Rear end creaking...

[JD82]

Hi  - new owner of a 2010 RX450h (67k miles) and pretty happy with it as a family car. The only thing bothering me is a creaking / squeaking noise over speed bumps and potholed rural car parks etc, only from the rear though. A couple of posts on here mention something similar it seems... is this something worn out (bushes etc?) or just a characteristic of this model? Thanks

[Spottedlaurel]

Welcome James.

My low mileage 2014 model certainly isn't quiet around that area, on mine it feels like it's interior components rubbing against each other. Make sure all the rear seatbacks are firmly clicked into place for a start. I got caught out by that on a journey once, it was the small centre seat not quite in place.

Just remembered I put some felt tape on the small plastic cover that sits around the boot latch, I could see that had been rubbing against the tailgate.

Are all the tools firmly in place? Nothing loose in the spare wheel well?

That's not to say you haven't got any suspension noise, just try and eradicate a few easy things first.

As a general comment, I don't think the ride is spectacularly good, it's a bit more jiggly and firm than I had expected it to be.

[flookyk]

Have you had a look to see if you have a broken rear spring?

I had the rear left one go on me earlier this year, it can be a bit of a bu&&er to replace if one particular bolt refuses to come out.

I was lucky they manages to cut it off without damage to the bushes as they are attached to the lower arm integral to it so if you damage the bush you have to replace the lower arm.

[The-Acre]

If it happens over speed humps etc it could well be anti roll bar bushes.  

[JD82]

2 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Welcome James.

My low mileage 2014 model certainly isn't quiet around that area, on mine it feels like it's interior components rubbing against each other. Make sure all the rear seatbacks are firmly clicked into place for a start. I got caught out by that on a journey once, it was the small centre seat not quite in place.

Just remembered I put some felt tape on the small plastic cover that sits around the boot latch, I could see that had been rubbing against the tailgate.

Are all the tools firmly in place? Nothing loose in the spare wheel well?

That's not to say you haven't got any suspension noise, just try and eradicate a few easy things first.

As a general comment, I don't think the ride is spectacularly good, it's a bit more jiggly and firm than I had expected it to be.

Thanks very much  - I'll have a poke around inside this evening just to rule that out. I agree on the ride - the low speed ride in particular is disappointingly firm/ bouncy. At speed it's great though.

[JD82]

2 hours ago, flookyk said:

Have you had a look to see if you have a broken rear spring?

I had the rear left one go on me earlier this year, it can be a bit of a bu&&er to replace if one particular bolt refuses to come out.

I was lucky they manages to cut it off without damage to the bushes as they are attached to the lower arm integral to it so if you damage the bush you have to replace the lower arm.

Thanks - I'll check that out too. 

[JD82]

1 hour ago, The-Acre said:

If it happens over speed humps etc it could well be anti roll bar bushes.  

Yes I wondered that  - it happens when the car 'twists' if you see what I mean, so on very undulating roads or uneven surfaces as well as speed bumps (though less so on these if they're taken head on). 

It's got a Lexus used warranty so I'm just trying to rule out a few obvious things before I take it in.

[The-Acre]

18 minutes ago, JD82 said:

Yes I wondered that  - it happens when the car 'twists' if you see what I mean, so on very undulating roads or uneven surfaces as well as speed bumps (though less so on these if they're taken head on). 

It's got a Lexus used warranty so I'm just trying to rule out a few obvious things before I take it in.

I've found when ARB's start to creak it happens more when it's very hot.  On my old LS it would always happen in slow moving traffic, mostly due to the heat from the exhaust, it sounded like an old iron bed! As soon as traffic got moving they would cool down and the creak would go.

[Silversalmon]

One simple eradication is to fold down the middle 20% of the rear seat, that rear seat mechanism is clearly poorly designed. Just lower it and see if the majority of the noise goes away?

 

Ed

[granadaman]

Rear trailing arm bushes, mine on both sides did it until I replaced both and peace and quiet returned

[PCM]

12 hours ago, Silversalmon said:

One simple eradication is to fold down the middle 20% of the rear seat, that rear seat mechanism is clearly poorly designed. Just lower it and see if the majority of the noise goes away?

 

Ed

+1   

Had that on the back seats.

Silicon spray fixed it by spraying where the leather touched...

[Jaga]

Old post I know - but did you fix it @JD82?

[JD82]

@Jaga Funnily enough it vanished over the winter... so I suspect some sort of dried out joint/ bush etc. It's had a main dealer service since and nothing untoward came up so I think wet weather must have lubricated whatever was causing it. No doubt I'll be back to square one by June! Do you have the same issue?

[Jaga]

I am hearing an annoying creak from the rear near side. It only happens occasionally - especially when the suspension is being stretched, i.e. over certain speed bumps. Direction of travel might affect. I am planning to have a look at the rear lateral damper which is fitted to the F-Sport. CT owners have reported creaking due to their lateral dampers becoming loose. Other than that - the car has likely been sitting for a long time on a deflated rear near side tyre. This might have stressed some of the rubber bushings found on the roll bars etc.

[Bat21]

On 7/23/2020 at 10:39 AM, JD82 said:

Hi  - new owner of a 2010 RX450h (67k miles) and pretty happy with it as a family car. The only thing bothering me is a creaking / squeaking noise over speed bumps and potholed rural car parks etc, only from the rear though. A couple of posts on here mention something similar it seems... is this something worn out (bushes etc?) or just a characteristic of this model? Thanks

So..... we have a 2013 450h that we have had since 2015 and 13k miles, now on 64k miles.

It has had a rear end 'creak' for quite a few miles now. So, I decided to investigate.

Initially I though it was the exhaust rubbers that were creaking but it wasn't that.

Next I suspected suspension bushes but before looking into those I had another idea.

I suspected it may be the rear tailgate that was causing the rubber like creaking like noise so I set about lubricating all the touch points between the tailgate and main body. Firstly with GT85 and then with WD40.

Result.... no more rear end creaking.

Not saying this will be everyone's issue but, it is certainly worth giving it a try before exploring an expensive route.

[Jaga]

Thanks a lot for this advice. I found it really useful. I think you were spot on!