lexus22

Hi Rez, my is300 has just clicked over the 100k so have been checking out getting the belt done as well.

Thats a cheap price for the Blueprint kit, where did you get it from?? seen it this morning on eBay for £70!

There is a (independent) garage in Brentwood Essex who quoted me £250 inc belt/tensioner which sounds reasonable.

Used them last week to fit new front coil springs to my car, I supplied the springs (Blueprint) and they charged me £70 to fit them which was stupidly cheap, and this has totally transformed the driving/handling of the car.

Considering getting them to do mine as the fella there seems to know his stuff albeit not Lexus trained.

Where abouts in Essex are you?

Nuh, just p/x it for an is300...much better idea.

Can't believe the difference the new springs have made, it's really transformed the overall ride and handling of the car, now I can drive it a lot faster around country lanes without the nose dipping all over the place and feels "solid" in a straight line.

Guess the originals were knackered although I wouldn't have known until one broke, but looking back I should have realised as the front end did sit a bit low...

So the problem doesn't appear to be with the hubs or the calipers/brakes. It is worth changing the rubber brake hose on the n/s as apparently (according to my mechanic) the hose can perish inside restricting the fluid to the caliper which can cause the disc to warp. He reckons that he's seen this problem a few times before, and changed it on my car when we were trying to find the cause, but in my case this wasn't the problem, but for the sake of £30 it's worth doing.

I did have a is200 sport which made the noise that you describe in 6th gear (although none of the other issues)

I had the clutch/thrust bearing changed and spigot bearing, still the same. Changed the complete gearbox, still the same...

so I gave up and sold it..!

I still have the original gearbox (35k miles) in my garage if you need one.

Apparently the coil springs on is300 sport saloon are different than is200 and sportscross. Have ordered 2 x Blueprint ADT388394

£125 the pair.

How about the brake pads, what make are they?

Check out KYB, I used on my LS no problems, they have a massive range....

Tried KYB but they don't have any stock for the is300, reluctant to buy any from eBay, even though they are cheap, as want to keep road height and handling the same, can anyone else suggest any other suppliers or I will order from Lexus.

Are the coil springs the same on is200/300 and sportcross?

I'm confused, what discs/brake pads were you using?

Just when I thought everything was finally sorted, bottom of n/s coil spring snapped off, about 3 inch.

Possible after going down a massive pothole. Is it better to change both front springs rather than just the one, and where is the best place to get them from? Lexus want £103.00 each, is it worth paying that much or are there any suitable after market springs that would be the same? Don't want the road handling or height to change.

Yeah, I was reluctant to change the whole assembly after already forking out for a new hub and bearing, but the original unit can always be put back on if turns out to be something else, hope it works out mate.

Hey Billy, did you manage to sort your car out?

Not much else i can change on the front. I can only assume that one of the new recon calipers is a dud, doesn't seem to be binding but it might be just a little?? Who knows!!!!

Well if the brake is binding, you would expect the disc/wheel to be hotter than the other side. Have you had the "run out" checked on the disc and hub?

Engine oil would be my first thought, if you have recently bought the car and not had it changed before, replace with a fully Synthetic oil and see if that sorts it.

Gonna be interesting to find out the cause on your car Mike, what else is left?

Been there and got the T shirt, dont bother driving yourself mad, just change the bloody hub assembly and be done with it!!

The only thing that would stop the brakes making contact would be if the sliding pins are corroded/stuck in the carrier..assumed your garage would have checked these though..

If there is no "clicking" noises when spinning it, then cant see there being a problem, as soon as the weight of the wheel is on the bearing it will spin easier.

I would have thought that if the OSF brake was not working properly then the car would not brake in a straight line. The garage checked my brakes on the rolling road, the same way as they check brakes when doing an MOT, it passed that okay so brakes were not the problem. I assume your garage would be able to do this simple brake check as well, this will show if both sides are braking evenly. Apparently, the setting up of the equipment to do a disc tolerance run out check, takes a while to do, which I guess is something that a garage will not freely do. They checked mine in the end (because I complained) and the NSF was miles out, with a new hub fitted!

To be honest i woudn't mess about, get the NSF assembly changed and put a new disc on that side only and see if that sorts it.

A fair point but if you have worked out which side is giving the problem then just change the whole hub assembly as previously discussed.

How soon until the tapping stops, or is it still noticable when warm?

But Billy, the discs are not "warping" one of them is wearing unevenly..

Well it depends what tread pattern your tyres have! The tread pattern on my Vreds are wavy, not vertical as is the norm, thus are annoyingly noisey and not very good on fuel but give masses of grip.

Spin the hub by hand, this will confirm that the bearing is okay or not. When I look back at the amount of grief and money this caused me, and wife telling me to "sell the bloody thing", it's satisfying to have finally cracked it!

Where did you get the hub assembly from Billy?

Strange that have never had this problem with any other make of car..

Have done almost 5k since changing the complete hub and no probs