Kaius88

The wind noise issue is iffy for me. In the beginning there was none. Then a week ago, I heard some "fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffsssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhh" coming from the A-pillar. Now that sound is gone when I drive the newly paved freeway. I wish someone would make an mp3 sample of wind noise and what to look for. I dont think im the only one thinking "i wonder if my car has this wind noise".

ES350Bob

Paj

Palm Beach is several hours from me but a good idea to get a regular on here who has a quiet car to drive mine and then post the findings.

I'll look around on the chapter forum and see what I can come up with.

Everybody who hears either the engine noise or the wind noise is shocked and even more so when I tell them Lexus claims it's all representative of an ES350 and the usual response is that is total BS you are told this is normal.

Example: A nuisance complaint of mine is the wipers rocking the car, a friend stopped over and i said check this out, he got in, turned them on and used the misting feature repeatedly as I told him.

When he got out he said the wipers are bad but WORSE is that vibration in your steering column and that engine noise, get it fixed, better yet he said call me the next time you go to service this and I'll handle all of it for you, they won't BS me he said though they will think it's you bringing the car in and will be surprised to see and deal with me...LOL...

ES350Bob

Kaius,

If you have to wonder or question whether you have a wind noise issue then you most certainly do not have it at all.

There is no wondering or questioning about it when you have it, you KNOW you have it.

toneman

I'm gonna put in my two cents worth about this whole wind issue--first off, I can hear wind noise in my ES 350 when I'm going around 50 mph or faster; less than 50--and definately below 45--I hear practically zero wind noise...road noise is another matter, but that probably has a lot to do with the Michelin tires on my vehicle. Second--while audible, the wind noise isn't deafening loud or unbearable. Third--at least the service tech at my local dealership isn't giving me the "I can't hear anything" line, so at least my complaint has been documented in my vehicle service history. Fourth--we test drove another brand-new ES 350--it had a similar level of wind noise at similar speeds as well.

Having said all that, I'll offer the following:

1) The level of wind noise that is audible might perhaps vary from vehicle to vehicle (by "vehicle" I mean specifically the ES 350), but definitely can vary depending on a person's hearing threshhold (i.e., some people can hear better than others, or pick up certain resonating frequencies better than others, etc.).

2) Given #1 above, the only valid means of determining how "loud" the cabin interior gets from wind and/or road noise is to use a sound level meter to measure the decibel level. This measurement would be taken with climate control and radio off, and elimination of any other ambient interior noise if possible (e.g., no talking), and with the meter placed in a particular position (e.g., secured next to the driver's headrest) and vehicle travelling at set speeds so as to make any comparison valid.

If your ES 350 is so quiet that you don't hear ANY wind or road noise at all (even if the wind is blowing 15 mph or more outside--after all, if the inside of your car is really that quiet, it shouldn't really matter how windy it is outside--right?), then you should be able to achieve readings similar to or lower than what Edmunds measured during their test (figures below; test done under 5 mph wind conditions):

dB @ idle: 41
dB @ 70 mph cruise: 67.5
dB @ full throttle: 74.6 (I included this one in case anyone was interested)

What amuses and frustrates me at the same time is reading posts from folks claiming that they hear practically zero wind and road noise inside their ES 350 at freeway speeds; if it's really that quiet, then a sound level reading should return dB figures in the teens...if not near zero--no? Okay, maybe not near-zero but I would think a reading in the 40's at cruising speeds isn't overly unrealistic...especially if the cabin is as quiet as those folks claim it to be.

Edit--I forgot to add that the above test is of course by no means truly scientific, given the fact that any number of outside factors could possibly influence the results of the test one way or another...but at least this test will provide raw data that's not subjective (i.e., 70 dB is 70 dB no matter who's behind the wheel).

Macklin

Tony, great post. We have a noise meter in the office. I think I will go get some comparative readings. But I need to locate the meter first...

Check that. Just found out it was a borrowed meter and was recently returned. Oh well.

MR.FG

I don't have a problem with wind noise, but I do hear a distinct tapping of the engine, no doubt about it and I have a reference point in my 1992 SC300, no tapping in it even after 167,000 miles. But it does not scram like my ES350 or get the same mileage, so for now I am not making a major complaint, could be just a design thing, I am happy with my car even though I have been snooping around the LS 460's for a few days. Those who are in the market for a 350 should look for these aforementioned concerns when they test drive the vehicle.

ES350Bob

Tone,

I think it's more that many got cars near the same value as Edmunds test and those that complain about wind noise did not. the reason I do is that I and many others would state this level of wind noise is unlike any other they have experienced, so a certain dB level would include a combo of engine, road and wind noise. An extreme measure of any one or more of the three and you get COMPLAINTS.

I can tell you that having driven 2 ES300 Lexus vehicles, my ES350 sounds like a convertable with a few holes or bad zippers in comparison at speeds over 40mph. Same against the MBC240 I drove and Hondas before all that and many other makes I have simply taken rides in.

Seems from reading your other post you were given a story about lessening drag and air stream closer in.

Like mine several times over, at least yours is documented, yet my resolution area states just normal buffeting. I was told buffeting twice, so now I say my car has excessive buffeting to dealer svc. if mentioned at all....LOL

toneman

Macklin--you can buy a decent sound level meter at your local Radio Shack for about $45...not cheap, but you could always return it once you're done with it (whoops--you didn't hear me suggest that!); I have one (bought it so that I could perform sound level adjustments for my above-average home theater setup ), and I'll take readings of my car the next chance I get. I chose to buy the analog-display one because the analog scale provides for more precise readouts, but IMHO I would think the digital one would be better suited for purposes of the test I outlined earlier in this thread--if anything because it would be easier to quickly view the results while in the vehicle.

Citylights

My ES350 has some intermittent wind noise but is generally pretty quiet. It is definitely quieter than the 2006 ES330 loaner that I drove for a couple of days. Does anyone know why the wind noise would be intermittent? At first I thought it was due to whether it was actually windy outside. But, that’s not the case. I have not been able to correlate why during certain conditions I hear wind noise and others not. Any other thoughts on this? Also, what the heck is buffeting?

toneman

ES350Bob--just that there's no misunderstanding...please don't think that I was in any way being unsympathetic or disbelieving about your wind noise saga; if anything, I'm with you...especially when I read about others who claim that they get no wind noise at all. I can tell you right now that I also get no wind noise...until I drive faster than 50 mph.

Speaking of wind noise--it's pretty windy in my area today; I estimate wind speeds around 20 mph or so...definitely windy enough that I can feel it rock my vehicle a bit while in motion. Driving in the ES today under those conditions, I was able to hear wind noise even at 40 mph; driving on the freeway at 65 mph w/ the wind blowing in a crosswind fashion, there is no way I would not be able to hear any wind noise...unless I crank the volume of the ML at least 3/4 of max volume.

Now there's a challenge--I would love to see someone claim that, even while driving 65 mph with a 20+ mph crosswind hitting their vehicle and no radio on, they get zero wind noise inside their ES 350. If so--then sorry for my skepticism but I will either call BS or that person must have pretty poor hearing.

ES350Bob

City,

The worst of the worst of my wind noise is now intermittant as a result of all my window gaskets being reset, before it was chronic so amybe your window gaskets are set similar. The remainder is a chronic wind noise above 40 to 45mph and it gets louder the faster you go.

Buffeting in car should, in my opinion, only apply to wind hitting it as in a cross wind, at times you can hear that in the car as you are driving along in a cross wind.

Dealers and Lexus are using the term to describe wind noise in the vehicle that has nothing to do with any cross winds and as a result of the use of that term offer no solution to you.

toneman

Isn't buffeting the act of partaking in a buffet?

Seriously, though--I always understood wind "buffeting" to mean a condition where an object is pushed around due to being "hit" by wind forces. IOW--if your vehicle was being affected by "wind buffeting"--you'd feel it, as well as hear it.

Citylights

In reading all the car mags regarding noise levels, the quietest car out there is supposedly the Lexus LS model.

I remember it tested in the high 30’s at idle and 63 or 64 decibels on the highway at 70 mph.

ES350Bob

Tony,

I understood, I was only pointing out that they may not be claiming their car is whisper quiet at all times, they may simply view a certain dB as normal but refer to it as quiet as we might if otherwise totally accustomed to a certain volume. Like you or I would if we drove a succession of vehicles and they were all reasonably similar as opposed to one as a standout volume from all others. My ES350 is a standout from all other vehicles where this wind noise is concerned.

Cross winds I'm used to hearing at both lower and extreme speeds, nothing you can do about those, it is the volume of wind noise absent any cross wind causing it that bothers me. Since it's both driver and passenger side of my vehicle that would be a talented cross wind or "buffeting" as the dealers like to claim to me as it can switch direction of impact...LOL

ES350Bob

I thought buffeting was when you loaded the CD player with Jimmy Buffet tunes and drove around, in my case at a volume loud enough to drown out the wind noise and engine noise <G>