Scootymad

The rear end of my LS feels real off recently. It seems to handle bumps and corners well enough but when I come off the power after giving it a good shoeful, it feels like the back end is really loose and just wobbles around. I'm yet to get it up in the air to have a look but I haven't had the time to do so. Anyone experienced this?

Johnhav430

No but just theoretically I wish the rear camber weren't so negative (one side of mine is out of spec) and were in the middle of the range. So it would seem that is less than optimal for handling, on all cars right off the bat (apparently due to springs aging)...

leisinjp

What year and model LS do you have? Air suspension or regular?

I have an 05 with air and the rear is real wavy when going over bumps and such. I've taken it to three places and they all say it looks good. Only thing one shop said was to buy adjustable camber arms in the rear so that it can be set to 0 or something like that.

kos

iTrader: (1)

I do a lot of Time Attack / Time Trial stuff with my WRX, and this car feels like a boat compared to that. I've read some posts where people have swapped out the Rear Sway Bar and Bush for the Sport Model which is a little larger diameter. That should help mitigate body roll a bit. Also Ultra Racing on eBay offers an upgraded 19mm Rear Bar + Bush combo if you want a big upgrade.

ls430w140

aypues

When I last had my car aligned they mentioned something about getting a rear camber kit. I have no idea what this is. Does anyone have it? I have an 04 UL.
My rear end gets some horizontal motion over bad bumps which is strange.

Scootymad

Found the issue. Turns out wheel bearings aren't meant to be 2 separate pieces while installed in the vehicle. I've ran the hub nut down with the impact to stop the hub floating around to get the car home, but that bearing is toast.


To answer everyone elses questions, its a 2000 Singapore-spec ML without air that's getting up there in the miles.


Next question, what torque should be applied to the hub nut? The hub nut seemed to be a bit loose when I removed the split pin and retainer

StanVanDam

Is your rear bearing OEM or aftermarket? Hub nut spec is 214 ft-lbs.

Scootymad

Its aftermarket but genuine wheel bearings are prohibitively expensive down here. 214 lbft seems like a hell of a lot of torque. When I ran them down I definitely noticed the increased drag when I started driving

Trilkb

Were you getting any humming while driving? Out of nowhere I now get a hum at 35mph and up from the bsck. Thinking its rear wheel bearings.

StanVanDam

You get what you pay for with wheel hub bearings. I would not take the risk on any of the cheap bearings. SKF has lots of free literature on their website on proper hub design. Best hubs are OEM (made by Koyo), next best are SKF and Koyo, both very high quality. Raybestos would be my third pick. Would not consider any of the no-name, economy brand, cheap hubs unless you're fine with changing them out again after 20,000-60,000mi.

Just changed both my OEM rear hub assemblies at an independent shop last month due to metallic grinding noise audible only in dead silence at at low speeds, affecting both rear hubs equally. Got new Koyos from one of those UAE parts stores, Amayama or PartSouq. Rear right started the noise first but within 3000km the rear left started doing the same thing. 162,000km and 17 years on the road, driven in all Canadian winters.

Humming from the rear is also strongly indicative of wheel bearings needing replacement in the near future. Yes, 214 ft-lb is the required amount of torque for the axle nut. I would highly recommend following the Lexus engineers' specifications.

Scootymad

Again, genuine wheel bearings are roughly 3 times the price of aftermarket hubs, and I simply don't have that sort of money, nor can I justify it on a cheap car. I get mine out of Australia but I can't remember which bearings they use in them

Scootymad

214lb ft can't be right surely, I don't even have a torque wrench that goes that high. Best I can do is 200Nm. Guess Its getting maxed out then some ugga duggas to be safe

StanVanDam

This is very normal for axle nuts. Here are some cars that require 200+ ft-lbs on at least one of their axle pairs:

Acura NSX, RL, TL, TSX (09-11), ZDX: 242
BMW 3 series AWD, 5 series AWD (2004-2010), X3, X5, X6: 310
Chevy Aveo: 221
Dodge Durango: 229
Ford Crown Victoria (92-02): 221
Ford Edge, Five Hundred, Freestyle: 259
Honda Accord (09-11), CRV/Odyssey/Pilot/Ridgeline (2005+): 242
Hyundai Sonata (08-09), Tiburon (2008), Tucson, Veracruz: 207
Kia Rondo, Sportage: 202-207

All FWD Lexus ES, GS, IS, LS460, LS600, RX are spec'd for 217 on the front, all RWD Lexus spec'd for 214 on the rear, except for 99-03 RX300 which is 159.