Gymniac

I hear this 'click' or 'pop' when:

1. I go over a bump or depression with my wheel turned almost to lock at a slow speed (like when you go over a speed bump or when you drive out of your garage).
2. Any sudden change of direction or deceleration like turning the steering wheel sharply at about 20 mph or stopping semi-aggressively.

The sound seem to come from all sides. Right in front of me, to my left, right and rear.

What seems to be consistent is that the sound comes from the opposite to the "direction of motion:"

When I brake suddenly and the nose of the car drops, I will hear the pop from behind me.

When I turn my steering wheel sharply to my left (counter-clockwise), the car tilts and I will hear the top from my right side and vise versa.

My guess is that some of the rubber parts in the suspension are going brittle? Or is the chassis being flexed?

Anyone with similar sound? I have just over 50,000 miles and it's a 2011 IS350 F-Sport.

Thanks in advance.

Deathrow23

iTrader: (8)

any mods to the suspension? or recently removed your wheels? i would check the mounting bolts for your shocks ( under the hood ) and rear ( you will have to remove or pull back the trunk liner to access the rear bolts.



for your year/mileage, i dont think your bushings have worn out yet.

Gymniac

No suspension mods. Can this inspection be done without putting the car up? Is this something a shop can do without costing me an arm and a leg? I'm not really mechanically inclined nor do I have time to fiddle too much with my car. But I will do it if it's something I can inspect visually without too much grief.

PS.

I did (actually the shop guys did) remove my front wheels when I did replaced the front brake pads. Could they cause these sounds? I'm not sure if they removed the rear wheels or not but they did tell me that rear brakes pads are getting thin and need to be replaced soon.

Deathrow23

iTrader: (8)

no suspension mods, then i think your suspension is fine. More than likely, always back track to the last thing you did to the car. very well could be something on the brakes but i am not experienced with brakes or i would even check to see if all the lug nuts are tightened.

i once had a pop noise coming from my previous car, turned out to be one lug nut was loose which caused it to pop when the wheel rotated.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

I would also start with making sure you still have the proper lug nuts AND that they're torqued to spec. From there, time to really dive in. Start with the brakes, making sure all pads have plenty of meat AND that all of the proper shims are being used along with the proper caliper hardware.

Gymniac

Just went to Costco and manually re-torqued all lug nuts. Still hear the same noises.

Gymniac

UPDATE:

The tech located the source of the noise. It's coming from behind the steering wheel.

He needs to 'take off the steering knuckle that goes from the steering column to the steering rack and lube it. Quoted price to fix: $325.

Is this really that big of a job?

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Does he guarantee this fix will cure the noise? Sounds odd to me.

Gymniac

He sent me a vid of him pushing on the steering wheel and I hear what seems to be like what I was hearing. If what he does doesn't cure it, I'm gonna ask him to fix it free of charge. $325 includes the time he spent to get to the source of the noise, which he says was $180.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Well, let us know what happens! This would be the first I've read about a noise coming from the actual steering column/knuckle.

Gymniac

Just came from the shop. When I pressed down on the steering column, I can definitely reproduce the noise. It's definitely coming from the "steering column" or behind the firewall. But it's so hard to pin point EXACTLY which part is making the noise.

Two options: one, grease the collapsible steering column and hope the noise go away. (total labor $325) two, replace the whole steering column ($350)...with labor it will be $700 total. AND I still have to hope the noise goes away.

My inclination at this point is just button her up and take her home and live with it. I guess I could ask them to "tighten every bolts you can" before they button her up free of charge?

Deathrow23

iTrader: (8)

Ahhh..trying to reproduce clunks,rattles,etc is a PITA. sometimes you end up fixing the wrong thing and worse, sometimes its the last thing you fix that is the problem. lol.

my click/pop from my driver side area turned out to be the inner tie rod. the last thing i replaced. lol.

but then again, mine is 07' with 130k miles.

Gymniac

So how long have you lived with the noise?

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Spray white lithium grease on the steering knuckle and anything inside the engine bay related to the column there. If no improvement, remove the airbag and make sure everything is tight behind it. If still getting noise, try a stain-free spray to lube anything inside the cabin.

Good luck!

Gymniac

UPDATE:

It was the steering column. They suspected that the sleeve that surrounds the steering shaft developed a 'groove' or 'notch' that the shaft goes can go in and out of. Every time the steering column gets compressed the shaft goes 'in and out' of the 'groove' that isn't supposed to be there. Or so they theorized. Anyways, after $1000 and some change (part and labor plus alignment). No more click or pops. Funny how these things happen just after the warranty goes out huh? I suppose no way in hell Lexus will pick up some of the cost?