I've got this annoying rattle in the driver side wheel well area that comes and goes depending on the size of the bumps. The smaller bumps seem to make it worse . I took the car to Midas for a free inspection. The ball joints look good, tie rod looks good, the lower control arms look good.
The tech couldn't find any problems. Can good ball joints still make this rattle sound?


The GS300 has 90K on it, anyone else have a similiar problem , but when looking at the suspension, it wasn't obvious as to the cause?

 

I would get a second opinion because it sounds like lower ball joints. I had the same issue at 73K.

 

Thanks!

I may be able to get this coverered under my extended aftermarket warrenty. I was surprised to see ball joints as warrantied parts.

 

I would say it's your sway bar links....

 

If you hear the rattle when going up or down driveways from the street, check your strut mount on that side. i had the same problem with my GS. At the dealership twice and they told me nothing was wrong with the suspension. Took it to my girlfriend's uncle, who owns mechanic shop, and he found the problem right away. Open your hood and have someone just let the car roll down the driveway onto the street, and put your ear close to the strut mount, you will hear the noise coming from there if thats the problem. Take off that plastic cap on the strut mount first, you should even see the top of the strut moving a little when going down the driveway or over bump. The strut mount is like $70 bucks, don't know how much for labor (he didn't charge me )
Anyway, good luck finding the noise, i absolutely can't stand noises in my car.

 

I have the same problem you do. I took my car to the dealer and they found nothing wrong so I had to investigate and found that I had a bolt missing from my suspension. On my '99 GS400 there is a bracket that holds the bottom of the strut. That same bracket holds that sway-bar link. Both of those are intact. But, if you go more medial, there is a bolt that holds the bracket down to I want to say is the lower control arm and it is gone. Bolt comes in this Tuesday. Maybe this helps you out.

 

I'm having an issue as well. It is coming from the front drivers side. It's a rattle/clunk sound. Going slow over bumps or debris in the driveway it sounds like a rattle, but at driving speeds when I hit a bump it sounds like a clunking noise.

I looked and it seems as if the top of the struts on the coilovers are touching/grinding into the back of my TRD STB. Could this be the problem?

 

Upper strut mount or Shocks.
Upper strut mount is very common to failed in our cars mostly 45K and over. Same problem has Camry/ES300. We were relacing upper strut mounts on Camry like crazy, under warranty.
If you are running any aftermarket suspention with stock mounts, don't be suprise.

Solid or upgraded strut mounts are better choice, they last much longer.

I hope it helps

 

Amul,

Did you ever find out if it was the strut mount? I have the same problem and have pretty much narrowed it down to that. While I was messing around down there I went ahead and changed the lower ball joints and tie rod ends, so I know it isn't those.

 

If you have aftermarket shocks make sure the top bolt is tight. Mine was loose and I made a clucking sound.

The sound disappeared after bolt was secured.

 

Oh man, I'm really sorry guys for not posting up earlier..

I got a second opinion and found out that I had too much play in the lower ball joints. The first guy never loaded down the suspension. That pretty much fixed the longer resonating sounding rattle that I heard over certain type of "small, repetitve bumps". I also had the alignment done and now the car doesn't pull over uneven surfaces


The caveat, I still hear a faint rattle coming from the driver side. The passenger side has completely disappered. Someone suggested above, it may be the strut mount.....I think I may have had both problems, ball joints and a loose strut mount. At this point I may live with it until I need new struts.

How much would it cost to replace the strut mounts? The part seems like 70bucks, but the labor is what I'm worried about?

BTW: My extended warranty covered the ball joint repair. I could NOT belive it!! Damn good aftermarket warranty I picked up. No questions asked. Just took the car in, Firestone made the call, and all I had to pay was my $100 deductible.

 

Replacing the ball joints reduced the noise on my driver side, but I also may have loose strut mounts? The Firestone tec said that everything was tight and the struts looked good....I don't think he looked at the strut mounts.

What would it cost to replace or tighten the strut mounts?
What Lexus dealership you work at?

 

I just replaced my strut mounts this weekend and now my car is super quiet. The mounts cost $120 for both. However, labor was a pain. I used a manual spring compressor and it was tough. You might just want to buy the parts and then remove your struts and take them to a shop to have them replace the mounts. Other members said there are shops that will do this. Removal and installation of the struts is actually pretty easy.

So the info above about faulty strut mounts is absolutely correct. Thanks for the info. I'm so happy that I finally don't have that awful squeeking/rattling noise.

 

Did you replace just the fronts mounts or did you do the rears as well? What did the bushings look like on the strut mounts that you removed?

 

I just replaced the front mounts. The mounts didn't really have a bushing per se on them. The mounts are like 97% metal and then in the middle of them, where the strut connects to them, there's a small amount of hardened rubber. Quite frankly, given that the mounts were metal and didn't crack I didn't think they were faulty. However, maybe that rubber part goes bad and causes the noise. I don't know. But I do know that it fixed the problem.

The old mount had some thin gasket material on it where it connects to the strut tower. The new mounts didn't come with a gasket, but I made my own with some gasket material from Autozone. Then I tightened everything to O.E. specs and I was good to go.