Cracked rear wheel, now a whirring sound when driving

[Cracksta]

Hi all,

Long story short, my rear right wheel hit a kerb a slow speed in the snow last week but was enough to crack it, I luckily found the same wheel online so have now fitted it and used the same rubber. The wheel was balanced and all was good the tyre shop said.

I noticed a "whirring" sound coming in the cabin (maybe sound from the rear) when i drive above 20mph+,  the tone changes depending on the speed but its not tyre/road sound as I can clearly hear 2 different sounds at the same time. I had it aligned today with a hunter equipment, my steering was slight off when i bought the car and it was a bit more off after the accident thats why i went to have it aligned. It seems the sound is still there (steering wheel is straight now) and wanted to pick your brains.

The garage said nothing looks bent and the rear right camber is out and is non adjustable, toe has been corrected. They cant see what the problem is but can hear the sound too, they use a stethoscope and didnt find anything obvious.

We suspect wheel bearing on that side, before I go and throw money at it, any suggestions? If wheel bearing, do I also need the hub? wheres best to buy these as the lexus birmingham parts shop on eBay seems to have gone.

Thanks!

 

 

[Shahpor]

IT certainly sounds plausible that the wheel bearing might have had enough.  Although, perhaps I am mistaken, but whenever I have had the same issue before, it is more of a clicking sound.

Anyway, have you tried rocking the wheel back and forth to check for play in the bearing?

If you are handy with a dial gauge, you could check it like so:

Also, unless someone can clarify differently, it does look like the hub assembly and bearing are one unit:

[Shahpor]

As for where to get one from, you could always try here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-Is200D-Is220D-Is250C-Is250-Rear-Wheel-Bearing-Hub-Kit-2005-Onwards/400557002460?fits=Car+Make%3ALexus&hash=item5d430ecedc:g:odMAAOSwN2VZSlMG

[Cracksta]

Thanks the fast reply!

The guys in the garage manually rotated the wheels and checked for play all over, they said they couldn't see any.

To clarify, the sound is like whirring/whining, no clicking, no scrapping, no vibrations on the steering wheel (except normal vibration due to road surface).

Even with the radio on low volume I can still hear it, you can clear it clearly on a smooth road. Any other parts worth changing? tie roads/ball joints etc? the sound only happens when i'm driving, steering left and right doesnt seem to change the sound.

Is there another garage I can take it to in London for another opinion?

[Shahpor]

Other than taking it to a dealer (which is an expensive option), I don't know of anyone in particular you could take it to.  Whereabouts in London are you?

I wouldn't think it is a suspension component since they tend to make clonking and knocking noises rather than a whine.  You would also notice the noise more frequently over rough surfaces.

Does the sound change frequency if you slow down and speed up?  If it is a wheel bearing then they usually change pitch or volume depending on wheel speed.

[is200 Newbie]

I am pretty sure your model will have inner brake shoes as well as the pads on the disc.

The wheel looks like its taken a good whack - not that wheels these days need to be smacked hard to cause this damage .... if you are only experiencing the noise when moving could the smack to the wheel have caused some of the components in the brake disc, where the shoes sit, to have moved or dislodged?

The old IS200 had a dust shield on the back of the disc that needed cleaning from rust / dirt etc every so often as it suffered a bit from a screeching / whine noise and it was the rotation of the disc rubbing on a thinly machined groove in the shield that caused it from getting clogged up with rust/dirt.

Its quite conceivable, if the design has not changed, that you could have bent the disk a bit or the assembly or dislodged it and its rubbing on this shield creating the noise?

[Cracksta]

I'm in South east London.

Yes the sound frequency/whine when i slow down or speed up, i guess another way to describe it is the sound of a washing washing whine when its spinnng fast but not as loud.

I'm taking mine back for a service within the next month so will get them to take the wheel/brake area apart, I only went in for an alignment and I had to dash home for another appointment.

Thanks for the advice thus far, will updated this thread when i have something new!

[Linas.P]

I cannot advise much more regarding the noise, but one thing I wanted to point out is that IS250 has rear caber adjustment. I have done alignment twice at ATS and both times they have adjusted it... it is definitely wrong if you still have some aliment in red after wheel alignment.

Just to be clear I don't think wheel alignment has anything to do with noise, bet bet would be with brakes or bearing as above.

[Cracksta]

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

I cannot advise much more regarding the noise, but one thing I wanted to point out is that IS250 has rear caber adjustment. I have done alignment twice at ATS and both times they have adjusted it... it is definitely wrong if you still have some aliment in red after wheel alignment.

Just to be clear I don't think wheel alignment has anything to do with noise, bet bet would be with brakes or bearing as above.

Maybe you already have aftermarket camber adjuster bolts? I recall rear camber on is250 were not adjustable from factory? If they were adjustable, I would imagine the guys today would have adjusted it but they too said mine were not adjustable.

I'll defo get them to check the brake area soon.

[Linas.P]

Aftermarket adjustable camber on 175k miles 2008 IS250 SE-L ... I doubt it.

What I was told by few places - they don't want to bother with rear caber as adjustment is in award place and usually rusted (seized), covered in mud... so they just say it is not possible to adjust.

Finally, even if there are no dedicated adjustment, it is always possible to bring camber in place by playing with adjustment you have - quite clearly IS250 didn't come out of factory with -0.14 camber on rear right and 1.03 on the left...