IS300h Fsport bad road noise --help!!

John Fox · July 3, 2017

Recently acquired an IS300h FSport, and for the most part enjoying the car apart from one thing - road noise on the motorway is bad.

The car came with worn Potenzas at the rear, so I'm thinking any new tyre would be an improvement?

With the 255 width tyre, there is not a lot of choice, and a lot of conflicting views on the what's available, so I thought I'd put it to the forum here:

Qustion: What is the quietest 255/35r18 rear F Sport tyre available?

C Mclean · July 3, 2017

Put your sizes into various dealers like Kwik Fit and see what comes up in the db specs. You might get lucky. BTW watch out for the prices, checked online at Kwik Fit for tyres and the price was £101.86 fitted and balanced, but the actual depot in Belfast had the price at £124.75.

C Andrew Green · July 3, 2017

32 minutes ago, C Mclean said:

BTW watch out for the prices, checked online at Kwik Fit for tyres and the price was £101.86 fitted and balanced, but the actual depot in Belfast had the price at £124.75.

I've found the same with both Merityre and with ATS Euromaster, I assume it's cheaper as they have your money for a few days between booking and fitting as you have to pay up front. If you're buying online I would suggest that you visually check what tyres they're going to fit BEFORE they fit them as ATS fitted 'equivalent' tyres to my Mazda (admittedly only budget tyres) due to no stock of the ordered tyres. Bought online a few times with Merityres with no problem however. I tried BlackCircles.com once but they use crappy back street garages as tyre fitters. My brother swears by Event Tyres (not sure but they may be a franchise operation?) and has used them for several years, they're a mobile service (and you pay on completion) and come to your work or wherever with a fully equipped van. Had my last couple of tyre fittings done by them at competitive prices as has another guy at work with no problems at all.

Andrew

Edited July 3, 2017 by C Andrew Green
you're not your

J Henderson · July 3, 2017

The thing about those EU decibel ratings though, is that the sound level is measured from outside the car, not inside.

Quote

Testing Noise Emission

This test is done to find out the external noise of a tyre in decibels (dB).

The actual test consists of a microphone being set up on the edge of a track to measure the sound level of a test vehicle - the mircophone is required to be 7.5m from the centre of the track at sit at 1.2m above the ground. When passing, the vehicle must be travelling at 50 mph with the engine turned off for the test to be valid.

Plus other things like how the tyre is constructed, the tread pattern etc can all have an effect on the frequency of noise that's transmitted into the cabin, so it's not quite black & white. Dunlop & Goodyear tyres consistently have low dB ratings but you still hear people complaining that those are noisy.

My last set of tyres were Hankook S1 evo 2 with a dB rating of 72. Pretty average you might think, but they were actually very very quiet and comfortable. My car now has a different brand (Michelin), also rated at 72dB and they are by far the loudest tyres I've ever had. Probably because they're more performance-orientated and have much stiffer sidewalls and tread blocks on the shoulders.

200h · July 3, 2017

on paper i think these are the best tyre based on

fuel economy

wet braking

road noise

https://www.kwik-fit.com/tyres/search/details/goodyear/eagle-f1-asymmetric-3/t1014434

Britprius · July 3, 2017

I had an IS300H as a loan car with only 80 miles on the clock while my GS450H was having recall work done. I liked the IS in almost every respect, but the road noise. At anything above 50 mph I could not hear what my passenger was saying. I was very disappointed, and it was enough to put me off the car completely.

John.

200h · July 3, 2017

it probably had yokohamas fitted they are noisey as hell ,glad to get rid of mine

rayaans · July 3, 2017

Don't have any excessive road noise on my wifes Turanzas

Go for Dunlop sport maxx RT or goodyear eagle f1s they're pretty quiet

Steve44 · July 4, 2017

The Dunlop SportMaxx that are factory fitted to mine now are pretty good.

I had Continental Sport Contact 5 on the rear of my previous Fsport and they weren't bad, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 were very good.

Factory fit Bridgestones were rubbish but they lasted for ever!

John Fox · July 4, 2017

Thank you all for you very helpful responces.

This is where it gets tricky. Steve44 you say the PS4 are very very good, yet J Henderson says that the Michelins he had are the loudest tyres he's ever used :(

So far suggrestions are:

Hankook S1 evo 2

Dunlop sport maxx RT

Goodyear Eagle F1s

Can we all agree that the Bridgestone Potenzas that come with the car are noisey?

J Henderson, you didn't go to school in DIT, by any chance?

Steve44 · July 4, 2017

23 minutes ago, John Fox said:

Thank you all for you very helpful responces.

This is where it gets tricky. Steve44 you say the PS4 are very very good, yet J Henderson says that the Michelins he had are the loudest tyres he's ever used :(

So far suggrestions are:

Hankook S1 evo 2

Dunlop sport maxx RT

Goodyear Eagle F1s

Can we all agree that the Bridgestone Potenzas that come with the car are noisey?

J Henderson, you didn't go to school in DIT, by any chance?

True - but J henderson didn't say which Michelins or which 3rd Gen IS model he drove - his profile shows a IS250 from 2011 which is the previous generation!

For added complication, both my FSports had/have Adaptive suspension (AVS), so aren't as firm as non-adaptive ones and thus may have an impact on perceived noise.

I can agree the Bridgestones were very noisey generally, but they did last for ever - I got 50k out of the rears and 70k out of the fronts! However, tarmac quality has the biggest impact on noise, more than any tyre. drive on the continent in france and you'll see which tyres are worse. Also the dB ratings on the tyre are measured from the outside of the vehicle as it drives past at a fixed speed/distance. It can only be taken with a pinch of salt if it translates to a quieter time in the cabin, though common sense would say it should be!

Be careful with some of the square shouldered models of tyre (Conti SC5, Mich PS4 etc) as on the rears on the FSport, the inner edges wear much quicker due to the camber on the rear wheels. All the factory fit tyres have a much more rounded shoulder and profile. Also good luck trying to find tyres with the same load/speed ratings, the IS uses some strange figures for this as standard and getting aftermarket models with the same setup can be tricky, if that thing is important to you.

John Fox · July 4, 2017

Thanks for responding Steve.

I'm down to either PS4 or Eagle F1 3:

https://www.oponeo.ie/details-tyre/michelin-pilot-sport-4-255-35-r18-94-y-xl-zr#148253923

https://www.oponeo.ie/details-tyre/goodyear-eagle-f1-asymmetric-3-255-35-r18-94-y-xl-fp#147964925

Which do you reckon would be quieter?

J Henderson · July 4, 2017

Haha yeah, my situation isn't really applicable here...My car is a 2nd-gen, on 19's and the Michelins I have are Pilot Super Sports.

In my earlier post I was just throwing it out there that a tyre with a low dB rating may not necessarily be quiet, or vice-versa.

rayaans · July 4, 2017

2 hours ago, John Fox said:

Thank you all for you very helpful responces.

This is where it gets tricky. Steve44 you say the PS4 are very very good, yet J Henderson says that the Michelins he had are the loudest tyres he's ever used :(

So far suggrestions are:

Hankook S1 evo 2

Dunlop sport maxx RT

Goodyear Eagle F1s

Can we all agree that the Bridgestone Potenzas that come with the car are noisey?

J Henderson, you didn't go to school in DIT, by any chance?

Dunlop Sport maxx RT and Goodyear are the ones to go for.

The Potenzas are noisy but the Turanzas aren't. I got a puncture in the sidewall and dealer couldnt get hold of Turanza so I now have 3 Turanzas and 1 Potenza.

No issue with excessive road noise though and I drive an RX as well. Would have noticed if it was excessive

olliesgrandad · July 5, 2017

23 hours ago, rayaans said:

Dunlop Sport maxx RT and Goodyear are the ones to go for.

The Potenzas are noisy but the Turanzas aren't. I got a puncture in the sidewall and dealer couldnt get hold of Turanza so I now have 3 Turanzas and 1 Potenza.

No issue with excessive road noise though and I drive an RX as well. Would have noticed if it was excessive

I would be very careful if you have a Potenza on with the Turanza. They have a different wet weather rating and are a generic model tyre whereas the Turanza is a dedicated Lexus fitment. I was in this row only 2 weeks ago when my insurance company repairers fitted a Potenza with my 3 Turanza.

. My insurers made them find and fit a new Turanza because of the safety issue.

John Fox · July 5, 2017

Ordered 4 * Eagle F1 3s.

FWIW, will let you guys know how it works out...

MONTIMAR · July 5, 2017

Auto Express are running a special report on which tyres are best for your car in the next issue Wed 12 TH July. They cover noise levels as well as grip and wear so it might be worth a read.

paulrnx · July 13, 2017

On 7/5/2017 at 2:31 PM, John Fox said:

Ordered 4 * Eagle F1 3s.

FWIW, will let you guys know how it works out...

Good choice imo John

paulrnx · July 13, 2017

I found my IS250 F-Sport to have terrible road noise to be honest. The car was so refined in all other respects that the amount of road noise was so out of character. Broken, pock-marked B roads were particularly deafening. Went round corners pretty well as I recall even if you couldn't really feel any loss of front-end grip through the artificially heavy steering, Suspect that after a succession of sports oriented models I've now reached an age where comfort matters more which perhaps says more about me than the cars themselves!

rayaans · July 13, 2017

I sometimes wonder if we drive different cars.

Ive driven my wife's IS300H on oem tyres at stupid speeds admittedly on the motorway and have not noticed any excessive road noise. Let's not forget that my car is a 4th gen RX450H which is certainly eerily quiet even at motorway speeds so I think I would know a little about road noise.

I can only imagine it's down to tyres or pressure mainly.

paulrnx · July 14, 2017

More likely down to personal opinion rather than tyre pressures surely? We're all different. I always felt mine was road surface sensitive. On smooth tarmac it was whisper quiet but on concrete motorways and top dressed country roads it was deafening. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but it was significant enough to spoil the car for me but again this is possibly me and my ears.

rayaans · July 14, 2017

5 hours ago, paulrnx said:

More likely down to personal opinion rather than tyre pressures surely? We're all different. I always felt mine was road surface sensitive. On smooth tarmac it was whisper quiet but on concrete motorways and top dressed country roads it was deafening. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but it was significant enough to spoil the car for me but again this is possibly me and my ears.

Well yes, it is road surface dependent but its never got to the point where I've actually noticed it.... and I do tend to pick up the smallest of sounds in a car.

paulrnx · July 17, 2017

On 7/14/2017 at 5:53 PM, rayaans said:

Well yes, it is road surface dependent but its never got to the point where I've actually noticed it.... and I do tend to pick up the smallest of sounds in a car.

So do I. Just different people with different perceptions and different levels of what is acceptable or not I would think.

chris_fletcher · July 17, 2017

My IS300H Premier had Yokohamas on it and I am with Rayaans on this. I never thought tehre was excessive road noise. Infact, compared to the CT200 I had before it was quite and much more refined. Having just, last week, changed to a gen4 RX450H F Sport I can alos agree with Rayaans that it is eerily quiet. At 70mph there is not a hint of wind noise and road noise is only noticeable on the rougher surfaces. On smooth tarmac you could be doing 20mph for all the noise you can hear. Now thats what I like in a car :-)