Seeking Insights on Mysterious Front Tire Noise

[Pooria]

Hello Lexus Club members!

I hope you're all doing well!

I've had my Lexus UX250 for a few weeks now, and overall, I'm thrilled with it. However, there's one thing that has been on my mind. I've been noticing a low noise coming from what seems to be the front tires, especially when I'm driving at low speeds on flat surfaces like parking lots, and it becomes more noticeable when I'm making turns. My car is equipped with 18" Dunlop run-flat tires. I know that run-flat tires tend to be a bit noisier in general, but I'm not entirely convinced that the noise I'm hearing is solely due to that. It's peculiar because it seems to follow a rhythmic pattern, like a pulsating sound that comes and goes in a consistent cycle.

I did take my car to Halfords for an inspection, and I also recently had a full service performed at a Lexus centre. Unfortunately, neither of them could identify any issues.

One observation I made is that the front and rear tires have different tread depths. Could this variation in tread depth be contributing to the noise issue? Or do any of you have alternative ideas or suggestions regarding what might be causing this noise?

Here are the tread depth measurements for reference:

Off-side front tire: 4/3/4
Near-side front tire: 4/3/4
Near-side rear tire: 6/5.5/5.5
Off-side rear tire: 6/5.5/6

I'd greatly appreciate any insights or advice you might have. Thanks in advance!

[Bezzer]

Front and rear depth will be different on a front heavy, front wheel drive car. That can make a noise difference, you could swop front and rears to see if it’s the same, dunno about the TPMS having to be reset though.

[fourbanks]

 i have the same tyres as yours and to me, they are just like normal tyres.  If your dealer thinks all is good, then I would just go to another Lexus dealer for piece of mind. 

Do not go to dealers such as Halfords as an unapproved dealer of touching the car could invalidate your warranty 

[Lmafudd]

I have moaned on here before that the UX is particularly tyre noisy. I am having Hancooks fitted tomorrow to see if I can improve this tiring (joke) situation! I will report back tomorrow.

 

[rayaans]

Its probably just the tyres

different tyres make different noises. Different tyres of exactly the same tyre brand and model make different noises sometimes too. 

[stepppy]

This may be an odd comment, but it’s not the pedestrian noise generator that you can hear that is maybe amplifying the tyre noise?  That is a rhythmic sound audible at low speeds when the engine is off. 
 

[nivlem]

I think its just the characteristic of run flat tyres. 

[Don C]

It isn’t unusual as stated above but does it feed any vibration up to the steering wheel?

[ALAW]

6 hours ago, Lmafudd said:

I have moaned on here before that the UX is particularly tyre noisy. I am having Hancooks fitted tomorrow to see if I can improve this tiring (joke) situation! I will report back tomorrow.

 

Be interesting what you report Charles. I did a bit of research the other week looking at the various makes and the respective noise ratings. A Yokahama think it was a vectus had a low db.

[ALAW]

7 hours ago, Pooria said:

Hello Lexus Club members!

I hope you're all doing well!

I've had my Lexus UX250 for a few weeks now, and overall, I'm thrilled with it. However, there's one thing that has been on my mind. I've been noticing a low noise coming from what seems to be the front tires, especially when I'm driving at low speeds on flat surfaces like parking lots, and it becomes more noticeable when I'm making turns. My car is equipped with 18" Dunlop run-flat tires. I know that run-flat tires tend to be a bit noisier in general, but I'm not entirely convinced that the noise I'm hearing is solely due to that. It's peculiar because it seems to follow a rhythmic pattern, like a pulsating sound that comes and goes in a consistent cycle.

I did take my car to Halfords for an inspection, and I also recently had a full service performed at a Lexus centre. Unfortunately, neither of them could identify any issues.

One observation I made is that the front and rear tires have different tread depths. Could this variation in tread depth be contributing to the noise issue? Or do any of you have alternative ideas or suggestions regarding what might be causing this noise?

Here are the tread depth measurements for reference:

Off-side front tire: 4/3/4
Near-side front tire: 4/3/4
Near-side rear tire: 6/5.5/5.5
Off-side rear tire: 6/5.5/6

I'd greatly appreciate any insights or advice you might have. Thanks in advance!

Pooria Run flats are the noisier tire saying that we are told the Dunlop is the quieter of most makes. It could maybe be the electric drive motor you are hearing ?

[Jon Dee]

May be irrelevant, but I did have a strange wah... wah... wah... wah... noise in my BM when I first got it. Was most noticeable when slowing under light braking when approaching an intersection, and could not really be heard at higher road speeds. I picked it as a bad wheel bearing and an experienced euro car mechanic that I took for a ride in the car tended to agree, although he did mention that it could be something to do with the tyres.  

While I was waiting for a set of (damn expensive) wheel bearing/hubs to arrive, I bought a second set of wheels for the car. And because they had better looking tyres on them, I swapped them onto the car. You guessed it... not only did the noise disappear, but the ride improved as well !!!! Cheap and nasty tyres were the problem. I still have those wheel bearings sitting in the garage to remind me to investigate properly before pulling the trigger on parts  

Cheers...

[Pooria]

2 hours ago, Jon Dee said:

May be irrelevant, but I did have a strange wah... wah... wah... wah... noise in my BM when I first got it. Was most noticeable when slowing under light braking when approaching an intersection, and could not really be heard at higher road speeds. I picked it as a bad wheel bearing and an experienced euro car mechanic that I took for a ride in the car tended to agree, although he did mention that it could be something to do with the tyres.  

While I was waiting for a set of (damn expensive) wheel bearing/hubs to arrive, I bought a second set of wheels for the car. And because they had better looking tyres on them, I swapped them onto the car. You guessed it... not only did the noise disappear, but the ride improved as well !!!! Cheap and nasty tyres were the problem. I still have those wheel bearings sitting in the garage to remind me to investigate properly before pulling the trigger on parts  

Cheers...

I believe my situation is quite similar to yours, even though the tires are neither worn nor of low quality.

[Jon Dee]

2 minutes ago, Pooria said:

I believe my situation is quite similar to yours, even though the tires are neither worn nor of low quality.

I never got to the discover the root cause of the noise, but I have a theory that it was possibly due to the tyre being under-inflated or slightly out of round. Road noise generated by tyres is partially caused by air being squeezed out of the tread when moving... similar to the way that water is expelled from the contact patch on a wet road. 

If you wanted to experiment you could try temporarily putting an extra 5psi in the front tyres to change the shape of the contact patch. Then drive over a piece of road where you usually notice the sound, and see if there is any change. 

Cheers...

[Cotswold Pete]

Run flats of any kind have stiffer sidewalls, and that will ensure reaction to road surfaces that passes more readily up into the running gear.

I would think harder inflation will make it worse (possibly) and running at lower pressure will change the noise as more tread in contact with road.

I have noticed around my way some roads (and one or two car parks) just make a wierd noise not really sure why, andsince moving from LS400 to Merc E350 that this different surfaces excite each car differently.

However on a 'smooth as a baby's backside' sort of road always felt like any tyre I had on whatever car (including the wifes Honda/Jag/Mazda) the noises were not there.

But it always bugged me to have odd noises coz the cabin of a LS or E350 is quite in the first place so subtle road noises seem to reach even my deaf old ears

[Roger Bill]

On 9/7/2023 at 4:26 PM, Pooria said:

it becomes more noticeable when I'm making turns.

This could be a clue to the cause being brake disc pads rubbing on the discs. Cornering causes the disc calipers and pads to move a little and come into closer contact with the disc. This causes a rhythmic rubbing sound especially if the discs have worn or there's a rusty ridge around the outer circumferential edge or the car has been standing for a few days and a light coat of rust has formed on the surface of the discs. If you take the wheels off you can easily check the discs. If there's a ridge around their edge it can often be scrapped or filed off or if it's surface rust on the disc (check both inside and outside surfaces of the disc) some high speed heavy braking will usually restore the finish. But if the working surface of the disc is pitted, braking efficiency may be reduced and new discs maybe required. Now that asbestos can't be used in disc pads, discs tend to wear more. Also wheel the car is jacked up try rocking the wheel holding the top and bottom to see if there's any noticeable play in the wheel bearings as worn wheel bearings will cause the wheel to lean while cornering but worn wheel bearings usually exhibit a very noticeable low pitch groaning noise.

[Clealboy]

On 9/7/2023 at 4:26 PM, Pooria said:

Hello Lexus Club members!

I hope you're all doing well!

I've had my Lexus UX250 for a few weeks now, and overall, I'm thrilled with it. However, there's one thing that has been on my mind. I've been noticing a low noise coming from what seems to be the front tires, especially when I'm driving at low speeds on flat surfaces like parking lots, and it becomes more noticeable when I'm making turns. My car is equipped with 18" Dunlop run-flat tires. I know that run-flat tires tend to be a bit noisier in general, but I'm not entirely convinced that the noise I'm hearing is solely due to that. It's peculiar because it seems to follow a rhythmic pattern, like a pulsating sound that comes and goes in a consistent cycle.

I did take my car to Halfords for an inspection, and I also recently had a full service performed at a Lexus centre. Unfortunately, neither of them could identify any issues.

One observation I made is that the front and rear tires have different tread depths. Could this variation in tread depth be contributing to the noise issue? Or do any of you have alternative ideas or suggestions regarding what might be causing this noise?

Here are the tread depth measurements for reference:

Off-side front tire: 4/3/4
Near-side front tire: 4/3/4
Near-side rear tire: 6/5.5/5.5
Off-side rear tire: 6/5.5/6

I'd greatly appreciate any insights or advice you might have. Thanks in advance!