Alright! I have owned my IS for 2 years now and a couple of months ago I start getting this popping noise in the front end. This noise only comes out when I am moving a very slow speeds and have the wheel cranked over, for instance.....turning a sharp corner or pulling into the driveway. It pops once going into the turn and once coming out of it. I can also slightly feel it under my foot when it happens. Just curious.....anyone experienceing the same thing or know what the deal may be??

2nd question:
I have 43K on my ride and I was just wondering at what average mileage the brakes are changed out. They seem to look and function fine at this point!

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

First thing to check is loose or worn front bushings ....they can make a muffled "pop" sound when they load and unload under pressure coming in and out of turns or on a angled bump like a driveway.

 

I have the same noise from my IS. I just bought it a couple of weeks ago. It's a 2002 with 31,000 miles. I do hear the same popping sound when making a turn in or out of my parking space. I have been wondering if it is normal but it doesn't seem that others are having the same problem. I think I'm going to go have that checked out at the delearship.

I have another question for IS 300 owners. Last night I had a total of 5 people in my car, the most since I bought it. When I was coming through my neighborhood, my muffler scraped the speedbumps. They are not big bumps and I thought that it was sort of unusal. Has anyone else noticed that having that many people in the car made a noticeable difference in clearance?

Thanks.

 

Stix.....thanks! Its good to know that Im not the only one experiencing that problem......I think! If and when you take it to the dealership let me know what you find out. Im interested to know what they have to say on the matter.

As far as the speed bump issue goes.......depending on the weight that you have in the car you may have some clearence issues, although I have a friend that is 6'6 and 320lbs and I haven't had problems with that. When coming up on a speed bump I always make sure that I hit it at a slight angle.....the car seems to take it much more smoothly!

 

Yea, this has happened to me too. Even at stock height with full compliments of people(in this case 4 or 5 people) in the car the exhuast will scrape. IMHO, it just how our exhuast hangs slightly lower even on stock height... much more evident when the car is lowered

Even the first day I got the car - went up a slight incline driveway - the exhuast tip scraped.

Like Zeakeal mentioned... taking speedbumps and steep driveway at a slight angle will help out

 

Just a theory, but the pop could be brake pads or calipers moving a bit. It could be a lot of things, but thats a suggestion.

 

Talked to a friend of mine who's brother in law worked in Service at a Toyota dealership. He said that there were problems with the bushings in the front end of these vehicles due to the flexing when turning. I got the info 3rd party so there may be more to it than that but next week mine is going to the dealership to get those bushings replaced. I'll post again once everything is finished.

 

The reason your car rides low going over speed bumps is simple....despite Lexus marketing and specs, this car simply was NOT designed for five adults.....it is too small a car; it is a somewhat low-slung for a sedan to start with (due to the handling bias and the attempt to get a low center of gravity), it does not have enough room in the rear seats (especially with the front seats pushed back) for even two normal-sized adults, much less three. A lot of IS300 owners drop the car even more with aftermarket springs/wheels/tires, which only makes the problem even worse....and even worse with front air dams and rocker panel moldings. When you have a car like this, you simply have to make some compromises....despite what the marketing people say. I'm not trying to be rude, so forgive me if I sound so, but I just want to point out some facts here.
The ES300 is not much better, either.....it has a little more room in the back seat, and sits a little higher off the ground, but its suspension is softer than the IS300's and it tends to squat down under a load.

 

I had this noise at 20xxx miles (popping sound at moderate and low speed turning) and could not figure it out. Then when I installed my Hotchkis sway bars the noise disappeared. I suspected stock sway bar end link was loose. Then it started to make noise again only worse after a few thousand miles and sure enough the end link just needed to be retorqued. Try this first.-Steve