Hey guys, I'm new to this forum, I have some questions maybe some of you can answer...

1. I have 17 inch chrome option rims...sounds if somethings dragging. I heard that certain tires will help reduce the noise.

2. You guys ever roll your rear windows half way while you drive? Hear strange thumping noise from the wind...thinking it may be the aerodynamics of the car.

3. Anyone know where I can get the sweet grill that looks like a filter cooler?

4. Other than gas guzzling fever, I love my GS 400!!

 

welcome to the board...interesting handle 0110101~

1. yep... that's tire noise... some tires will help get rid of that sound... I can't personally recommend any because I am more into the performance... I got michelin pilot sports and they are getting pretty darn loud now... but I like their handling.

2. that also happens when you open the sunroof while your windows are all closed... it also happens on my benz.. and my chevy... it's just normal... think of a flute... or wind instrument... the way it makes a noise is by wind flapping in and out of the hole.... those are at high frequencies... your car is huge compared to that flute and the hole (window is huge)... the thumping noise is the vibration of the wind...if the frequency were just higher, you would have a lexus musical instrument!

3. which grille? have you looked at www.rodmillenstore.com or www.gtautosports.com ? those are places i would recommend to get the grilles..

4. My gs3 eats a lot of gas for my tastes... I can only imagine the GS4...

Enjoy... hope I was of help

~manny

 

Thanks Manny for the info...

0110-101 is my plate number. It has several personal binary meanings.

 

0110101,

I also experienced that thumping noise, in fact it used to give me a headache! It was almost like a pressure build up!! What I found helps is if you crack open one of the front windows, or your sunroof tilt, the thumping will stop.

Hope that helps

C.

 

I also have 17 in stock wheel, but not the chrome one. The OEM tires (Potenza RE030) are very noisy but they grip well. I've tried Michelin Pilot XGT Z4 and they were quieter and less steering vibration. Right now I'm using Yokohama AVS dB. Compare to XGT Z4, they're stiffer, but they perform a bit better. However XGT Z4 has better snow traction. Oh, and AVS dB is much cheaper too.

 

The noise with the windows opened has been addressed on several posts, one of which I initiated, because it drives me nuts and I generally drive with my windows up because of it.

It has to do with the back of the inside of the car collecting the air and it moving around ('cause it has nowhere else to go). It was compared to the way sound is made by a flute. Search the site. You should see the explanation from someone who's more knowledgeable about this than me.

Tires - I've got the Michelin Pilots -- love 'em.

Gas guzzling -- If you wanted Honda gas mileage you should have bought one. The GS is not a light car and all that Lexus power has to come from somewhere. 3600+ pounds doesn't get moving that fast without large amounts of energy. Not sure I understand why someone would buy a 300 HP car and then have gas mileage issues.

 

Actually, for the performance available from the GS400/430 (considering it's weight and luxury appointments), the car gets excellent gas mileage. Without trying to sound as if I was around for the formation of fossil fuels, those of us who were present during the muscle car era remember cars with lots of power but lumpy low rpm performance, abysmal mileage (you don't like 15mpg?? try 5-6!!) and crap for durability (the original Z-28 with it's one hp/ cubic inch small block used to blow engines like popcorn!!).

Now we routinely have engines with one (or more) brake (not the old cheesy "gross hp" figures that were usually a) optimistic and b) measured at the flywheel with no accessory drives........NOT anything like what you really had available) horsepower, are so clean that you could nearly breathe the exhaust and are about as likely to break as an anvil. Plus handling, plus brakes that do more than suggest that the vehicle consider stopping within the county line, plus sybaritic luxury...................not to say that you can't have performance and even better fuel economy. You just don't get a big luxurious vehicle with it. Colin Chapman used to build (and Lotus still does) very lightweight, very high performance cars. But they were not luxurious and they had the annoying habit of shedding various parts with abandon. (Sorry if I have stepped on originally British toes with the Lotus comparison, Bitkahuna; I actually do love Lotus.)

IMHO, we have the best of all possible worlds!!!!! That's why we have our Lexus'.

I feel better now.

 

couldn't have said it better

 

mooretorque,

As one who also lived thru the muscle car and early sports car years, I can't agree with you more.

I owned two MGBs in the 70s and 80s and, in order to get aggressive driving capabilities, I had to live with what I called "environmental climate control" -- meaning whatever it was doing outside it was doing inside -- wind, rain, cold, heat. With a convertible top made up of a lift-off frame and detachable canvas that I had to dis-assemble and re-assemble each time I used it. Oh, yeah and a plastic rear window that became opaque after 6 months. They were great cars, but not very powerful and rather basic -- and they were still a lot of fun. They were also a hell of a lot easier for the amateur mechanic to work on.

Since then I've had an string of two-seaters, all in order to get a powerful, decent handling car that did more than get me from A to B. I was always giving up something -- like a trunk, two extra seats or reliability. The GS tops them all.

BTW, being six foot tall with "the body of a football lineman gone to seed", I've always gotten a kick out of Lotus cars...I just can't fit in them. Last time I got into the driver's seat of a Europa I literally wedged myself in and then there was no way I could drive the thing. I had no room to move and the steering wheel was jammed between my knees.

Today I get in my GS400, with great seats, room for friends, about all the luxury features I need, enough power to keep me happy, fairly good handling with the stock components (I'll move up to L-Tuned in the GS430 I'm, getting in June) and it stays in one piece. I love this machine.

Marty

 

Realmarty, I learned how to drive in a 58 MGA that my dad had had since new! Plastic sliding sidewindows, wire knockoffs......hey, we had am AM radio!! Primitive but what a great car to learn to drive in........glad to hear you, too, learned to worship Lucas, the Prince of English Electrical Darkness. Simple to work on, fun to drive, not a ton of performance..........life was great!!!!

But it's WAY better now! Thanks for jogging my memories!!

 

Lucas, Prince of Darkness...

I can't tell you how many times that phase came to mind (e.g. That #$%!&*@ Lucas (fill in the part). The Prince of Darkness F****ed me again) as I sat in my dead car estimating the walk to the nearest phone.

It really is difficult to fathom how they got away with that kind of reliability (not just Lucas, but they were among the worst...I also remember my Dad's 57 Dodge also being a constant repair headache)

Hey, it seems fun to remember that now as I simply turn the key and drive off in my GS.


Marty

 

Realmarty, you of course know why the Brits drink warm beer???

Lucas builds their refridgerators.

There are days, though, when I miss the sounds of that gearbox (straight cut gears) and that unique smell. You know, Lexus is sort of the embodiment to me (these days) of the old Jaguar phrase : "Grace , space, pace." (Which should have included "and oil, an extra case, and a few spanners with which to replace") Speaking of which, an old V12 E-type coupe was at a stoplight next to me this AM; I rolled the windows down, opened the sunroof and jumped off the line a bit when it changed just to goose him a bit. Sure enough, he nailed it...........I let him go because I just wantedto hear that sound and man, was it glorious!!!!

But I sure love to hear the Lexus inline 6 and big V8, too. L-tuned mufflers soon!!

 

There's a technical term for that thumping noise and it has something to do with the difference in air pressures between the inside and outside, someone explained it a while ago on this board.. It happens in a lot of vehicles and isn't isolated to the GS

-Chris Y.