Excessive Interior Noise

[kentrx1]

have a 2007 rx 350 that i bought new. was quiet when i first bought it for my wife and she drives mostly in town. went on a trip with it and noticed lots of cabin noise----sounded like road noise from the tires you would expect in a 1960's car. wife states it has gradually gotten loud over the past 1 1/2 years and she has not driven it much on the interstate---mainly just around town. when it is up to 70 mph, the interior noise is really bad. no vibration or rattle----just a dull roar. it has 18k miles, tires have been rotated and that had no effect on noise. tires are the original goodyear eagles and have no abnormal wear. it is a 2wd model and if i had to guess, sounds like the majority of the noise is coming from the front of the car. car has had no damage, repairs, etc. tires are properly inflated. there are no "clunks" or grinding noises, but even on the smoothest of pavements there is a loud roar in the cabin----or at least what i would call loud for a lexus!! if it were a yugo, i would probably just think it was the tires. do not really hear outside noise from other cars-----so the noise is being transferred from the car itself----the outside world is staying outside. My first thought was it was the tires, but I would have thought rotating would have at least changed the sounds and the tires only have 18k miles on them with no abnormal wear. thoughts/experiences appreciated!!

[SW03ES]

Its the tires, those Goodyear Eagles are crappy tires, replace them with something better, Michelin Primacy MXV4s or Bridgestone Alenzas and the road noise will be back where you expect it. Crappy tires get louder as they age like that. Well, all tires do but with crappy tires its more pronounced.

Lexus vehicles quiet and smooth ride is very dependent on the tires.

[fdwinston]

have a 2007 rx 350 that i bought new. was quiet when i first bought it for my wife and she drives mostly in town. went on a trip with it and noticed lots of cabin noise----sounded like road noise from the tires you would expect in a 1960's car. wife states it has gradually gotten loud over the past 1 1/2 years and she has not driven it much on the interstate---mainly just around town. when it is up to 70 mph, the interior noise is really bad. no vibration or rattle----just a dull roar. it has 18k miles, tires have been rotated and that had no effect on noise. tires are the original goodyear eagles and have no abnormal wear. it is a 2wd model and if i had to guess, sounds like the majority of the noise is coming from the front of the car. car has had no damage, repairs, etc. tires are properly inflated. there are no "clunks" or grinding noises, but even on the smoothest of pavements there is a loud roar in the cabin----or at least what i would call loud for a lexus!! if it were a yugo, i would probably just think it was the tires. do not really hear outside noise from other cars-----so the noise is being transferred from the car itself----the outside world is staying outside. My first thought was it was the tires, but I would have thought rotating would have at least changed the sounds and the tires only have 18k miles on them with no abnormal wear. thoughts/experiences appreciated!!

Have a 2007 RX350 that was doing exactly the same thing. I thought it was the tires, which also had abnormal wear, dealer told me I needed an alignment. So I replaced the Michelin tires for some Bridgestone Alenzas and got an alignment and the noise was still the same. It starts around 40 mph and peaks at 60 mph, gets louder when I break hard or make left turns. Oddly the sound went away with right turns. Took it to the dealer, they said they have seen some bad wheel bearings that make this kind of noise. They looked at it and relaced wheel bearings and the sound is GONE. HOORAY!!! It's like new again. ps I do recomend the Alenzas or AKA Dueler H/L. The ride is softer than the Michelin Pilot tires that were original.