Hi all,
Well it looks like, along with with the water pump, there may be an issue with the front bearings on the IS F (at least the 2009 model). I had to have my water pump replaced at about 16,500 miles as it was leaking, though it was a small amount over time. I also had noticed a groaning noise that got worse over time from the left front wheel. Sounded like a bearing to me and one of the Lexus techs agreed. They replaced the hub and bearing assembly. Both were done under warranty. During the write up the service manager printed a report on my IS F chronicling all that has been done to date on it. It appears that the wheels were changed from N91032's to N91225's. Does anyone know what the N91032 wheels look like?

 

Just curious but did you buy your IS F new?

 

Interesting, this is the first I have ever heard of a wheel bearing failing in an ISF. Hopefully it is an isolated incident. Glad to hear they took care of you without issue.

Also never heard of the wheel change till 2010

 

I personally have seen seven separate wheel bearings changes on IS-F's. So, I would not call this an isolated incident. Seems more like a bad run of bearings, or improperly torqued bearings to me.

 

To the OP, did the groaning start when you are backing up? Mine is doin this now. Also, it is more apparent when I have not driven the car in the days.

 

Typically a bad wheel bearing will make noise while turning due to the increased weight on the outer corner. After a while it will make noise all the time.

 

I believe the noise you are hearing is from rust forming on the surface of the rotors from sitting too long.

 

I have this suspicion as well. Thanks Ming..

 

Good to know. Thanks Tenspeed...

 

I replaced the passenger side wheel bearing (under warranty) just before I discovered the water pump failure.

It was extremely noisy, and progressively worse (as you would expect).

 

They're not the stoutest of bearings. I got the front brake pads pushed back when I hit the track out gators in turn three at CMP. I had to pump the brakes twice to get pedal again. The cause is 100% bearing and hub flex.

If you research wheel bearings or get SAE's newsletter, you'll see the Cadillac CTS-V has some pretty exotic wheel bearings for a street car. I wish they were available for the F.

All that said, I've not had any other issues despite the track time on the car.

 

No. The noise was most notable at above 50 mph when applying slight steering to the right. When steering to the left it went away. Also was constant on certain roads where there are slight curves that require steering to the right. Quite frankly, I'm surprised by the bearing issue as according to what I'd read, the front hubs and bearings were designed to be able to take the abuse of track work. The rotors rust up pretty quickly (even after just washing the car), especially if your car sits outside. So in your case it probably is just that being cleaned off by the initial braking.

 

Do you do the thing of aligning pads before hard braking? I forgot what the term is called... right before you go into a corner and right before you do hard braking, you slightly push the pedal to get the pads and rotors aligned up

I wish I had a reverse dictionary

 

I've replaced 3 bearings on mine. LF, RF, and RR. The left front was the worst but the funny thing is it would make noise unloaded, which normally they're noisy under load.

 

Never heard of it. Yes, I do a pedal test just to see if it's soft, but it's not to align the pads, only check brake pressure. When the pedal sinks lower than you expect, you'll be pumping a couple of very quick pumps to see if there's anything there at all.