Rattles

[darrude]

Been reading the good and bad thread and it seems everyone is praising the build quality.

I know the car is uber quiet so rattles stand out like a sore thumb, but does nobody else think the car is a little bit too rattly / creaky. I had a mazda before this and even after 10 years and 120,000miles it wasn't as rattly as the IS, or certainly wasn't as noticeable.

I get the following rattles.

- Rattle from the armrest rest when light pressure is applied.

- Rattle from the seat belt adjuster.

- Rattle from instrument cluster when the car is cold.

- Rattle from the door card (waist rail).

- Severe rattle from front of door card when the window is open (audible over wind noise).

- creaks from console when knee resting against it.

- Rattle from Door card if knee resting against it.

- Rattle from clock area (flat area infront of nav screen).

- horrendous rattling when the stereo is on quite loud.

nobody else find the same? Even my wife doesn't think its as good as it should be. Can't imagine I've been that unlucky to get a bad car. Am I just too critical?

[ColinBarber]

Too critical for most but I'm with you. Sadly a common trait that affects all Lexus vehicles from the 90s to the present day. I've some of your rattles along with one or two with the roof lining, a temperature affected rattle around the LHD dashboard/glovebox/A pillar and one or two that I'm not sure where they are.

I have a particularly harsh road that I travel on point to work - newly resurfaced but with quite large stone chips, and after driving on it for a few weeks multiple rattles started to occur :(

The armrest rattle seems to come from the latch, my dealer tried to resolve thinking it was the main cover not resting fully on the rubber stops so added some felt but that just made it worse.

I get a slight noise from the drivers door which seems to be the seal isn't tight enough. When I clean the seal with some silicone spray it seems to resolve for a while. My neighbour who has the same car also complains of the same thing, which seems to be more noticeable in colder weather.

[rayaans]

Touch wood - NOTHING here.

Im actually very impressed with the quality of the IS interior. Not a SINGLE rattle with 12k miles and 2 years old. My RX has 2 annoying rattles at 3 years and 33k miles, one from the passenger B pillar and one from rear drivers side wheel arch area.

My wife drives it normally but I drive the IS quite hard and its solid - with a capital S.

Your car sounds really bad - never had that many rattles in a Lexus before. Maybe 1 or 2 max but not more than that.

No issues with any armrests which get used regularly by kids and with termperature or anything! On the contrary - had to go to London for a conference and me and my colleague took turns to drive, him one way and me the other in his new C300 Hybrid. It had quite a few rattles TBH, not something I mentioned mind but hey ho

[capese21]

I think because of the Lexus reputation for build quality & quietness then rattles stand out. Saying that mine does not have any really. I keep thinking it does but so far it has been items in the car making the noise, like CD`s in the glove box & a first aid kit I had put in the door pocket etc

[ColinBarber]

I'm not calling anybody a liar but I think it is a tolerance thing. I don't believe people who say they don't have any rattles. I've been in plenty of RXs, GSs, ISs, owned 6 myself, and they all have multiple rattles, even demonstrators or loan vehicles with less that 1,000 miles on the clock.

Press any of the trim panels and they all tend to click and creak as multiple hard plastics touch each other - which they do on their own when going over bumps etc. Most of the issues aren't continuous rattles, although I have a couple of those too.

You see hundreds of these sort of complaints on US forums - it is just something associated with Lexus/Toyota vehicles - if you want a reliable car get a Lexus, rattle free then possibly BMW.

[steveledzep]

The rattles you describe would really bug me.

Mine's seven years old and I can hear my wife's dangly earrings creaking !!

[200h]

i have had the arm rest rattle and fixed it ages ago and it hasn't come back.

on the front of the storage bin where the armrest locks i

wrapped a piece of self adhesive felt around the locking point

from the top and wrapping it underneath

this now pulls the armrest down by the smallest amount

but the rattle is gone.

[darrude]

Glad its not just me. I was thinking maybe i'm too critical. Don't get me wrong, it's not all the rattles all the time, just certain road surfaces / temperatures. but enough to be annoying and mainly quiet enough to drown out with the radio (as long as that isn't too loud to cause rattles...)

Sounds like I might have 2 fixes to try then. Armrest and door seal. I will test this weekend.

Thanks for the idea's.

[capese21]

I'm not calling anybody a liar but I think it is a tolerance thing

Its not a tolerance thing with me, I was being bugged by a slight noise from a first aid kit in the passenger door pocket. Relocated it to the boot and it went. The BMW forums are also full of posts about rattles (along with engine failures). My IS is 63 reg with 22k miles.

[Deadloak]

No rattles, just a tapping behind my head occasionally. Due to 2 air fresheners hanging fom the grab handle. Yes, my Wife hates the new car chemical smell, which is abating now.

David.

[rayaans]

I'm not calling anybody a liar but I think it is a tolerance thing. I don't believe people who say they don't have any rattles. I've been in plenty of RXs, GSs, ISs, owned 6 myself, and they all have multiple rattles, even demonstrators or loan vehicles with less that 1,000 miles on the clock.

Press any of the trim panels and they all tend to click and creak as multiple hard plastics touch each other - which they do on their own when going over bumps etc. Most of the issues aren't continuous rattles, although I have a couple of those too.

You see hundreds of these sort of complaints on US forums - it is just something associated with Lexus/Toyota vehicles - if you want a reliable car get a Lexus, rattle free then possibly BMW.

My tolerance is quite low - very sensitive ears here due to years using a stethoscope! No rattle whatsoever in the IS. I feel like there is but its always my coin holder or something in the door handle or in the glovebox.

Come to think of it, I havent heard any rattles in any IS loaners ive had either and I don't listen to music much in those as I cba transferring CD's over. Even the CT's didn't have rattles.

TBH I hadnt cleaned out my RX in over a year and I thought I heard 10 different rattles coming from multiple places. Turned out to be all the junk I had in the car which left only 2 in the end with 33k miles. 1 stick around all year but the other one goes away in summer.

The wife's IS is also a 63 plate with 12k miles. Actually I cant remember any rattles on my RX300 or any on the GS loaners or the RC-F either. And that was driven liken bonkers let me tell you!

[wh05apk]

Mine only has the 1 rattle, seeming to come from the central front speaker, if I push the trim above the screen it stops.

I do find general road noise is very high, my 9 year old hyundai santa fe is far quieter.

[Steve44]

............ if you want a reliable car get a Lexus, rattle free then possibly BMW.

I'd agree on the first point, but read the BMW forums, especially the 3 series ones and they are just as bad if not worse, with interior rattles, wind noise and squeaks.

[Richard1200]

I am on my second IS300h and this one is a much smoother quieter ride than my first. Since the weather has got colder I can hear the creaking type noise by my right ear which goes if you drop the window a couple of millimetres. This is the same as my first car which I improved by putting a silicone spray on the door seal and glass runners.

The annoying noise in my left ear is still there. Unless I leave her home.

[capese21]

The annoying noise in my left ear is still there. Unless I leave her home

.

My car is the same. There is also a louder noise emanating from the booster seat in the back.

[Roscobbc]

My IS300 is now a year old and 28K miles - no rattles at all - the only noise to irritate me appears to come from the left hand side of the centre console. Its a constant buzzing that is only really apparent when stationery - it seems to be from what may be a servo motor for the h & v system. I use the highly technical method of a hard 'slap' to the side of the console which silences it for a while. Can't be bothered to tale in to dealers and wait for half a day for them to investigate (and possibly not find the cause) so it can wait until next service.

General road noise inside car from road surfaces is not good if on 'older' surfaces - motorways with concrete tops are a bad source of noise - so much so that 'hands free' phone conversation for other party is almost impossible at legal speeds. Some of the 'newer' low noise road surfacing materials are really much better.

[Rabbers]

IMO the 300h is far more rattle-free than previous generations of the IS, especially the 200, which was bad from this

point of view. I've only ever had one rattle in the 300h that was not attributable to loose keys, coins, Tic-Tacs etc., and

this consisted of a noise that came and went according to the roughness of the road surface, sometimes intermittent,

sometimes continuous, not unlike chattering teeth, and "plasticky" rather than metallic. Strangely, passengers in the

back thought it came from the front of the cabin while the driver and front passenger thought it came from the back.

It is interesting that Rayaans should have mentioned a stethoscope earlier in this thread, for, in a final attempt, after

many, to trace the origin of the rattle, two mechanics, one in the back and and one in the front, took turns at running

a stethoscope along the dashboard, door-panels and sills etc., while I drove. Thus did I learn that some high-class

car workshops consider a stethoscope an essential tool for detecting the source of rattles. Not that it proved effective

on this particular occasion, a consensus of six unaided ears having traced the possible source to somewhere in the

area of the boot. To cut a long story short, the rattle was finally discovered to come not from inside the boot itself

but from one of the two numberplate-light covers that had come loose as the probable result of the boot-lid being

slammed too hard. That the rattle should have been audible as far forward as the front seats seems to defy any

acoustic law, but the fact that it ceased when the cover was clicked back into place is proof of it.

[ColinBarber]

A stethoscope is an essential tool for any workshop, makes it easy to identify a noisy fuel injector, faulty bearings, air leaks etc.

The current IS is certainly better than previous but sadly still not as good as it could be. Same with the GS too.

[Adammas]

I hate rattles. It was a big reason for getting rid of my Audi A5 , Audi interiors are supposed to be known for no rattles and superior fit and finish, The previous A4 i had was silent, The A5 was terrible, drove me mad, read the forums and there were loads of fixes as most owners also found this to be the case. I dont think anything south of a bentley is immune from it( and ive never driven a bentley maybe they do too),

The IS thus far has been much quieter, amplified by a generally quieter experience all round, i did have the seat belt adjuster spring buzzing in my ear, initally thought it was a dodgy speaker, but found it hadnt full engaged, once set right, its been ok touchwood. Nothing else yet in its first 2 months - 2000 miles. Road noise is quite loud at times thats probably my only complaint on the whole car so far.

[Tel]

Had 3 cars replaced due to foreign noise issues the last being a Lexus that had a "crisp bag being crushed" from behind the glove box on urban roadways with the service repairs that traverse the road.

Lexus were excellent & replaced the car after 4 months of testing.

Tel

[DanD]

Problem is that Lexus drivers are so well isolated from the outside world by efficient sound deadening and in the RX double glazing, that internal creaks and rattles are all the more obvious. Which reminds me that I still have not found a solution to stop the creaking coming from the rear seat of my car.

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

[rayaans]

Problem is that Lexus drivers are so well isolated from the outside world by efficient sound deadening and in the RX double glazing, that internal creaks and rattles are all the more obvious. Which reminds me that I still have not found a solution to stop the creaking coming from the rear seat of my car.

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

Mine is doing the same thing over bumps. Cant even find where its coming from either

[Ian J. Parsley]

Certainly I have had rattles, which come and go. I find them entirely unpredictable. I must say I'm having a good run currently.

My main one actually came from above but specifically just left of the clock. One day, counter-intuitively, instead of trying to hold the padding down, I kind of held it up. The rattle has never been as bad since.

Now, about that one, I have to say I always perceived it as much further left than it actually was - initially I thought it may even be coming from the passenger door or mat. It seems mad, but it's worth being absolutely sure what seem to be distinct rattles are not in fact the same one (noting, ahem, that men are genuinely worse at picking up the origin of sounds than women...)

I also have a definitely distinct one which comes and goes above the steering well, but a quick slap soon sorts it!

So, overall, I'm okay. I do find I can't travel with a jacket or coat hanging in the back - too annoying! So it must be pretty quiet!

[darrude]

Bizarrely most of my rattles seem to have subsided recently. Maybe the cold weather has shrunk the parts that were rattling so the no longer touch!

[baxlin]

My IS300h advance is 3 months and 2000 miles old, and as yet no rattles at all, and both Mrs Baxlin and I consider me to be intolerant to rattles. I hate them! I have an occasional passenger who will insist on putting his overlarge set of keys in the glove box - I've now put a rolled-up hi viz jacket in there to cushion his keys!

My main noise gripe is that this is the first car I've had with low-ish profile tyres, 17 in wheels with 45 profile tyres, and the car is more susceptible to differing road surfaces, when transmitting road noise than previous cars. My Merc for instance rode on 16" wheels with 55 profile tyres, and had much less tyre noise.

Having said that, this is by far the quietest car I've ever had.