Cicnus

Hello all, looking for help/advice. I had one tiny problem potentially reveal much more serious problems. Ive owned my 2016 IS350 AWD F-Sport for almost 2 years now. Yesterday i found a screw in my front driver side tire, and it was losing tire pressure fast (8 PSI in 8 hours). The screw was in the shoulder of the tire so i knew the tire was going to need replacing. I started researching replacing just one tire, as ive only ever replaced 4 at a time. Turns out replacing only one tire on an AWD vehicle can cause issues with the drivetrain and transfer case, so opted to have both the front tires replaced since the rears still had enough tread to make it okay. While getting the tires replaced, a tech came and asked me if i was experiencing and vibrations or wobbles, which i havent noticed anything really. He told me that my front right rim is bent and showed me. Its bent on the inside of the rim and looking at it, you cant even really tell that its bent. Once he put it on the tire machine and had it spin, you could see a slight wobble. He recommended that i get the rim replaced. The tech said he hadnt checked the front left rim yet, but would let me know when he had it off the car. Once both tires were replaced and the job was done, he called me out and told me that the front left was really slightly bent and was hardly even noticeable, even on the machine. I hopped in my car and drove off.

Now that ive been told there a problem, i begin worrying and really listening and feeling. My car still feels the same driving, but i noticed a humming noise when going 40-50mph. Me being paranoid, unsure if its because of the supposed bent rim, or just because the two front tires are brand new. I keep driving listening to it, took it on the highway and noticed nothing alarming. No sounds or vibrations. Went as fast as 100mph just to make sure, but nothing. Went home, started researching, maybe its the bearing making noise? Went back out onto the road and tried turning left/right while going 40-50mph to see if the noise changed, but it didnt.

I cant honestly say if ive felt this way the entire time ive owned my car, but id say for maybe the past year ive suspected that one or more of my rims may have been bent based on some vibrations i would feel. But upon visual inspection with the wheels mounted, i couldnt see anything that confirmed my suspicions. I eventually played it off as just vibrations because of the specific roads since it seemed like i only experienced it on the same roads. I've even taken my car into Lexus twice for regular service intervals since suspecting bent rims and they never mentioned anything after doing their roadtests.

Well the paranoia has set in, and now im just super worried. Is it possible that ive been driving with a bent rim for over a year causing damage to my wheel bearing? Ive looked up how much a replacement rim would cost, and its almost 500$, and the theres the wheel bearing if thats actually whats going on...

Edit - Ive also never had any problems with tires holding air pressure, well until the screw that is..

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Anything is appreciated - Thank you

laobo979

iTrader: (5)

As for tire replacement it depends on the wear. Ive replace one tire before on the AWD with not issue but the other tire had 9-8/32 thread so it perfectly fine. IF you tire half way wear then i replace all four so it has even wear. Rather then replacing two at a time each time. As for you thinking it wheel bearing easy ways is to jack the car up on the side you think. Shake the wheel and if you hear a lot of play and noise then it become wheel bearing. Easy to replace as long as it not rusted. Best bet to find a use wheel either on ebay for cheap or what i did was FB market you get lucky sometime with oem rims.

swaangin

You're fine, I've done way worst ****** to this car.. I went over a small divider at 80mph in my IS when I first got it.. I thought it was a WHITE line on the highway. I went and got the wheels fixed, alignment, had suspension components checked and it was all good. I've had a bent rim told by my service advisor which I got fixed one time too.

Just go get it fixed, your bearing is fine.. you would probably be good even if you didn't fix it if it's that small.. this car is built well

Miintt

I agree with the others in that I don’t think you have a problem with the bearings but it shouldn’t be too difficult to check just for peace of mind. The humming noise very well can be from the 2 new front tires.

You should also be fine with the bent wheel if it’s a really minor bend and its not losing air. Both of my front wheels have had very small bends in them that are only noticeable when its on the balancing machine. Car still drives the same and I’m not losing any air so I left them as is and I’m still driving on them.

V00D001

Did you get an alignment? Tell/ask the guy doing the alignment to take a look and get his opinion on the rim. If the rim is really that bad - I would think you’d feel it more than you do. Sometimes you’ll get weird noises before or even after an alignment with new tires....it’s really a case by case basis. My Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ are pretty noisy compared to the stock Bridgestone Turanza’s.

arentz07

I doubt the bent rim would be causing the humming sound. Do you think the tires could be causing it? Was it having a noise like that before you changed tires?

I have lost a wheel to a pothole once - it was a really big impact that sounded horrible inside the car. I ended up needing to replace the wheel. I could feel a little vibration on the highway, which is what led me to have the dealer check it out. It would have been about $500 for just the wheel itself, not including labor to install it and mount a tire. Luckily I had a "road hazard" warranty that I purchased through my dealer, so I paid nothing out of pocket at the time.

NickCaesar

My front right rim on my 2015 350 AWD FS is also slightly bent. They said on a scale of 1-10 it’s about a 4. I don’t feel anything while driving, no vibrations, tire doesn’t look oddly worn, no noise.

Cicnus

Just wanted to provide an update to this. Also im still covered by the precertified warranty, and have the platinum warranty until 2023.

I made the decision to take my car to the dealer the other day. My car is making a humming noise from 40-55mph and is pulling to the right slightly. They checked it out and found that the wheel is damaged, but my advisor thinks its okay and doesnt need to be replaced. But he also said the wheel bearing is failing thus producing the noise and the slight pull to the right. They quoted me about 600$ for the wheel bearing (400$ just for the part), and goes along to say its a pretty quick and easy job and theyd have me out quickly. I questioned why it wasnt covered under either of my warranties, and he said because of the pre‐existing damage on the wheel, its not going to be covered. I was kind of like, oh okay, so its because ive unknowingly been driving on a damaged wheel, which caused unnecessary wear on the bearing making it fail. So i asked if i was going to void any warranties or anything by doing the repair myself. He tries discouraging me by saying that it can be complicated and if done wrong it could cause other damage that wont be covered and yadiyada. So much for it being an easy quick job huh. I tell him im gonna think about it and put my car back together.

Once im getting ready to leave he was walking me to my car and i just asked out of curiosity how bad the damage was on the wheel. He goes to say that it was minimal and on the inside of the wheel and that he thinks it would be best to just replace the bearing, and that the wheel would be fine. I was like, wait a minute, if the wheels what caused the bearing to fail, wouldnt it just fail again. He says that he thinks the bearing is failing separately from the wheel, not because of the wheel. And that he thinks it was the impact that damaged the wheel, that also damaged the wheel bearing and is causing it to fail. This sounded super fishy to me. My advisor wouldnt even try to submit a claim for it on top of that.

Ultimately i ended up calling Lexus Customer Support and explaining it to them. They told me that they cant do anything until the dealer contacts them, and that Lexus cant reach out to the dealer. So i call my dealer back, make him start the claim. Calls me back 10 minutes later saying the claim was already denied, and tries to explain that it was denied because its considered part of the powertrain and that theyd have to send the part out and have pictures taken. Still doesnt make sense to me, like how can you prove that its failing from a small impact like that? I said okay and took the claim number and called Lexus back. After being on hold for 15 minutes, they tell me the systems they have access to was only saying that it was denied and not why, nor why it wasnt covered by either of my warranties. They tell me that they have to assign my situation to a case manager to evaluate why my claim was denied and that they would reach out to me to explain everything and hopefully find a way to assist me.

This is where my situation ends currently, as im still waiting for a case manager to contact me.

arentz07

To be perfectly honest with you, I would have been surprised if they had considered a wheel bearing for a warranty claim, given that wheel bearings simply wear out over time. The process of their wearing is accelerated by impacts in the road, like hitting potholes or just generally driving on bumpy roads. I've heard of wheel bearings failing on this car perhaps a bit more often than I would expect, though certainly never to a level where I would say the wheel bearing design is flawed.

I also question how the advisor can say the wheel is damaged, but doesn't need replacement... What is the nature of the damage? If it's even slightly bent, it could lead to issues down the road. Also, your statement here:

If you actually believe the wheel itself caused the bearing to fail, you should replace the wheel. A wheel will cost a similar amount to replace as what the dealer quoted you for the bearing - perhaps less. When I had one of my F Sport wheels replaced, it was roughly $500 for the wheel itself, then of course the charge for mounting and balancing the tire. My question would be: did the advisor tell you the wheel damage caused the bearing to fail?

Side note: I don't know what a "platinum warranty" is - is that something your dealer sold you? If so, you might want to remind them you have it!

Bottom line, it's one of those things where driving conditions are going to be everything with a warranty claim like this. Lexus doesn't know if you purposefully drove through a pothole just to get a new wheel (which, I am sure you would not have done that), and that's why they are going to be skeptical of any claims related to wheels, tires, and suspension - they take a lot of punishment from the road and are expected to eventually fail.

Cicnus

I am not sure what to believe caused the wheel bearing to fail. Part of me actually believes that the wheel was already damaged when i bought the car, but that would be a wild claim to make against my dealer. Truth is, from the time i bought my car, ive never hit a pothole on the passenger side of my car. Driver side is a different story as i nailed the **** out of a pothole. I was honestly amazed that i didnt blow the tire. I think that was the worst bump ive ever experienced hitting in a car in my lifetime. But yet, that tire never sustained any damage from that hit, and i havent experienced any issues with the wheel or bearing (which btw, that hit was 6+ months ago.) Ive been super cautious of bumps, potholes, etc since i bought my car as im aware of the damage that they can cause which low profile tires.

My advisor said that he doesnt think the wheel itself caused the bearing to fail. He thinks that whatever impact caused the damage to the wheel, also separately damaged the wheel bearing, and that is why its failing.

The platinum warranty is the extended warranty that i purchased along with the car. Currently my car is still covered by the Factory Powertrain Warranty, along with the CPO Warranty, and then the extended Platinum Warranty from Lexus - All of which cover the Hubs/Bearings.

Also i never would have intentionally drove through a pothole to get a new wheel. If i damaged the wheel enough to where i would need a new one. I would have to pay for it, my warranties dont cover that. I already had to pay for 2 new tires. If the rim needs replacing, i have to pay for that too. So i would be a fool to do such a thing knowing it wouldnt be covered. A Lexus/Toyota wheel bearing failing at 65k miles seems premature to me though

arentz07

Yeah, I would certainly hope not. I guess my point is, if it's not obviously due to a manufacturing defect, it'll be hard for Lexus to approve it.

I mean it is a 2016, with 65k miles... I have seen worse. Maybe @sunamer can chime in - I know he had a wheel bearing failure before at a lower mileage - and hopefully clarify why it failed. If not, sorry for name-dropping you.

edit: Just confirmed it was at 35k miles.

Cicnus

Even if the wheel bearing is failing on its own due to wear and tear. Still seems pretty lousy to me considering i havent even owned the car for 2 years yet. Still covered by the Certified Preowned Warranty, and i purchased the car at 51k miles. So i havent even put 15k miles on it and a wheel bearing is failing?

arentz07

Ah, that is good info. You might think they checked the wheel bearings as part of CPO inspection, though, that'd be a really thorough inspection if you ask me. My GTI was "CPO" but I am pretty sure the shocks were going bad on it, based on how it made noises over larger bumps. Just to give you an idea.

Now... I am just going based off what you have said in the thread, but my only issue, other than mileage, is that the bent wheel and bearing failure are related. If Lexus doesn't know about the wheel, you might be okay. However, as soon as they see that, they'll say that you've hit something which has caused the wheel bearing to fail also. I am not saying that's what's going to happen, but it's something to think about when setting your expectations.

sunamer told me there was a thread about his issue, and I found it: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...l#post10632072

sunamer

Yep, I got the same story, essentially. A rear wheel bearing failing on 2015 is350 f sport making that humming noise. They told me it would not be covered under warranty because they found a damaged wheel (on the other side) and that I could have rotated wheels around to hide it, or something. Quoted me $1250 for replacement. I said to myself - f it, bought oem bearing with a hub, spent probably about 6 hrs trying to wrestle with it, and managed to replace it. So, with the part, a gear removing tool and a socket that I bought specifically for it, it ended up costing me about $270 + my time, of course. 15-17k miles later - no problems. Even with my time being, say, $35/hr, it is still a big saving of more than 60% of the quoted cost.

Cicnus

Just got off the phone with Lexus. I talked to a woman from the warranty department. She told me the reason the claim was denied was because my advisor submitted the claim under my extended warranty. The warranty department denied it immediately because my car is still covered under the factory warranty, and that the claim needs to be submitted under the factory warranty.

She went along and listened to my story and said that it didnt sound right. She was able to see what the technician put down and read it to me. All the tech said was they test drove the vehicle, put it on the lift and found wheel damage and found play in the wheel bearing. That was it. She said that didnt sound right, and that it sounds like theyre just basing it off of the damaged wheel which isnt right.

Next recommended step is to get the service manager involved and find out exactly what they saw when the car was in the air. She claims that they would be able to tell if there was an impact to the bearing.