Anyone else have issue with IS wheels bending very easily!?

The lip of a wheel on my car has been bent for the THIRD time!

Just noticed and don't remember hitting anything that badly.

I have an F Sport.

 

I haven't really noticed anything about bending on the wheels. You have any pics?

 

No pictures of the latest bend, but had these before, which were repaired.

What I have now is similar; somewhere in between the severity of both.

What's strange is that I don't recall going over anything this time.

 

A wheel . . . so it's the same wheel that this keeps happening to? To cause that much damage you would certainly know if you hit something. I wonder if the wheel is defective and is being bent up just by going over normal road imperfections (relatively small pot holes, rain gutters, etc.).

 

Might just be a weak wheel. Especially if no issues with the other 3 wheels.

 

Wow. That is a fair amount of give to that wheel. And you don't recall curbing that wheel, or hitting a pothole? Maybe you have vandals who are bending your wheels. That looks like it could be done by a tire iron or crowbar. That just seems like an awful lot of damage to not know from where it came.

 

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen, but to clarify:

This is the third bent wheel.

The pictures don't show the current bent wheel, but two others from the past.

Thus far, I've bent both driver's side wheels, and now my front passenger side wheel.

The latest damage is in somewhere between that shown in the two pictures posted.

I recall when both driver's side wheels bent; wasn't the worst of potholes, but I must've caught it just right. I filed a claim with the town, but they denied same as having no prior notice.

I also have a BMW 750, on which I've had bent wheels in the past, but never on the face, like this.

 

I noticed that you have W rated tires. They will not have as stiff of a side wall as Y load rated tires. That deflection may cause more force to go past the tire into the wheel causing them to bend.

 

Wow, that's crazy. A few months ago, I was in my 335i with the exact same size rims and tires as the IS350. I hit a pothole at 80 mph on the highway. The impact was so harsh it sounded like a gunshot and I almost lost control of the car.

To my surprise, the car still tracked straight and didn't vibrate. When I had a chance, I pulled over to check it out. There was a bubble in the tire, but no visible damage to the rim. A few days later, I went to a tire store to get a new tire and had them inspect the rim. No damage to report.

So I would think if you hit something hard enough to actually bend a rim like that, you'd definitely know it. Seems like your rims must be defective because I haven't heard other IS350 owners complaining about this. What does your dealer say?

I remember when the new 5 series came out a few years back, it was having a ton of issues with rims and tires. But it was widespread and everybody was talking about it on the forums.

 

Hmm; thanks for the insight!

But wouldn't a stiffer sidewall transfer impact to the wheel...?

Hmm; interesting, but honestly not sure what to think!

Feel like someone jacked my car up at night and swapped wheels on me!

 

The stiffer sidewall would absorb more of the impact before transferring it to the wheel. Soft sidewalls will flex more which could almost take the impact straight to the wheel.

 

My front passenger wheel is also bent very very slightly though. Noticed not to long ago which would explain the slight vibrations I have at high speeds. OP did lexus fix your wheel under warranty, or you had to go third party?

 

Hmm; okay; thought a softer sidewall would absorb more; thanks.

No, a body shop sublet the repair to a wheel shop when the car was in for body work; I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket, but hear the work runs between $100 and $125 per wheel.

 

To a certain extent, that's true. But when you hit a bad bump, a softer sidewall can essentially collapse, thus failing to protect the rim from the road. With firmer tires you'll feel more bumps, but the tires are doing a better job at protecting the rim from the harsh impacts.

 

I've seen a few IS wheels come through our shop with issues like this. Seems like maybe they made a bad batch of them at one point. I believe most of them were replaced under warranty though.