Rear Wheel Damage

[JohnyT]

Yesterday afternoon I pulled out of a wet round about a little quick but not much quicker than usual. I lost the back end of the car and it span 180°. Though a bit shaken no one was hurt but the car had hit the kerb and the rear drivers side wheel is now at an angle.

I had to get the car recovered which was a bit of a task as the car always wanted to steer from the back. Any ways I've still not heard what the exact damage is or how much its going to cost. I looked behind the wheel it didn't look like anything had snapped off but that's as far as my observations could tell me.

I know without seeing for your self its hard to tell, but has any one had any experience of what parts are likely to be damaged and the likely cost. I'm sure I'll find out from the garage this afternoon but yeah gutted!

[Dewfallsuk]

There's a rear track control arm that is used to adjust the rear toe. Looking at your photo this has got to be bent, it may have damaged the top bottom wishbones as the wheel angle now is well beyond the scope of adjustment. Worst case scenario the subframe has been damaged.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Oh bad luck mate. I've lost te back end in this car in the wet before as well but never hit anything thank god!

As above looks like you've bent the control arm and/or other suspension components.

Let us know how you get on.

[JohnyT]

I gave them a call yesterday afternoon but no one had got round to looking at it. I guess I'll find out on Monday but spending the whole weekend not knowing the situation has been doing my head in.

[JohnyT]

Well I had to hire a car today as I need to keep mobile because of various commitments:

Any way during lunch I drove up to the garage where my car had been recovered and no one had checked it out yet. Though the guy at the front desk was already talking about sourcing a new wheel from Lexus. So it's beginning to sound a bit expensive already. I was told he would try to get someone to look at it in the afternoon and they would give me a call. I was real busy this afternoon and was well after 6pm before I realised I hadn't got that call.

So with this talk of sourcing a new wheel kinda makes me think they're gonna try and pull one over on me. The spare wheel in the boot is still good and I'm pretty sure I can get a cheapo space saver from somewhere just to keep me legal for the time being. I've seen full sets of refurbished Lexus alloys for about £400 without tyres.

So I'm wondering about the other parts that you guys mentioned and how much they would cost from one of these parts companies. On the assumption that it is only those that need replacing, how much would they cost and what would be a genuine labour cost that I could expect?

I've only had my IS for 3 months and only has 54k on the clock so I kinda want it back in working order rather than being written off. I'm feeling really quite depressed about it all to be honest.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

I can't believe they haven't looked at your car yet! And their main focus seems to be on a new wheel? That's the last thing they should look at as you have a full sized alloy wheel in your boot they could put on. I would have asked them just to sort the suspension and use the spare then I would by a wheel from eBay to replace the spare.

It's really hard to give you an idea of parts prices and labour costs when we have no idea what parts you need.

To be honest I know one thing, I'd get my car out of that garage that can't even be bothered to have a proper look at it 4 days after your bump and get it somewhere that has a sense of urgency. Your car could be back on the road by now or at least nearly finished!

[matt-c]

Bad luck pal. I 180'd mine on Friday night on a roundabout - my own fault; came across roundabout #1 a little sharpish and the back end stepped out but the TRC caught it, and my mate in the passenger seat said "wtf was that all about?" so I explained it's RWD, and it tried to step out but the TRC caught it. Then we go to roundabout #2 and in a foolish manoeuvre, I turned the TRC off and booted it in 2nd - cue car doing a 180 and the front passenger wheel mounting the kerb on the roundabout!

Fortunately, it doesn't seem as though it's damaged - it still drives more or less spot on; possible a tiny little left pull, but this seems to be more about the road surface than the steering. That wheel was already kerbed (another fault on my part!) and amazingly, the part that mounted the kerb seems to be the part that was already kerbed! So all in all, quite lucky, but I think I'll take it to WIM and have it checked, just to be sure...

[steve2006]

Unfortunately there are a lot of parts which could be broken or bent.

[is153]

Due to the way the wheel is bent I would have to say all the arms holding the wheel hub are bent if your lucky if not then the sub frame is as well.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Any update on this?

[JohnyT]

Hello sorry for the late replay been busy with easter holiday and what not.

Any way since my last post the garaged has requested a diagram of the rear suspension from Lexus Poole. They kindly sent one across but it took yet another day for the garage to act upon it. In the mean time I personaly spoke to the parts guy at Lexus Poole who was very helpful and was able to put up with me phoning up every day to make sure the garage had been doing what they had said.

It was the easter Saturday that I finally got a price. As the parts man at Lexus told me to expect, the hub along with a new bearing needs replacing, along with 4 other parts like the wishbone arms and so on. Total price for the repair is about £1500. I know from speaking to Lexus the bulk of that price is actually the cost of the parts. I'll need to use the spare wheel for now as the existing one is no good. Probably get one from eBay.

I tried to get the insurance company involved but a day after starting the claim I had to call them back as I did not get a call from their claims team. They said that they would have to take the car away some where else and decide if it was a write off or not. I thought bugger that so canceld the claim. Though the message obviously didnt get passed through because I got a call from the garage this morning as a lorry had arrived to cart it off. I said tell them to bugger off I canceld that claim days ago.

So as it stands I'm going to pay for it myself, the parts should be here by Friday and I should hopefully be on the road again shortly after that. Its an expensive repair but its only done less than 55k. If I had got it written off I would be hard pushed to find another like that for the price I paid.

[andyk134]

Maybe its just a question of how heavy your right foot is if you keep losing the back end in the wet? We all know it isnt the best car in the wet.

Has anyone had an LSD fitted and how much better does it feel?

[matt-c]

LSD or not (which mine has, not sure if the SE's had them?), the TRC should stop it from losing the back end in the wet. I've pushed mine pretty hard in the wet on roundabouts, and the TRC always holds it. The only time I've ever lost the backend was when I turned the TRC off and gave it a bootfull in 2nd on a wet roundabout. Even in the snow, being over zealous with the loud pedal, the TRC stepped in and righted it within seconds. I'd be looking at the tyres, and also the tyre pressures, myself...

[noby76]

that's why i never go on throttle in this car when taking a roundabout in the wet. when i first got the car i tried to take a sharp corner in the wet with my foot down whilst steering from left to right aggressively like a FWD car and i lost it but luckily both TRC and Vehicle stability control kicked in and helped me out. car spun 90 degrees and most cars behind me thought i was trying to show off round the bend but little did they know i was in trouble and trying to correct it and since that incident i have learnt not to drive this car like a FWD car round corners when its wet. i only do my aggressive driving when its dry and go to granny mode when its wet that's it. regardless of how grippy your tyres are, its a RWD car so my advise to all is take it easy in the wet round corners.

[andyk134]

Thanks Matt, maybe the LSD in the background is what keeps yours on the road. As others have said, you do need to drive the car differently in the wet no matter what suspension and tyres you are running. Having had a couple of Audi quattro's in the past I do have to remember the Lexus needs a bit more respect but I wouldn't swap it.

[clifton 94]

hi there are plenty of these being broken on eBay just ask the garage to strip the car and give you a list of what you need and get them of eBay you will save money this way

[clifton 94]

there is a whole sub frame on eBay .99p start price at the moment any part you will need you will have

[matt-c]

Quite possibly; I've really not spent any time with an IS that doesn't have an LSD. All I know is I can push mine really quite hard through bends and round roundabouts, and it is actually quite hard to make it unstick. That is, until you turn the TRC off, haha.

[petayV8]

I also struggle to get the back end out on mine, i really have to make the effort and even then i dont lose control as such. My tyres are almost new, and summer tyres.

Anyway i would also deff look at a scrap/breaking IS mate if you have the time, you will save a small fortune on parts. anyhow im soo glad your getting it sorted, i was worried you'd take her to the heap!

Off topic here a bit but i read mixed things about SE's having LSD. Read something to check door sill card and the letter suggest mine DOES have LSD but being a SE im still hesitant

[andyk134]

Petay, as far as I am aware no SE models has LSD and only some sport models, but all the Altezza's do. I will definitely be puttin wider tyres and spacers on the back as recommended by another poster when the time come so but the springs and roll bars make a major difference. I know someone said they junked their Eibach roll bays in favour of whiteline ones but I can't find any, only Hotchkiss ones which are thicker.

[petayV8]

Yeah im thinking the same, i just read some old threads about it to check a certain number on the VIN, but what ever.

Yeah ive got 225/45/17 btw, so a bit wider....

[JohnyT]

Finally happy to report I got my IS200 back yesterday morning. Seems to be running smooth and happy to be able to drive it again.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Good news :)