E46CT

I wonder if they'll do this new NX like the old one. On the old one, people complained about noise, then for the mid-cycle refresh, they claim to make numerous enhancements for NVH. It almost seems planned at this point.

mbezzo

Hearing is VERY subjective and our ears are even better at adapting to the current volume levels (aka normalizing quiet sounds in a quiet room to sound roughly equivalent when in a louder room etc.) - unless people are measuring the noise with a decibel meter, it's basically impossible to objectively compare the road noise between vehicles...

That being said, our 22 450h+ with the OEM 20" run flats is pretty quiet. No qualms anyway. Of course, it highly depends on the road surface - older concrete roads are significantly louder than newer blacktop...

If people have decibel meters (mobile apps would work!) you'd have to drive both vehicles on the exact same road, in the exact same PART of the road (the main road "ruts" are almost always more worn and will make more noise than the smother "edges" of the lane outside of the ruts...) at the exact same speed... with no HVAC fan running... and then you'll get a ballpark of where they stand.

Without doing this, it's all just wild speculation...

LexusQ

I noticed the sound from the tires also. I get what sounds like a person blowing in the top of a beer bottle… if that makes sense. Just very dull and consistent. I thought it might be noise from roof rails, but seems like it’s the tires. Maybe it’s just the beer…

LilyTiger

I saw this thread in the RX forums and wondered if we can lower our tire pressure.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...-pressure.html

Would that work for us? I haven’t checked the recommended tire pressure for the NX but my pressures range from 39-41.

Aloha808

I took delivery of a NX350h base today, I was actually surprised by how quiet it was. I was expecting the road noise to be bad based on the reviews. I guess each to their own but I didn't think it was bad at all and commented to my partner how it was very quite. Sure highway acceleration in a German sounds smoother on acceleration but driving at speed its quite good. Maybe things have drastically improved over the last 15 years creating differing expectations but road noise isn't anywhere near as bad as my 2007 BMW 3 series which was well maintained with new suspension despite its age. Maybe when I add the roof racks the sound will get worse but most people are not going to be upset with this. Maybe if you're coming from a top trim BMW like a 7 series or something similar but for the average person I'd be surprised if its bad unless your driving on groved concrete highways which are always loud.

Freds430

Our 2023 NX 350h is quiet not as much as my 2017 RX 450h but it is fine. Alex on Autos on YouTube gave it a A- on cabin noise.

JasDmw

They have mine in right now and are road testing it. I have a '23 NX 350 FSport loaner and it's not as noisy as mine is, so there is something amiss.

Surprisingly though, I did not notice much tire noise in the FSport. I thought the run flats would be a lot louder than they are. I'm having mine swapped on today as well so I'll see first hand what the tire noise might or might not be.

mbezzo

Yeah, definitely something to play around with - the lower the pressure the (usually) quieter, more traction, smoother ride, at the cost of gas mileage... likewise, higher pressures can lead to more tire "hum", harsher ride, BUT better gas mileage... I keep mine around 38-39 (20" wheels with OEM run flats) and it seems to be a good balance.

LilyTiger

Awesome, thanks! How much do you think I’d need to lower it to notice a difference? Will there be any noticeable difference with 5psi or so?

mbezzo

I'd try about 2psi steps - 5 is kind of a lot! And for gas mileage - it'll take a few hundred miles at least before you'll be able to tell... but hopefully noise/ride should be noticeable pretty quick (but we're talking about really small changes here!)

SgtLip

Honestly, I haven't even looked at the door jamb or the gauges to see what they have in them.

I'm replacing the Run Flats so I could care less if they wear early or even wear out. The Run Flats make me feel like Fred Flintstone driving around with his rock wheels.

LilyTiger

Curious to know what y’all’s tire pressure is at. Looked at the door jamb and recommended is 33psi. Delivered with 40psi. Assuming it comes from factory like this to prevent flat spots?

Droid13

Mine are still around 38-39psi, as it was the day it was delivered to me a month ago. But for the past 15+ yrs driving hybrids I always kept the tire pressures on the high side to eek out that extra 0.005mpg so I'm very used to driving hard tires. So even though I elected to go with the turbo model where fuel economy is obviously not the top of the checklist, it really hasn't been a priority to me to adjust them down a bit. One day...

SgtLip

UPDATE!!
I looked at mine last night. The vehicle has been parked for over 36 hours (letting the ceramic coating cure). The sticker inside the driver door states 33 PSI. I looked at the Lexus app and saw 3 tires are at 33 PSI and one tire is 32 PSI.

dklanecky1

As a Motorcycle rider with nearly 100,000 miles ridden, I can tell you that the single biggest difference in road noise (that an owner can control) is the tires.

You would be shocked at the difference in road noise at speed (65-80mph) based on the different tires people have on their vehicles. I'm usually in the right lane with the cruise set at 65-70, and as vehicles pass, the noise difference is stunning.

Now if I could just figure out how to read the tire brand information at 65-80 mph, I could tell you which ones are the quietest. In the absence of this skill, I'd suggest using tire rating sites and pick the quietest, if that's the trait you value the most.