07 Loud Bearing Roar

[BigBadWolf]

Hello

I just bought our Lexus ES 350 used six months ago, and it has 26000 miles on it. We love it so far.

On smooth roads I have noticed that as I start up and increase speed that a low frequency

roar noise like a bearing sound. The sound does not change with engine speed or trans shifting or road surface.

It is a constant sound with speed. It sounds just like a bad bearing I have heard in the past.

It is a very low freq at low speeds but as the car speed up the freq turns slightly higher.

The tires are the factory tires that come with the car - TOYO tires.

Have not had a chance to take it to a dealer since I live 100 miles from the nearest dealer.

Just thought you guys might have some experience on this so I can inform the dealer. Noise's are so hard

to deal with. We are a old honda family and are hoping the lexus will be just as great of a experience.

Thanks for your Help.

C J

[Ira d]

Hello

I just bought our Lexus ES 350 used six months ago, and it has 26000 miles on it. We love it so far.

On smooth roads I have noticed that as I start up and increase speed that a low frequency

roar noise like a bearing sound. The sound does not change with engine speed or trans shifting or road surface.

It is a constant sound with speed. It sounds just like a bad bearing I have heard in the past.

It is a very low freq at low speeds but as the car speed up the freq turns slightly higher.

The tires are the factory tires that come with the car - TOYO tires.

Have not had a chance to take it to a dealer since I live 100 miles from the nearest dealer.

Just thought you guys might have some experience on this so I can inform the dealer. Noise's are so hard

to deal with. We are a old honda family and are hoping the lexus will be just as great of a experience.

Thanks for your Help.

C J

It could be the tires my tires started to make a noise similar to what you describe at about 16K

and was replaced at 19k. I dont remember what brand they were but I dont think they were

Toyo tires.

[AZ08LexusES]

I bet Ira is right! Get the tires checked for unusual wear or possible defects. My 08 came with Bridgestones (Turanzas, I think), which I don't particularly like, but match well with the car as far as comfort and noise level.

[ClayShooter]

For what it's worth, I just bought a 2007 ES350, (Ultra Lux, all options but radar cruise, White/grey) in Fresno CA last Wed. I flew out and drove it all the way back to Virginia, got back last night.

While coming through Arkansas, I too, started noticing the 'gear' type whining noise, esp around 30-50 mph. It's definitely a speed thing, not trans or engine related. I thought it may have been an alignment issue where the 'pads' of the tire wear unevenly and slap along the road.

I had cause to spend a day or two in Nashville on my way back this weekend and got it aligned on Monday morning as I didn't want to eat up a good set of Michelins on the 400 mile drive back to VA. They (local alignment/tire shop) said it was out a little bit, but that the noise was still there. They aligned and rotated and balanced everything, but the noise was still there.

I lucked out and got an emergency apt. Monday afternoon at the Lexus Dealer in Nashville (Madison, north Nashville). They diagnosed it as right front wheel bearing going bad. Said it would be fine to drive back to VA and then to Greensboro NC, the closest Lexus dealer to me (about 100 mi). They didn't seem too concerned and said that as long as I didn't put another 10k miles on it or something stupid like that, that it'd be fine. The car has about 25k mi on it now after putting 2500 on it driving across the country last week. I have an apt. with the Greensboro dealer next Monday and will let you know what I find out. The guys in Nashville said they had never had this occur before, esp on a 25k mile car...Greensboro dealer had to order parts, hence the 6 day wait for the apt., but I'm gonna revert back to driving my old Volvo till I get this fixed, even though it's still well under warranty. Like I said, I'll let you know what finally comes of it.

[BaddBoi70]

Hello

I just bought our Lexus ES 350 used six months ago, and it has 26000 miles on it. We love it so far.

On smooth roads I have noticed that as I start up and increase speed that a low frequency

roar noise like a bearing sound. The sound does not change with engine speed or trans shifting or road surface.

It is a constant sound with speed. It sounds just like a bad bearing I have heard in the past.

It is a very low freq at low speeds but as the car speed up the freq turns slightly higher.

The tires are the factory tires that come with the car - TOYO tires.

Have not had a chance to take it to a dealer since I live 100 miles from the nearest dealer.

Just thought you guys might have some experience on this so I can inform the dealer. Noise's are so hard

to deal with. We are a old honda family and are hoping the lexus will be just as great of a experience.

Thanks for your Help.

C J

BBW and ClayShooter -

Very interesting that this has happened at about the 25K mile mark on your vehicles :( This is definitely a topic that you should bring to a site moderators' attention as they may want to "PIN" it for future reference as this may be a potential defect situation.

Best of luck to both of you with your rides!

[ClayShooter]

Latest Update:

Got the apt. in Greensboro pushed up to today. Drove to Greensboro (Flow Lexus) at about 10am this morning. Ronnie and the crew there took great care of me! I'm very impressed with my initial introduction to service at Lexus! Kuddo's to Flow Lexus in Greensboro!

That being said, it was not only the right front, but also the left front wheel bearings both going bad. I also had a quasi-related issue of a nut and stud on the interior axle being stripped, but don't really know where that came from. As I stated, the car had a years worth of use and 24k miles (coming off a lease) on it when I bought it. Flow had ordered parts based on the Nashville dealers initial diagnosis, but once they got involved with it, they found both sides going bad. They happened to have the parts to do the other side (don't ask me how, but they had them...funny, we had a 4 day order for the initial driver's side, but they were able to get the passenger side within several hours on the same day, and a Saturday to boot!) Regardless, I'm not complaining as I'm back in Roanoke VA, with my 350 sitting in my driveway and not a loaner car, which they graciously provided during my day in G'boro today.

I asked Ronnie if this was a common thing and he didn't seem to think so. His take was that sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't, so no real info there, but he was in a hurry to get things wrapped up on a very busy Saturday at closing time.

Baddboi70, you may be right. This may be a design issue/continuing flaw etc that someone needs to look at. I don't know. If more info is needed, contact me through here.

Bottom line, even though I was inconvenienced by having to kill a day getting this fixed, I'm a happy camper. I got to spend the day puttering around in a new town, Ronnie and the crew at Flow were great in not only moving my apt. up from Mon. to Sat., but also fixing unforeseen issues on the same day (regardless of how they finagled the parts!), and I walked away with a $0 bill; the only costs being a half a tank of gas and the clothing bills my girlfriend ran up shopping...(at least I managed to convince her that "...they don't SELL jewelry in North Carolina, honey!" "REALLY...would I kid you about a thing like that?"

Any more info I can give, just send me a note.

Ben

[Marsp]

My 2007 Lexus with 76000 miles on it started making roaring noise when I reach speed higher than 30 mph (similar to sound of a muscle car when it initially accelerates). But the sound continues at higher speeds and even after I let go of the gas. Two shops (diagnosed it as bad wheel bearing. So I had a front and a rear wheel bearing replaced but the same roaring noise was still there. They think it may be transmission problems. I’ve spent over $1200 and still don’t know what’s causing the roaring noise.. has anyone experienced a similar problem and had it resolved?