Road Noise

[Adam M]

2005 Rav 4 Cruiser 4 door - since new it's done this, possibly worse now than when we got it though. I don't drive it much.

The problem we have with it is a whirring sound coming from the back of the car. Kind of a 'whir-whir-whir-whir' noise, a bit like what you get with a 4x4 with off-road tyres. My wife (it's her car) asked Toyota to look at it during the last service, they told her it's because it has 'lumpy tyres'. It's on the original tyres, unless by lumpy they mean deformed I think they're bluffing her... tempted to take it to a tyre place and get them to have a peek - anyone else experience this? Or is it 'normal' for noise on that model Rav?

[pinzvidz]

The first thing you should be doing is rotating tyres rear to front, if the noise transfers to the front, then the tyres are obviously causing the noise. Otherwise, you might have a shot wheel bearing or something along those lines. I wouldn't be surprised if it's tyres, a lot of RAVs from that era have noisy tyres.

[Adam M]

Just a follow up - we took it to a tyre shop, he said "yep, it's lumpy tyres, and it's caused by worn out shock absorbers". The car is still under warranty, I'm now a little cranky at Toyota; the tyre shop guy said straight off that it was worn out shocks, and was really definite that was the cause... surely Toyota should have known that too? To my mind, if they had any integrity, they should have offered to check the suspension when we complained about the road noise in the first place... they knew the tyres were lumpy, they should have known the cause...

I guess the battle with Toyota is about to begin. Wish me luck...

[bozurolla]

When i was working for Toyota as an service advisor last year (or so)i was told by my workshop chief mechanic Rav 4's were notorious for road noise,Every Rav that came in i personally drove to find if this the case as I was in the market to buy one & wanted to find out any discrepencies with these type of cars (small all wheel drive suv's).

Differential noise have never been the case but to eliminate this I had recommended & used a differential additives from Redline & Penrite oils,on the next service some of my customers but some came back & still complained about persisting 'road noise'

After the initial check over (shockie check,wheel bearings etc which I perosnally involved myself in) I can say a majority of Rav's have noisey tyres (apperently its the wheel base geometry combined with the low factory height) & this is worsened by deep tread 4WD tyres that arent factory endorsed.

Very rarely are bearings & shocks at fault,as bearings on the newer Rav's are one piece units now & theyre made to be 'unservicable', as for shockies on a 2005 youre shocks should be just coming outta puberty unless your constantly go bush bashing,pull heavy loads ,city terrain should not wear shocks but worn shocks shouldve been picked up on the pre service check ups.either by oil leaking (drip or weeping) regrettably this can be missed by technicians.

Bring this up with Toyota,Your car's still in warranty so get the shocks changed over first then get them to do a undercarriage check again,maybe have you or your wife present with the technician/manager when you drive the car (before n after service)this covers u if the whirring occurs & having them there makes your case valid.

Good luck

[Adam M]

Thanks for your reply bozurolla - it's encouraging to hear that it's unlikely to be caused by something significant like bearings or diff. In our case the car has never been off road, and only towed twice in its life. It's on the original tyres, and if you run your hand over the inside of the tyre you can feel the tread is really scallaped, big hollow dips, it's quite bad on the passenger side rear. The tyre shop guy said that's caused by the wheel bouncing up and down as the car is travelling along, which in turn is caused by a faulty shock absorber. It's kind of difficult to work out which one as the tyres have been rotated during servicing. The tyre shop guy was very definite about it, he said the only way to cure the noise was to replace the tyres, but there was no point doing that until the root cause was fixed. I guess Toyota are (should be?) the experts, maybe there's another possible cause... I guess we'll see what they say. If they say not suspension, I'll take it to Pedders; they offer a free suspension check, and if that shows anything up I'll really be cranky!

[bozurolla]

No problems Adam,

I agree 'Toyota' should be experts on there own cars & common issues on certain new/recent models are frequently accumulated & relayed back to the manufacturer,Bear in mind their will always be a sense of denial, as well ,'no manufacturer will confess in making defective products' but i don't think this the case just a simple mistake of missing or not fully inspecting the suspension.

I personally tinkle in suspension setups for my own & collegues cars,I would get the suspension specialist on this one first,do an extensive report included the faulted shocks & submit this to Toyota,& demand action..you'de be surprised how some dealerships will comply

[Rolla Boy]

Every one of that model RAV4 does it...

It's just the way they are...

[WellsieTRD]

Yep, havent met a Rav4 of that vintage that hasn't chewed out its tyres, even the new ones do it but nowhere as bad

[typan]

have you done a rear wheel alignment yet, and about the shocks just spray some oil up the shocks so it looks like it's leaking and report it to toyota srevice, hey it worked for me

[Steve gee]

2005 Rav 4 Cruiser 4 door - since new it's done this, possibly worse now than when we got it though. I don't drive it much.

The problem we have with it is a whirring sound coming from the back of the car. Kind of a 'whir-whir-whir-whir' noise, a bit like what you get with a 4x4 with off-road tyres. My wife (it's her car) asked Toyota to look at it during the last service, they told her it's because it has 'lumpy tyres'. It's on the original tyres, unless by lumpy they mean deformed I think they're bluffing her... tempted to take it to a tyre place and get them to have a peek - anyone else experience this? Or is it 'normal' for noise on that model Rav?

Id check the wheel bearings if its done over 100,000

Toyota use single large bearings which crap out.