ironlexus

Hey guys,

yesterday I was driving home after leaving the mechanic to fix 2 leaking tires because of the rim and i heard 2 noises from underneath the car, about 30 seconds between each noise, it sounded like i ran over a branch. I went to a Lexus dealership 1 week ago thinking i needed an alignment because when i hit 100 km per hour, the steering would shake. They cleaned the corrosion on the rims and balanced the tires which solved the problem, i think.

3 days ago i went to another garage and put on new winter tires 225 55 17 Sailun tires but the air was leaking out from 2 of the 4 tires so i went back to Lexus but they wanted to charge me so i went to another garage which ive known for years and they said they fixed the rim leaking problem and balanced the tires again. When i was leaving the garage yesterday i noticed that the hand brake was on. It must have been on by one of the mechanics at this garage but they didnt drive it on the road, just from the parking lot into the garage.

Do you think the 2 noises i heard were related to the parking brake or the new tires or the rims or maybe the Lexus dealership purposely tried to damage something so i would come back to pay more money ?

Thanks

jmdav89

I had a rattle under the car. It sounded like it was under the center console. It would rattle when i slammed the door or went over any bump. The key to finding it was the Parking Brake. If i depressed it and slammed the door their was no noise. I removed the center console and found that the noise was coming from under the car beneath the console. I took it to a repair guy that let me go under the car while on the lift. After removing the heat shield we found the cable assembly for the parking brake. The assembly was hitting against the frame. He explained that the LS430 brake assembly was made poorly and if you were to depress the parking brake too hard you could bend the bracket that holds this assembly under the car. This was my problem. He fixed it by placing a rummer tube over the spring on the assembly and added a gob of thick grease on the area between the assembly and the frame. That fixed it.
When you mentioned the parking brake being set it started me to thinking that this could be the problem. If the tech tromped down on the parking brake and then it was driven you could have the same issue as I.
Try opening the center console, slam the drivers door. If you hear the rattle then set the parking brake and slam the door again. If you dont hear the rattle I would bet this is your problem.


Parkin brake assembly

911LE

Another source for noises are from broken or loose underbody panels. They cover almost the entire underside of the car and they are easily damaged when a tire shop puts the car on a pad rack. It's the drive-on type lift most tire shops use.