bashedpotatoes

Cheers everyone, With the arrival of a new family member back in september I've become a bit inconvenienced by the dimensions of my is300h. Having a rear facing child seat in a base means the passenger seat is somewhat unusable and we'd like a more easy to live with trunk space and seat access. I've thought about swapping it for an nx300h but also noticed a 2012 rx450h f-sport close by, which we ended up seeing. We loved the space, quietness and comfort as it rides a lot better than my 2017 f-sport IS. The owner also has a 2017 (pre facelift) f-sport nx300h for sale which we briefly drove around in, but the seats were much harsher, as was the ride. I found the engine more rattly than in my IS even though they are mostly identical (bar from the layout and lack of direct injection on the nx). I'd love to go for the rx450h, but I'm very worried about the parts availability in the case of an accident since Lexus are just becoming a more common occurrence on the streets around me and the fact that production ended almost 9 years ago for this generation is surely not helping. Can anyone chime in regarding how much they had to wait for parts (be them headlamps, bumpers, fenders, etc.)? I know this is mostly a UK forum and i'm based in Romania so the situation would be quite different, but I'm still curious. Some Context: To give some context regarding the cross-shop between the two: the RX has around 110.000 miles on board and is priced at about 22.000 eur vs the NX which has around 80.000 miles and is priced at 30.000. Both come with mark levinson systems (which are a must for me), but the NX has the advantage of being newer and sporting both auto-braking, ACC, 360 camera and a heated steering wheel. Thanks in advance.

@mfennell What sizes are you looking into? On my f-sport with the staggered 225/40 front and 255/35 rears I had some unpleasant experiences with conti premium contact 6s and the current dunlop sport maxx rt2s with a persistent cavity noise over anything other than very smooth tarmac. Currently looking into cross climate 2s.

Suppose i'll have to live with it. Swapped the contis out for a set of dunlop sport maxx rt2 and while the comfort is improved, the humming noise is still there. Pretty much identical to this on certain kinds of pavement. Before swapping I took it to the dealers and had another tech take a gander at it. He said he couldn't identify anything out of spec: bearings, suspension components, joints, diff, nothing. Even got the car running to about 50kph on the elevator and they couldn't hear anything despite knowing precisely what noise to keep an ear out for. Guessing it's just cavity noise of low profile tyres and since I wasn't able to find anything with foam insulation on the inside of the tyre, I'll suck this one up and just crank up the music. Shame about the rest car being so quiet.

How are the noise levels on the turanzas? I'm a bit unhappy with my curent conti premium contacts due to some resonance humming which is very annoying at around 50kph and I'm considering the turanza 6. Guessing you also have the 225 fronts and 255 rears

What kind of mileage did you put on them before the noise subsided? I'm at around 1000km on the Contis and they're still loud as hell on some surfaces.

That's how I was trying to troubleshoot whether or not it's a bearing, but in my case I can't seem to notice any kind of difference during steering. Will have another visit to the shop for fitting the winter wheels to see if they are as quiet as I remember or not.

My mistake, off-axis is probably not the best way to describe it, possibly quite incorrect. The tech mentioned that the wheel is balanced, but during the balancing of the wheel they noticed a slight sideway movement. Best way to describe it is looking at the picture attached - the wheel didn't move up and down while spinning, but a tad sideways. Regarding the bearing: shouldn't the humming noise change pitch, as in get higher as the speed rises and the other way around if a bearing was involved? Mine's pretty much identical in noise to this, but at lower speeds. I'll probably get around to checking bearings as well. Also, what kind of mileage was the RX on when the bearing failed?

What wheel setup are you running? I’ve got the 225 at the front and 255 at the rear on 18s. It might be some resonance noise that gets transmittedd into the cabin. found some bmw forums mentioning a similar issue on large rims which was fixed by adding a damper to the control arms

Welp, as disappointing as this sounds, I managed to get back to the tyre shop and had some Debica Presto UHP2s fitted. Went for a short drive with a technician from there and the noise was still there, though a bit quieter. I'm guessing there's something else off, though it's quite annoying since the noise doesn't change in pitch, just volume and seems to subside at over 70-80km/h (or at least isn't that noticeable). The tech did mention that the right rear rim is spinning a bit off axis. No up and down vibration, but a slight sideways motion, so I guess I'll try finding a shop to try straightening it out. Thankfully, they were willing to take back the Debica batch without any extra cost.

I might have to retract my statement regarding the contis. Went back to the tyre shop and had a batch of presto UHP 2s fitted. Same noise, albeit a tad quieter. Starting to suspect the issue lies elsewhere.

Well that's a bummer. Called the shop I got the contis from and they'll try sending them back to the supplier for a checkup. If any come up to be defective, they'll reimburse the value for the busted one(s). I've gotten tired (pun not intended) of this entire debacle as it's wasting more time than anticipated and decided to try some budged debica presto uhp2s they had in stock while they figure out what's what with the premium contacts. They seem to be quieter and comfortable according to the owner reviews with main drawbacks being earlier wear and not as great breaking in the wet, but we'll see. Should probably have stuck with the stock turanzas for another year and avoided the hassle.

Did you end up fitting the UHP2s? I've ordered a set and was wondering what you thought of them. Cheers

I've switched to Premium Contact 6 a month ago (225 fronts, 255 rears) and I'm very disappointed with the noise - they seem to exhibit a humming of around 225hz until 70km/h or so. Fine when driving at higher speeds than that, but not for city driving. Had an inspection at the dealership, performed an alignment and nothing wrong was found with the car. Currently looking into other options even though the tires have only ~900kms driven. Asymmetric is on the list, though, as well as dunlop RT2 and, oddly enough, Debica presto UHP2.

That's the fun part which the technician also agreed to - these Contis don't really have that many complaints either, quite the contrary. Plenty of people seemed happy with them, but it's all meaningless unless the reviews and opinions come from people with the same chassis, suspension setup, tire dimensions, so on and so forth. I've been looking around the forum for suggestions and it looks like dunlop sport maxx rt2 come recommended even by is300h drivers. Those or the Eagle F1 Asymmetrics, but they seem to be in short supply around my parts, at least the rear 255s. I'd also be lying if I wouldn't admit to looking at the Debica presto uhp2 model. They seem to be a tad worse in the wet braking department, but noise wise they appear to be way quieter (68db external noise vs the current 73db on the continentals).

Short update on the issue: had an alignment done and the tech did mention that one of the rears was close to the minimum camber limit as well as adjusting the toe in on the front wheels. I might be going crazy but it seems louder now, which might make sense if the rears weren’t making full contact, which they now do, but I’m probably exaggerating since it was just 2 degrees instead of the 1.59 which he dialed in. Will look into a different set of tires.