer switch the Goodyears to the Michelins and so far I haven't been dissapointed. They have a softer sidewall than the GYs wich helps in ride and noise but gives less steering precision. I make up for this by running them at 33PSI cold .Max is 35PSI.

BTW The only noise that should be heard is the wind noise. At 60mph engine noise is really low and with the Michelins I have no tire noise. I don't think it should be 90dbs.

Edited December 21, 2005 by cantsleepnk

[Terry P.]

I recently purchased a 2006 RX330 and an surprized as to how rough the ride is and how noisy the vehicle is at 60 mph. The vehicle came with 18" rims and mud/snow tires. The ride is firm, but you can feel each bump and is more pronounced on a rough concrete roads. On the freeway, where I do most of my driving, I am reading more than 90 Dbm of noise.

Has anyone else with a new RX330 experienced these issues or od I have to live it?

More and more luxury SUV buyers crave sports car handling and the macho looks of 18" tires even though there is a substantial penalty in ride comfort and noise so what is Lexus supposed to do? Anyway, check your tire pressures and air them down to about 30 psi for better comfort and quietness.

The 18" wheel/tire combination is interesting in that it is the same overall diameter as the 17" combination. In the 18" setup, Lexus uses a lower profile tire, 55 series vs 65 series to achieve the same result. Must be marketing again. In researching this more, it appears that the 55 series tire may also be hurting ride and comfort as it has a smaller sidewall and is more for sports performance.

90 dBm!? Since the dBm is used for measuring electrical signal strength I'll assume you meant dB. A constant 90 dB is like a running lawnmower! Is it really that loud? My RX is a louder than I would like, but not that loud. I would suspect the mud and snow tires. They aren't designed to be quite and some tires much noisier than others. On my Camry I switched to Yokohama AVIDs and it made a huge difference in sound. They don't make those tires in a size 18 so I'm searching for a new quiet tire for the RX.

You are correct about the dB vs dBm, I usually measure audio level in a broadcast system. I have a handheld audio meter and driving down the freeway at 60 mph on concrete gives me the 90 dB reading. I am using "C weighted" and fast response. However, the final result is that at freeway speeds, it is a little difficult to carry on a conversation. Btw, the 96 Tahoe with 160K miles is a little quieter, but I think the issue here is mostly the tires.

[jk5598224]

Hello. Is their really a huge difference and noise and conformt between the 18 and 17 inch? I have 330 coming in today. Or should I ask the dealer to swap them for Michelins?

[PTO]

Hello. Is their really a huge difference and noise and conformt between the 18 and 17 inch? I have 330 coming in today. Or should I ask the dealer to swap them for Michelins?

I drove a bunch of 330s before I purchased mine. I couldn't figure out why some rode so much better then others. In some, I could feel every bump while others were silky smooth. I compared my RX to a loaner back to back and the ride was substantially different. I finally figured out the difference was caused by the type of tire on the vehicle. I have the Michelins and they ride great and my RX is easily the quietist vehicle I have ever been in. The Goodyear’s, on the other hand, definitely ride harder and seem to be noisier.

Edited December 22, 2005 by PTO

[SW03ES]

Tires are extremely important on a Lexus, so is the PSI the tires are aired too. The RX also comes with two tires, a Michelin which is very quiet and a Goodyear which is very loud.

I'd check the PSI, make sure its down to the factory spec on the doorjamb, and see what brand the tires are. Since yours is new you might be able to work out some sort of trade with the dealer if you have the goodyears.

You will see a difference from 17 to 18, but not that bad.

The 18" wheel/tire combination is interesting in that it is the same overall diameter as the 17" combination. In the 18" setup, Lexus uses a lower profile tire, 55 series vs 65 series to achieve the same result. Must be marketing again. In researching this more, it appears that the 55 series tire may also be hurting ride and comfort as it has a smaller sidewall and is more for sports performance.

Thats not so interesting, its fairly common. They do this so that they don't have to alter the gearing and electronics between the cars with the 18" and the 17". The vast majority of them come with 18s anyways.

You will see a handling difference between 17s and 18s even if the overall diameter is the same since there is less sidewall to deal with.

[cantsleepnk]

Hello. Is their really a huge difference and noise and conformt between the 18 and 17 inch? I have 330 coming in today. Or should I ask the dealer to swap them for Michelins?

I don't know about the 17" wheels but for the 18" try to get the Michelins. They're a lot quieter than the Goodyears. If your dealer has some vehicles with Michelins insist that he swaps them for you.