Excessive Road Noise, Problem Or Over Optimistic

[willydoit]

I have just acquired an ls400 1998 with a genuine 7,500 miles on the clock, the car has dunlop sport tyres the dx whatevers which I believe are supposed to be very good on the road noise front, however on our local roads, (probably done the cheapest way, throw on chippings and let us poor drivers drive them in while getting a nice pebble dashed look to the bodywork.) I find I am getting a lot of road noise, I am concerned that it may be other issues causing the noise due to the car doing so little mileage and being stood for long periods of time, however as soon as I hit a short piece of road with a decent surface everything drops to utter silence so I suspect it really is just road noise, moved to the ls400 from an XJ8 which was also very quiet so maybe I am expecting too much, feedback on other ls400 owners road noise experiences would be appreciated if only to stop me worrying about possible expensive suspension repairs on a car with less than 8000 miles travelled.

Suspect tyres may be original fitting, they have almost full tread left on them all, so replacement in the near future is unlikely unless someone can guarantee a large noise reduction and offer a buyer for the existing tyres

Thanks in advance

[chips229]

Hi,

Because the car is so quiet and its hard to here the engine any other noise seems very loud.Like you say depending on what road your driving on the road noise can seem loud at times :)

Id turn the radio up ;) :D

Chips..

[lutonmatt]

hi

i get it too is it when you get a bit of speed up cos driving around town i don't hear it but if i go above 50 i get what sounds like wind noise but i can not find were its coming from every time i try to lisen it sound like its coming from somewere else

i do what chips said turn the radio up but some times you can't

matt

[moriwaki]

I have theDunlop D8Zs and they are very quiet ...the propblem is that the rest of the car is so utterly quiet that all there is to hear is tyre noise or a a rustle of wind noise...it is your perception that is altered with such a quiet car...you will hear the smallest thing that you would'nt even notice on a "normal" car...in my opinion "you " have the bargain of the decade and you are looking for problems that dont and cant exist at that miles...either start enjoying it ! ...or sell the bleedin thing to me !.... Best Regards etc ...!

[JellyBean]

I had the same problem. In the first few trips with mine (a '96), I was disappointed with the road noise. I now realise it was because my expectations were unrealistically high. What you need to do is, after driving your LS for a week or three, drive any other (non-LS) car, which will now seem most uncouth by comparison.

Apparently, the more worn a tyre, the louder the road roar - something to do with the tread-to-road-surface air gap being smaller, hence more distortion of the air passing between tyre and road.

On a local stretch of newly-laid blacktop, mine on new Dunlop D8Zs (£68 each, inc valves & balancing!) is almost silent up to about 60mph.

I also thought my car too harsh-riding below 50 mph when I first had it, but this disappointment has also evaporated after the odd drive in an "ordinary" car!

ENJOY!

[ROYT]

You fixed the problem yourself!........it's down to crap road surfaces everywhere, as you say , find a decent bit of road and the noise drops to virtually nothing........ :)

[willydoit]

I have theDunlop D8Zs and they are very quiet ...the propblem is that the rest of the car is so utterly quiet that all there is to hear is tyre noise or a a rustle of wind noise...it is your perception that is altered with such a quiet car...you will hear the smallest thing that you would'nt even notice on a "normal" car...in my opinion "you " have the bargain of the decade and you are looking for problems that dont and cant exist at that miles...either start enjoying it ! ...or sell the bleedin thing to me !.... Best Regards etc ...!

Thanks for the offer, Ill bear it in mind, was just a bit concerned if there were problems with long standing doing nothing, looks as though I need to move to a house with a long, long, long nicely tarmac'd drive.

Not so sure about bargain of century, for a 98 car I think I paid over the odds, for a 50k car with 7,500 miles on the clock complete with new car smell I got a great deal B)

[willydoit]

I had the same problem. In the first few trips with mine (a '96), I was disappointed with the road noise. I now realise it was because my expectations were unrealistically high. What you need to do is, after driving your LS for a week or three, drive any other (non-LS) car, which will now seem most uncouth by comparison.

Apparently, the more worn a tyre, the louder the road roar - something to do with the tread-to-road-surface air gap being smaller, hence more distortion of the air passing between tyre and road.

On a local stretch of newly-laid blacktop, mine on new Dunlop D8Zs (£68 each, inc valves & balancing!) is almost silent up to about 60mph.

I also thought my car too harsh-riding below 50 mph when I first had it, but this disappointment has also evaporated after the odd drive in an "ordinary" car!

ENJOY!

Thanks for that, probably wouldn't have noticed as much coming from a car other than the Jag :winky: but hey where'd you get the D8Zs for £68 and do you know if Lexus are still supplying these as standard on the new LS series?

[Tim Rockett]

I had the same problem. In the first few trips with mine (a '96), I was disappointed with the road noise. I now realise it was because my expectations were unrealistically high. What you need to do is, after driving your LS for a week or three, drive any other (non-LS) car, which will now seem most uncouth by comparison.

Apparently, the more worn a tyre, the louder the road roar - something to do with the tread-to-road-surface air gap being smaller, hence more distortion of the air passing between tyre and road.

On a local stretch of newly-laid blacktop, mine on new Dunlop D8Zs (£68 each, inc valves & balancing!) is almost silent up to about 60mph.

I also thought my car too harsh-riding below 50 mph when I first had it, but this disappointment has also evaporated after the odd drive in an "ordinary" car!

ENJOY!

[JellyBean]

... but hey where'd you get the D8Zs for £68 and do you know if Lexus are still supplying these as standard on the new LS series?

Dunno about new LS series but my local (Norwich) Lexus specialist - Roys Motor Company - fitted them. These days, Main(ish) Dealers will often give the best quotes for tyres. Never used to be that way!

[Paradroid]

Apparently, the more worn a tyre, the louder the road roar - something to do with the tread-to-road-surface air gap being smaller, hence more distortion of the air passing between tyre and road.

I don't own an LS400 but the above is definitely true as last time I needed new tyres I replaced them with exactly the same model and the road noise decreased quite a bit.

My car can be very quiet on the right surface, but road noise is very noticeable on bad surfaces - it's the type of tarmac that makes all the difference. That "Shell Grip" stuff (the smooth black grippy stuff) should be used on every road in my opinion

[maneesh]

The LS400, particularly the 98+ versions are notorious for being as quiet as a funeral parlour. The LS is quieter than Jag, S class, 7 series and A8. As long as you have the Dunlop D8Zs on, the car should be pretty much silent. In the 6 years I had mine, it was super quiet, used to freak out every passenger. Even at maximum speed of 155, there is hardly anything to notice, in terms of noise.

You must have some crap road surfaces near you in order to make a LS400 sound noisy!

[willydoit]

The LS400, particularly the 98+ versions are notorious for being as quiet as a funeral parlour. The LS is quieter than Jag, S class, 7 series and A8. As long as you have the Dunlop D8Zs on, the car should be pretty much silent. In the 6 years I had mine, it was super quiet, used to freak out every passenger. Even at maximum speed of 155, there is hardly anything to notice, in terms of noise.

You must have some crap road surfaces near you in order to make a LS400 sound noisy!

HI maneesh you said it the roads are bad around here, drove the car up from london with not a whisper, soon as I got into home area noticed the noise, sounds like I am dragging an empty plastic oil container under the front wheels, has to be surface noise as tone or level changes from one surface to another. as mentioned majority of the roads around here simply have a tar laid onto the surface and then covered in loose chippings, very rarely do we see proper tarmac being laid.

The tyres look almost new but could be original on the car from new as it has only done 8k miles now, it may sound daft but could the compund be someway affected if it's been stood for long periods over the last 8 years, I don't suppose many tyres were designed to last 8 years on a vehicle, but dont want to shell out for 4 new tyres to find they are just the same.

Reading others comments on road noise it seems as though dealers aren't much help, maybe a phone call to Dunlop could throw some light on the subject, if anyone else has an ls400 in the east yorkshire area or with this type of crap surface I would be interested in their feedback, will advise if I get anywhere with Dunlop

[moriwaki]

What a worrier ...they will be the original tyres at that miles...if they are not cracked or perished on the sidewalls they will be fine...now get out there and drive !... :)

[willydoit]

What a worrier ...they will be the original tyres at that miles...if they are not cracked or perished on the sidewalls they will be fine...now get out there and drive !... :)

Ok that's it discussion closed, I'm off into the sunset looking for the perfect road