Atl

All,
My 2005 430 had it's right front wheel bearing replaced as a good will gesture by Lexus, as it was out of warranty by 5000 miles. That was exactly 1 and a half years ago. Now they are saying it is going bad again! $400.00!!!
What the Hell! The same wheel bearing going out in less than two years????

Any ideas??? Please? This is nuts!

Thanks,
David

tinman

sounds like they repacked the existing bearing and didn't replace it. Often, wheel bearings can be repacked with grease as long as there is no physical damage. Did they specifically say they gave you a NEW part?

Atl

I am not sure, but they said at the time it was a $700.00 repair. Does $700.00 sound like a new one? Does $400.00 sound like a new one or a grease re-pack? I have no idea how much a wheel bearing costs, but the service tech at my Lexus dealer said this is a 7 year item, and he is surprised by all this. The car has only 71,000 miles total.

tinman

Wheel bearings are normally a long-lived part. Modern ones often last the life of the car. Did you notice anything going on with the tires? Maybe some uneven tread wear?

The $400 seems like a new part + install. I donno why it would have been more a a year and a half ago. Maybe the cost of the part has gone down as it's been used in more cars? who knows. You can probably find a shop to do this less expensively if you shop around. Also, are you having the same symptoms as a year and a half ago? Is is getting louder and louder over time?

Atl

It does not make any noise going straight, it's only during cornering, a wah-wah-wah type sound from the front pass. side. I thought it was a defective tire, as I just replaced the front Michelins with new Michelins, same type. But my Service adviser thinks it's the wheel bearings, even without it being taken back and put on a lift. He said the weekend mechanics are not the best and to bring the car this week instead. Out of all the cars I have owned, some with 140000 miles on them, this is the first car/truck I have owned that has needed wheel bearing work, and I've owned 10 cars and two trucks in my lifetime.

Do you think Lexis will goodwill their goodwill if it is the bearings on the same wheel???? I am going to call them tomorrow. I will be pissed to spend $400.00 for a fix that lasted 18 months. This is stupid. My sister's Corolla has more miles, and she crashes into everything, and her bearings are fine.

Jabberwock

18 months on a supposedly new wheel bearing could mean some other problem caused the first one to prematurely fail and was not fixed so the second failed even more quickly.

Or if it was just a fluke bad bearing then the repair was not done right and the second bearing failed because of improper installation. Modern wheel bearings should be good for 100-150k miles. If its the same side they repaired 18 months ago I'd ask Lexus to fix it for free. And I'd ask them what they are going to do if this second wheel bearing repair fails again 18 months from now.

GLIDESUL

Sorry to hear this. 700 sounds like a new bearing. I changed mine out bout a year ago hope it last for many more. I would investigate into what they did at first cause maybe the part is under warranty atleast by manufact.

Atl

I will call Lexus USA on Monday, and see what they say, and I need to get it back to the dealer and confirm it really is the wheel bearings as my service adviser suspects. I'll let you know. It could be a bad tire, I just don't know.

Cheers, and I hope everyone has a good week!

fergo308

The description of the noise and when it occurs does sound like a wheel bearing to me.

Right hand front wheel bearings will cop the most abuse an an American car as that's the wheel that turns on the inside of corners at the kerb and goes up driveways first,so it cops the most impact. I agree with what everyone else has said though,18mths between failures is seriously premature.


Justin...

Playdrv4me

Join the club. I just had *both* of the front bearings done on my 2004 at just under 100k. I too have never had to replace a single bearing on ANYTHING else I've ever owned, including a 1992 Cadillac Seville with 195k.

I also seemingly notice more wheel bearing threads float around on the LS forum than other vehicle forums I've visited.

Atl

I called my advisor at my Lexus dealer, he did confirm, the bearing was replaced, not packed with grease, so apparently, a lexus wheel bearing can have a lifetime of 18 months. Sad, pathetic actually. Should have kept my M-3, 134,000 miles, no issues, no bearings wearing out, just a LOTS of tires! Bomb proof car, nothing went wrong, nothing.

Atl

This is CRAZY!!!!!!! I feel you pain. Lexus: :"the persuit of perfection",(small print): except for: wheel bearings, center consoles breaking because they forgot the lock-tight on the bolts at the factory, AC system having to be completely be replaced under warranty, $6,000.00 in parts cost alone!!, "persuit of perfection" might apply to another car, but not this one. 2005 LS 430.

Twix

I also had to replace both bearings with 160.000KM (99.400 Miles) on the car...
Also, I do agree that I never had to replace bearings on any other car in my life, and I still say that my '94 LS400 was more silent and gentler ride...

+ on a LS430 - it is not the bearing that is changed but the whole "wheel hub" unit, as bearings are sealed inside and can't be taken out/replaced (on every other car I know, you just change the bearing)...

I didn't pay for them (luckily), as I just bought a car from a Lexus dealer and had a 3 month warranty

Playdrv4me

You are correct and I forgot to mention this earlier. They can't really "re-pack" these as they are a sealed unit and MUST be replaced rather than repaired.

I read on another thread, either here or on some other forum that Toyota is actually VERY **** about their wheel bearing manufacturing process. In fact, there was a consultant that worked for a U.S. company that wanted to make the bearings for Toyota, and was hired to find out what they could do to get the contract, as Toyota passed and said they could not meet Toyota's Japanese specifications currently being used to produce the bearings. It would seem contrary to the evidence we see that the bearings would fail anywhere near these mileages (and keep in mind that we must rule out outside factors, such as collisions, curb incursions, severe potholes etc. that are known bearing killers). Another guy in an LS430 bearing thread said that Toyota bearings are of such high quality that they spin and spin forever if you give them a flick.

Perhaps the focus is so much on silence and ride quality that the bearing can not handle those tight tolerances on such a heavy car for such a long period of time. I am not a mechanical guy so I don't know, but I do find it odd that with as religious as they supposedly are with their bearings, that they do seem to have a higher than normal failure rate. Yes, this is a forum and people come here to complain, but model for model wheel bearing threads are not very common on any other model specific forum I've ever been on... at least until the cars hit 150k miles plus.

Just like Twix I had mine replaced under a cheap 90 day warranty I bought for my car when I bought it. I have been concerned because the guy at the repair shop that said they would either only pay up to a certain parts amount for locally sourced parts, OR would ship their own sourced bearings (new, but not OEM) at no charge. I've been worried that I should have spent the serious extra coin for the Toyota OEM part, but I guess what I'm seeing is that this part has a slightly higher failure rate regardless. The technician at the repair shop also said that when he looked at the bearings after they were shipped in, they seemed to be no different than what he sources locally, even though he initially warned me they might be of inferior quality. We'll see if I get to replace mine again in the next few thousand miles... Hooray!

All in all, I still had to pay 229.00 for labor, so I do NOT want to do this again.