sTWO

Anyone who's been frustrated with rattles in their GS will know what I'm talking about.

I've been experiencing heavy rattling noise coming from the dashboard for almost a year now. I tried personal fixes, such as felt padding, etc. and the noise simply won't go away.

After that, I decided to try Lexus Service. After taking it back and forth a few times, it appeared they finally fixed it. For days all I heard was a very light rattle, which was tolerable. Then all of a sudden the rattle came back in full force again.

Not to mention that in addition to the dashboard rattle, there's also a gentler moonroof rattle that is almost as vexing.

Why does a $50,000 car have rattles that should only be found in a $10,000 car?

It's been very frustrating to say the least that a company like Lexus would have done such a poor job with this. I'd have expected something like this from an American car company, but not from a Japanese.

Any suggestions would be appreciated,

meanboy

My cheapie corolla has less rattles then my gs3. I don't know why and the dealer cannot seem to hear it. But I am going to try again in a couple of weeks. I have to find the road that makes it sound the worse and make sure they go on it.

I have the rattle since day one so don't feel bad.

GlobeCLK

iTrader: (5)

sometimes a problem goes away when you are within a 2-mile radius around your dealer...... it just disappears!

Well I've never had any rattles in my car. I only get some windnoise. Maybe record it?

Lextacy400

iTrader: (3)

No matter how much you pay for a car you are going to have some IMPERFECTIONS. I know where you are coming from because I had problems with my GS. I just learned to deal with it. My solution = TURN THE MUSIC UP!!

GS4Man

I had both of the issues in my GS400 (doesn't everyone?). I just kept on the dealership and they fixed both of them. I took me 2 trips. I would mention that a guy who goes to Lexus Carlsbad had the problems fixed, so why can't they get it done. I also was getting a ticking sound when pulling the wheel to an extreme left or right and returning to center. I mentioned this to the dealer and they fixed it ... a broken or unseated spring in the steering wheel assembly. You tend to only hear negative stuff on these boards about dealers ... Bottom line, Lexus Carlsbad has consistently been all over any nit picking issue I have had, and resolved it quickly. I have not had to really ***** about anything, just mention it !

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

One comment on rattles/noises - they're often temperature related. I had 'creaky' passenger door trim, but it was only bad when it was warm. They did fix it eventually, which was great.

meanboy

My rattles happen whether it's cold or hot. The temperature doesn't vary much here. The bad thing is that the rattle doesn't happen on all surfaces. That makes it hard to repair and I understand that. But my cd display went out when the weather was cold six months ago. It came back after the car interior warmed up.

It's true no car is perfect and the JD powers survey and the rest of those surveys reflect that.

We had a 95 LS400 with 50k miles on it and the driver seat squeaked but the rest of the car was solid. And it's the quietest car I have been in. The GS really doesn't compare...especially at freeway speeds. You don't have to turn up the music to rid the car of any noises because there aren't any! Handling? That's a whole different issue.

redgs4

I have a 98, the squeaks and rattles are driving me crazy! The sunroof has gotten particularly bad in the last few months -- I'm embarrassed to have people in the car. I'm well past the dealer coverage for annoying noises, so I picked up the manuals and I'll try to get rid of them myself over the X-mas break.

Kaban

Trade your GS in for a LS430 Ultra package, your won't be disappointed.

Juan C. Cos

Man, I thought I was the only one!!! My car rattles like a Yugo since day 1, and the only dealer in town wasn't any help after numerous attempts (other than staining my floor mats). Talking about temp. rattles, just today I got a new one around my door (plus the usual sunroof, console, and glove box). Ah, and talk about crossing railroad tracks: it sounds like the darn car is going to break in half: embarrassing, to say the least.
Well, I just live with them, but I definitely feel cheated too. My (new) 98 LS400 was even worse, to the point I had to sell it at a huge loss (wife couldn't stand it anymore).
I'm a little scared to keep this car after my warranty expires in a month, but I've had it losing my butt on trades (only 12K miles on this one too), so I'm going to keep it and hope for the best.
My next car will be a convertible, but I'm leaning on a vette (vs an SC) because its simplicity, especially after warranty.

GS4Will

i am at my 3rd lex, the GS4, and only this one had slight rattle in the golve compartment. actually it was my fav tech guy from the dealership who heard it while we were testing driving for rough idle. i was kind of surprised that i did not even hear that until he mentioned; plus, he is very critical when it comes to finding unnecessary noise...his remedy: new injector head and some parts for the compartment. now i hear only 18" tyre noise...

meanboy

I'll probably end up keeping the GS until I can afford a 911. I'll buy a little four door to tool around in and drive the 911 the rest of the time. I am thinking about the 1996 and up because they are watercooled. Anyone have any favorite years? If so, what are your reasons? I liked the classic look much better then the latest ones but they are watercooled so give them their props!

sTWO

Juan,

Believe me, you're not the only one. This is poor craftsmanship on the part of Lexus.

I completely agree - it is embarassing. I also feel like I've been cheated too, like thinking you're buying gold but it turns out to be fool's gold.

I would consider a different car besides the corvette if you want to avoid rattles, because I know someone with one and they have some serious problems with rattles, possibly even worse than the GS.

That being said, I would go with a German car - either Mercedes or BMW. Despite the fact that they have their own problems, they can actually be traced, unlike these rattles if you know what I mean. I'm even actually considering trading in my car at a loss too, but for many other problems than just the rattles.

Good luck with your new car,

theanimala

I feel very lucky, the only rattle I had was my sunroof rattle. It slowly became very bad, to the point that was all I could hear, even with the radio turned up loud. After numerous attempts at the dealer, they finally (and reluctantly) replaced the entire sunroof and mechanicals. The sounds disappeared.

Now if I could only get rid of my balance/alignment problems which cause shaking at high speeds...

Yoda

Are rattles covered under warranty? I just bought a 98 GS300 which still has about 7 months on the factory warranty. I have identified 3 areas that rattle, 2 of which I can live with. The glove box and moonroof rattles are minor. The formed plastic piece around the instrumentation panels is TERRIBLE! I find myself driving with my hand on the plastic just to keep it from rattling.

Another issue I have is after I drive the car and shut it off, there is a constant fluttering/ticking coming from under the car for about 6-8 minutes as the car cools. After looking at it, it appears to be coming from the exhaust pipe. It is quite loud and sounds like a bird is caught in there. I know that all cars make some noise as the parts cool but nothing like this. I'm going to have it looked at next week when I get the oil changed, but I was wondering if anyone else experiences this noise.