Damo2

Hi Chris Thanks for the "Head's Up" on Ricky... What a lovely guy and a great shout as he had one.. When I originally spoke to him he wasn't sure if he had actually got one, when I told him how difficult it was to track one down here in the UK and that I was looking at US or Japan for the part, then 3 weeks before it would arrive here in UK and the price, he said "don't worry about that, I will help to get you sorted out with one somehow". He then called me back after he had done a search and found one he had taken off a 2004 IS300 years ago, we then confirmed via photos that the part he had was the right one for my Sportscross.. job done... It will be delivered next Wednesday... Saved me about £400 versus buying a new one from the USA. Thanks again for your help and the recommendation, I think Ricky will be getting more business from me going forwards.

Hi Guys.. So I was just passing time this evening.. and thought I would read myself a bedtime story.. as I haven't followed up on this thread for such a long time, yet I still have my Lexie.. despite all her foibles, including this one we have all had and still some contend with. So, to catch up, I never actually had the EBC Drilled and slotted discs and the Redstuff pads I bought (mentioned in a previous post) ever fitted, although I think they were / are good value for money for the spec.. I think what happened is covid came along and then time just stopped, so i never ever booked them in for fitting.. They are (as far as I know) still living in the box they came in under my stairs.. in fact my mechanic asked me about them just recently, as I think he was also wondering what happened to them. That said, and I do remember this.. there was yet another wheel, steering, braking wobble problem.. who knows?? other than I am sure I don't know / knew what the problem was.. But my mechanic about a year ago swapped over my OSF disc with my NSF front disc as I had complained again to him that I had steering wheel wobble under mid speed and braking and he had only 2 months earlier replaced them both for standard OEM parts following a MOT and annual service where they came up as needing attention. He road tested the car and said it was just the discs, he swapped them over from NSF to OSF and vice versa and told me to let me know how I got on.. It took about 2 weeks, but the wobble settled down and eventually disappeared... I think I have next to zero wobble now.. My new problem is a Power Steering Pump issue.. and guess what.. There are no suppliers for spare parts here in the UK I need and Lexus have discontinued any supply chain or support for Lexus IS300 Sportcross parts for the UK.. I am looking at Japan and US for IS300 parts now.. unless they are a generic /Toyota part or after market. Hey Ho.. I am still going keep the old girl on the road if I can.. but stupid quotes for old / used OEM salvaged parts and importing overseas parts may stop me.. As so far I have always used OEM parts for the old girl..

PS to last... NSF was also out but not as bad..

Thanks for looking and advice... OSF / drivers side is the latest one that is the problem.. but as having owned the car for over 10years there is no rhyme or reason as to which one is the problem, as in the past faulty or problem discs has been measured on both wheels.. I will add that this time though the slider pins were slightly rusty, and also the discs them selves showed rust spots (BTW they were brand new).. but that was maybe due to car not being really used due to lockdown??.. Prior issues though and current ones are the same.. Bloody steering wheel wobble.. currently around 40MPH and above.

I have bought them anyways.. so will do a bed and then report back.. eek

Hi Guys... any of you still running your babies... cos I am back here again lol.. I still have and love my baby but the braking steering wheel wobble issue is back again.. Aghhhhh.. Other than that she is perfect.. and not cost me anything abnormal costs to run, other than annual service and tyres etc.. oh and fluids.. and MOT, and an exhaust back box.. other than that all good as not yet gone all electric myself .. lol.. once a petrol head always a petrol head..!! Anyway.. I am now biting the bullet I should have done years ago and spending some money on an after market brake upgrade. As I feel the issue is excessive heat in the discs causing the prob. So query is.. are EBC Slotted and Redstuff Pads the way to go.. has anyone any experience of EBC products.. ?? I was originally looking at Brembo, but my mechanic said they have stopped using Brembo due to quality problems.. Any feedback appreciated.. Thanks Damo

I promised once to upload some pictures.. so here we go... This is my Baby.. I am the same as most of you on here, we all love our babies...!! I will keep this car on the road and with me always, regardless of owning any other car in the future... .

Hi Guys... Just thought I should check in again since my last post with an update... All good so far since the new discs and pads on the front end were fitted last month, I have done approx 1000 miles on them so far and have had no problems, i.e. steering wheel judder. The only thing I have done any different to previously is to bed the brakes in following the advice on this site The advice makes sense and is not something as a process I have been told to do before, other than to take the first couple of hundred miles easy (which I always did anyway).. but I was not being told why or how to do that... It makes sense though when you read the advice in the link, I am sure many of you already know this process for bedding in new brakes, but for me it was quite a revelation. All the best Damo

Hi Guys .. and a happy Bank Holiday to you all! UPDATE FROM ME. In case it helps anyone?? for context I first posted to this thread back on the 1st October 2015 , after having gone through 3 sets of new discs and pads on the front end of my Sportscross in about 2 years, but was still having problems, then in desperation I had a big investigation done last year that threw up a problem with worn LCA's as well as faulty discs. So after getting that all fixed thought that was the end of my problems, However please see my update below. Since I had my LCA's replaced and other work done on my car which also included new front discs and pads almost a year ago to the day (24th August 2017), . All was good for the first 2.5k miles, then a approx 4 months ago the wobble started to return. Indistinguishable at first but gradually getting worse as time went by, even at 30mph. I therefore last week returned the car to my local garage that done the work last year, as I wanted at least to be able to get any parts they had fitted if found to be faulty to be replaced under warranty. However it transpires after they road tested the car and then checked it out, that the wobble this time was an issue with the front discs only, FYI they had only done approx 4.5k miles since being fitted last August. Diagnosis was - "Serious judder on steering wheel when braking - Very Bad!" That was there own diagnosis, but exactly the same problem as previous issue I had had before they made the repairs last year, and also before then on other occasions since owning the car which I had tried to get sorted out previously and had always been diagnosed as brake disc issues by various mechanics. Fault Description was - "Disc run out of 0.06mm on outside face of O/S/F disc. 0.01mm on all other faces of both front discs." To cut a long story short they have replaced the front discs and pads, but also checked out the front suspension and LCA's to make sure there was not any other issues, and since getting the car back all is good again. To invoke the warranty on the parts (discs), they had to make a claim to the parts supplier which was ECP and send off the faulty discs for them to validate the claim.. Anyway 2 days later I got a call to say the claim had been accepted and a refund was made back to me.. BTW I always have OEM parts fitted to my car, most of them have been supplied by Lexus direct. As an aside, the faulty disc according to my mechanic had a blue spot on it, i.e. a hot spot from overheating on just one spot (and as measured by the DTI) which meant the disc was warped / had a high spot in just one place causing the judder. That said they could not find any issue with the calipers, slider pins or anything else with the brake assembly or hub that would have caused this. This link may be of use to explain it better than I can https://www.championautoparts.eu/technical/light-vehicles/brakes/technical-tips/brake-judder.html If I have another problem then I will post again, but if it transpires to be a brake disc issue I will probably go for Mtec Performance drilled and grooved discs rather than OEM ones. https://www.mtecbrakes.com/ - My thoughts being that having only done 115k miles approx and being on my 7th set of front discs already there must be an issue with the OEM parts. Anyway, just posting as an FYI - not sure how helpful it is to anyone, but I definitely share your pain!!! Best wishes Damo

So here I am back here again....... I went online originally to check my thread on a car I bought back in 2010 with hardly any miles on it as I bought it off a mate and it was his wife's ride... It is now my daily ride and I have personally put 100K+ miles on the clock since I bought it.... I have had some issues since then, so see my related posts, but all is good now...Touch wood as they say... The wheel wobble, steering, brake issue. brakes and hubs??? seems to have all been down to LCA's... appreciate that was my cars prob and not yours..... but my advice is to still check out any suspension parts before or part of brakes renewal. I have now done 3K on the car since all the work I had done last year and it is a joy to drive... Like Brand new!! Best wishes to all on this thread.. it has been very helpful and def helped me to narrow the issues down.. Have a great 2018 all.. Best Damo

My son had one of those IS 220D... total crap..... cost lots of money as he bought 2nd hand... and he ended up scrapping it as it wasn't worth fixing in the end... He now drives a VW golf GTi...I can't change his mind anymore because of the crap the lexus diesel gave him at the time..

Best car.... My Alfa Romeo Alfa 6.... rare as rocking horse ****.. less than 500 RHD one's made worldwide-- Mine had twin round headlights though..... It was a mafia staff car... front end looked like a BMW 3 series of back in the the day, and the back end of a Cadillac... Drove down the M3 just after I bought it and pulled into a petrol station to fill up and and never had so much interest from people for a car I had owned... Apart from my Sportcross now that is!! Sold it years later with 6 leaking Dell' Orto Carbs and body rust on it, and apparently it was going to be shipped to Japan for loads of money!

Quick update from me for those that requested I post back ... I have now done just over 1000 miles since my last posts on this thread and all is still good since the work that was done on the car in August, with no return of the dreaded steering wheel wobble issues under braking. In fact the car is driving just as good now after 112k miles, as when I first got it with 12k miles on the clock..... That said and fingers crossed, I hope this post doesn't put a curse on it!! As an FYI - the last 1000 miles undertaken have been a mix of distances and duration, including both local and motorway miles.

Quick update.. only just hitting 200 local road miles since all the work done as above, but all good so far. I have really concentrated on wearing in all new parts, especially the brakes, as I used to do a 110 mile round trip daily on mainly the motorway, so very hard to look after new brakes then. You know the scenario, some prat sticks the anchors on and you have to do the same...! However all seems fine at the moment, I will give it a little bit longer and then go for a proper long test drive. I still feel though that there was a couple of probs and not just brake's, and that the worn LCA's as found by my garage, were maybe a part of that.. And since they have been replaced the car is brand new.. Will report back later this month as I have a few trips to do which will test the car.

Correction, meant to say on my last post.. "even though the bill was a fortune".... but I expected it to be... For those interested the LCA's i.e. the complete replacement Lexus OEM arms with factory fitted bushes, to buy in cost £160 each plus VAT, so times 2.. then fitting them was on top, although my garage are very competitive and fair when it comes to labour rates and the time they spend. That said the rest of the front end, as I had asked them to do, was totally scrutinised and checked out, and apart from the brake discs, pads and new tyres needed was given a clean bill of health. So my fingers are still crossed, but all the work done pushed the final bill up somewhat as it also included a new O2 sensor, bank 2 sensor 2!!

Being a novice, as you all know i am! I am just re-iterating my own findings on this dilemma in case it useful? I have been through multiple discs, always as a pair front and back (handbrake disc /drums), tracking, wheel balances, new wheels, tyres etc. again always as a pair and all round (4 corners), But I always felt that the underlying issues was something to do with the suspension as well as the brakes.. And TBH.. I was so glad that the garage I took the car to just recently actually found a fault with the lower control arms as I now feel vindicated., even the bill was a fortune...__ BTW-- I had 2 new front shocks fitted less than a year ago as well. This might not be the end of my issues, although all good at the moment, but I feel better for the fact that was was another problem other than nothing else being found!!.. if that makes sense?? Especially after I trusted the car to an independent Lexus Specialist for the first 4 years of ownership and they never worked it out. Just to be clear, I am not putting any miles on the car at the moment, I only just hit 50 miles or so since it was in the garage last week, that's just my beer run over a week.. and also the Supermarket shop..! but I will report back when I have more to add. Check all your suspension parts on your motors is my advice.. But as I said at the start... I know nothing really.. Best Damo

yeah got genuine Lexus OEM parts... not cheap, but I feel happier that they are, as I have always so far stuck to original parts for the car. Just my preference rather than a roadblock for using alternative parts.

Just bumping this thread as may be useful.. I need to stick some miles on the clock for the recent work done on mine and will then report back ... so not sure if this is relevant to all but worth sharing??? Posted February 7, 2016 · Report post The large bushes on the front lower steering control arms are a known cause of judder at speed.

Thanks Phil! I am not at all technical when it comes to motors. My garage originally said when they called me it was control arms, so you are right, and then on the invoice it says "tie rods"... however they were clear on the parts they replaced when I picked the old girl up, and they provided the schematics to me as I told them I wanted to post on here. So confident all is good on the actual parts they replaced as they also got the schematic and retails costs from Lexus MK. Although they said they had to spend 4hrs sourcing them elsewhere, apparently the whole rod assembly is as rare as rocking horse stuff in the UK!! Interesting that you did get replacement bushes though for the rods on your car, but I am not going to pursue as I am just happy that the car at the Mo is driving fine... so fine I am back in love again, as everything else with the car is spot on. PS. My garage said they had so much interest and comments on her while in the workshop, people love them but are not familiar with them. Will post some picks soon as she is in such good nick, mint actually, but needs a wash.

Hi Guys My car, fingers crossed, may now be sorted at last, very early days yet but thought I would share. This week, as my MOT is due at end of Sept anyway and I knew it would be a fail because of the steering wheel wobble under braking, which over the last 6 months has got progressively worse, even at 30mph. I have now had the car looked at by my local garage who work on all car types, and which is a different place to where I used to take the car previously, which was an Independent Lexus outfit! First thing they did was take it for an MOT and guess what it failed, which we knew it would, but they wanted to make sure there was no other work needed for the MOT before starting work on investigating the wobble. "Front brake excessively fluctuating" was all the MOT station put, nothing else. Anyway, I asked them to check over the whole front end suspension, bearings and braking system, including checking the run out of the discs while on the hub. Findings for the run out were both sides were way out, one side read 6 thousandths of an inch and the other 4 thousandths. They called to say the discs were warped and they would need replacing, but they knew from what I had told them they needed to carry on checking for what the root cause of the wobble issue was, as they agreed with me that it was probably suspension related and not just the discs / brakes, as they had had previous experience of a similar problem on BMW's many many years ago, which they identified as suspension bushes. Got the car back today after 3 days in garage with new MOT and wobble cured. They found the bushes on both front suspension tie rods had gone, proper split, however they had to replace the complete rods as the bushes are not available separately apparently, they spoke to Lexus Milton Keynes who confirmed this. Next challenge was actually finding the parts, Lexus / Toyota don't stock and lead time was going to be about 4 days to order in. However my garage did eventually manage to find a set with another parts supplier who had a pair in stock which had been sitting on their shelves for a few years, they were ordered in for a client who then never purchased them. I attach some piccies of the culprit... along with schematic of the front axle arm and steering knuckle. the circled part is what has been replaced. To cut a long story short, I have also had fitted new front discs (tolerance now both sides is 0.001), new pads, 2 new front tyres Continentals (as one was near the limit), and the tracking done as well which was also a bit out. Car is a real pleasure to drive now, so I am hoping that at last the problem is finally resolved, only time will tell so I will post again when I have done some miles. Hope this info may be of some use to everyone else, at least it is another are to look at in finding faults on your own cars. Best Damo

Hi All.. How weird... I didn't think that this thread was still going since my last post in Oct 2015, (I basically gave up myself !!!!). but bizarrely I only received the latest updates today on my mobile, however it appears like the dreaded wheel wobble is still an ongoing issue though for quite a few of us. My own personal experience for my ride is that (since my last post 2015) I have had a further set of new front discs and brake pads, rear drum (handbrake) discs and new brake pads all round as well, new tyres all round and always the tracking and balancing done at the same time (this was done again last year). However nearly 12 months ago when it went for it's last MOT I was told I had a leaking front shock absorber, which I never felt any issue from when driving or had seen evidence of either, as I park my car in the same spot at home every day so would think I would notice a leak, however as you do I had them both replaced as a pair with OEM parts at the same time. So where we are now is everything was fine for a few months.... For context, I also no longer put hardly any miles on the car like I used to, in fact I have only done 3k or so far this year, but I have had for the last 6 months an incessant steering wobble when braking anything above 30 miles an hour, literally just going down to the local shops. The car is due an MOT in Sept so I have been holding off till then to have it looked at. If they find the problem all well and good and I will get it sorted, if they don't, then I will need to start my own investigations as it is really bloody annoying that everything else about the car is so good and I love it. I wonder if it is anything to do with broken suspension coil springs, anyone?? I had a few go regularly on my V6 Vectra, but they always got picked up up when the car had an MOT, even though I never knew there was an issue myself as the car still drove OK. BTW... my Vectra ate front discs every 30K or so (I just renewed them and the pads and all was fine again), so I always have thought that the issue with the Lexus since having owned her at only 12.k miles on the clock was brake related, but it is definitely not.... Now I am back here again on this thread, I will however read with interest what your collectively thoughts are on this problem.... Hopefully we can solve this.... Best Damo