I have a 2006 Lexus GS with 14K miles on Yokohama Advan tires. I took the car into the dealership because the noise was so loud I thought it might be a bearing. They said it is the tires making the noise. Thinking back I started to notice the noise at about 12K. Anyone with similar problems? Any suggestions for quiet tires.
Did you rotate the tires as per the schedule in the owner’s manual? Lack of that can cause irregular wear with consequent noise. Rotate now if you didn’t and hope that they will quiet down but don’t count on it.
I had same problem w/ my Ford Explorer Sport Trac, only noise started around 20k miles. I took it to a tire place (NTB), they said my front tires were “warped”. The part of the tire that meets the pavement should be flat, my tires were ‘wave-y’. The tire guy said my back tires were still good and rotated them to the front and the noise went away. He did say that if I rotate them back the noise will come back.
Auto manufacturers are putting “high performance” tires on just about everything these days, and while these tires contribute to the sporty feel of the car, they often become quite noisy as they age.
There is nothing I know of that will make a tire quieter after it becomes noisy. Proper inflation, rotation, and wheel balance helps prolong tire life, and even wear is the best way to keep tires quieter, but some will become noisy no matter what you do.
You can do some research at places like TireRack.com regarding tires and their noise levels. There are some tire makers who are advertising “quieter” tires for luxury cars such as your Lexus.
Avoid any tire with an aggressive tread pattern, as they tend to become noisy quickly.
I installed a set of Bridgestone Turanza tires on one of my cars a few years ago, and so far they have remained very quiet while providing excellent traction in wet or dry conditions and a comfortable ride. I recommend them without hesitation.
Thanks to you all for your responses. Yes, the tire pressure was checked religiously by me and the vehicle was serviced, with tire rotation as prescribed by Lexus. I guess for now I’ll just turn up the radio until I buy new tires. Thanks again for your responses.
The noise probably is from the tires, but this is often caused by an alignment problem or a suspension defect. It also could be the result of rotating the tires, sometimes if you end up reversing the direction of rotation of a tire, it can make it very noisy and even cause the belts to separate. It also masks the alignment problem.
We bought a new Lexus GS about a year ago and after about 5000 miles I noticed that the car was very noisy. I brought it to the dealer and they said that there was some wear on the edges that were little bumps ( my wife drives this car about 600 miles/mo around town), but blamed it on the “high performance” tires. I didn’t agree. If there was abnormal wear I told them that there must be a problem with the front end. All that checked out OK. They rotated the tires and told me that it should be OK. Within minutes of leaving the dealership I knew things were not OK. Same noise level that was unacceptable. They replaced the tires with Michilem (originals were Dunlop), The car was quiet again.
I called Dunlop to iqiure about this wear comment about high performance tire, but got no satisfaction.
Bottom line is that I am still not happy with Lexus service on this and think that the new tires are getting noisy again!!
Bridgestone Turanza Serenity tires