thomas1

OK guys been trying to figure out many of the noises on the hybrid, it is so quiet you hear things...found a few like a rattling spare tire cover, just added foam and its gone. However I have what may be a wheel bearing issue. When you make right turns a low grumbling noise comes from the left rear of the car. No noise when turn left. Is this a indication of a wheel bearing? Sounds kind of like a scrapping noise..with a little vibration....The RX400h has 102k miles and I am second owner, from records cant tell if it had any bearings changed. All brakes pads have lots of material left....What are your thoughts for trying to diagnose the bearing...Up on jack stands I used a stethoscope (hearing) and could not hear anything unusual...suspect the cars weight needs to be on it. No play whatsoever....

TimBlaes

Maybe it wants to be a NASCAR. Always turning left.
Most wheel bearing noises are speed related.

thomas1

Jacked car up last night again...no noise from right rear wheel, noise from left rear...I ordered a timken bearing hub assembly and will see if that helps...

iamkhanz

let me know how things go... can we get oem part from Sewell or somewhere? I have same issue when I turn.. is it a good idea to do both sides or one is good enough? I am actuallly sitting at toyota dealer rt now... and had brakes all changed out a month ago so thought it was an install issue..but seems it's wheel bearings also.. anyone know what costs shoud be for this? thanks. i've done some searches and this was first one that popped up.. any referring material would be appreicated too.

thomas1

The wheel hub is still pricey from Sewell even with discount...over $400 apiece...I have read the Timken bearings/hub are generally well thought of. I ordered from RockAuto.com for $167 apiece. As for OEM Koyo is the manufactorer of the bearing...Fleabay also has this hub/bearing. I only ordered one, if it works well eventually I will do the other side. Please note: if you have FWD only the hub is more expensive...AWD is cheaper...

thomas1

Just wanted to post solution, I could have sworn the left rear hub bearing was bad, but it turned out being the left front bearing...Progressively the noise level increased and started to sound like whoot WHOOOT whoot depending on road speed. Very strange, hard to diagnose, but finally quiet....
Would like to thank the folks at Roseville Toyota (no I dont work there) for their wonderful attitude of matching prices with Sewel Lexus which is my vender of choice for OEM parts and a Club Lexus vender.

iamkhanz

Hey guys wanted to give you an update on the rear bearings on rx.. went with timkin from autozone... was cheapest around amd i had both driver and passengers side rears done.. i made sure they were torqued to spec as with parts like bearings that have a rotational movement the more even and consistent you can make that movement longer it will last. Im transfering




knowlede from reliability work down on large motors in o&g same concept.. so for me 9 months into it the timkins are doing good.. also i thought long and hard about replacing with oem... price difference was too great and at the end of the day they failed on a 60,000 mile driven car..so the quality imo is not there to justify the 3x higher cost. Plus these r fairly easy to do yourself.. remove caliper and rotor and unbolt 5 bolts and rebolt and it actually is better if u do it ur self as u can make sure its torqued correctly... some mechanics who dont know any better wont care about torque specs. And remeber center bolt is torqued to diff specs then sides..dealer can tell u specs dont remember anymore what they were.. i had it done by buddys worker so i saw the process.. anyway hope this helps as this is a common issue on our rx.

RX330inFL

Thanks for the update, iamkhanz. The Timkin brand has a good reputation, so I think you should be good to go. You are quite right about the torque specs -- do it wrong and it does not matter whose parts you buy.