johnyboiiy

i know this sounds a little noob but i juss had my tires rotated in an X (rear right-front left etc.) and had all 4 wheels balanced after that, now when i drive past 65 m.p.h. my steering wheel starts to vibrate like crazy, i never had this problem before, i brought it back to the tire shop and they told me that i needed new tires.....im thinkin (yeah right) i never had this problem until i got my sh.it rotated then he tells me "i wouldnt lie to you my friend" right off the bat i know he tryin to hustle me, (i am from brooklyn) skeptical of this I wanna get a legitimate reason why this is happening, btw my car needs an alignment also cos it drifts to the left, but its been like that for a while now and wouldnt be the cause of vibration, i know that my tires are pretty worn but its not that serious to cause a massive vibration wtf?? worn tires or not it shuldnt be vibrating my steering wheel after a rotation SOMEBODY HELP!!!!!!!!! well it culd be a blessing in disguise cos that'll keep my speeding down to 65 m.p.h. hahaha if its any smoother you'll see me flying on the BQE

ASG14

iTrader: (1)

I had the same issue a couple months back. Chances are the tires are worn a little different, so after a couple thousand miles of driving, they should wear back and the vibration should go away. But needing new tires JUST because of a vibration, and not actually taking the wheels off to check them? No.

gulffishin

Had a similar thing happen to my Camry once. I went to NTB and the tires rotated and balanced and afterwards they started to vibrate. I had them re-balanced, and were still not fixed, so I went to the dealer. The dealer removed the front tire from the rim and it was full of water! NTB had water in their air compressor. When they spun the tire to balance it the water would settle on one side of the tire and cause the tire to seem off balance in the wrong area. After they emptied the water out of the tire and re-balanced it the vibration stopped.

ASG14

iTrader: (1)

^ WTF? Wow......

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Yea it happens a lot when the guys at the shop get lazy and don't drain their air compressor. I drain my every time I'm done using the compressor to make sure I get rid of water. Plus it helps reduce rust inside the tank.


I would check to make sure they torqued the lug nuts.

Even with worn tires, your steering shouldn't be vibrating. If your rears (now your fronts) were vibrating, you would have felt it from the back already.

Fritzo

Could be water in the tires, could be fix-a-flat or slime or some such thing of the devil. Or it could be that they didnt properly balance the tires.

On the off chance, it really could mean you need new tires. How old are the tires that are on the front axle? If they've been on the rear for a while they could have developed radial runout issues and started vibrating a long time ago, and you just don't notice it because you don't often ride in the trunk.

I would bring it to a different tire shop and have them throw your front tires on the balancer, and watch them spin. If the radial runout is really bad you should be able to see a bounce or wobble from the tire as it spins.

Good luck!

LexusFan09

hey guy i had the same problem with my es300 and i tried everything. my car was vibrating over 40mph i thaught it was the tires so i got all new tires. then it still was making the vibration so then i got an alignment for 60bucks and it went away. try getting an alignment.

johnyboiiy

thanks alot guys for the input...its so funny cos it comes and goes away like every mile...so0o0o0o godammm annoying but im tryin to get new tires anywho cos the winter in comin up nd im dont wanna take any chances, itll save my *** in the longrun, i dont wanna get it rebalanced and that **** happens again then ill be real heatd...then an alignment so i can ease my headache, it kinda gives me a massage on my hands tho while im driving lol

John U

When it happens to me it's usually because someone balanced them wrong. I put the wheel weights on the back side only (my mag wheels don't have a lip on the face anyway) I forget the term they use but there are two ways to set the machine to balance on the backside only.

ps: I did have a set of tires go "out of round". My Discount Tire warranty placed a new set of the same tires ($600) on at no charge no questions asked...they actually found the condition.

03 ES

sounds like maybe the tires are out of balence or the lugnuts were improperly torqued...both are cheap and easy fixes

tromly

+1, sounds like a balancing problem Good Luck

speedkar9

Apologies for bringing up an old thread, but I have the exact same problem as the OP, with the same car.

After rotating the tires in an X pattern, the front tires are making a thumping/ whirring noise at high speed, and a bit of steering wheel vibration.

I took it to a shop for re-balancing and the manager claims I need new 4 new shocks and 4 new tires. Yea right. The car rides fine and isn't bouncy. only 202,000km, and I'm guessing its the original shocks.

He showed me the thread on the front tires (which were on the back for at least 1 year/20,000km or more before I bought the car). You can feel bumps on the surface of the tire, as if some of the thread blocks are higher than others. He suggested that the shocks are shot and are killing the tires, causing an irregular wear pattern.

I have Michelin MXV4 tires. I have since rebalanced all 4 tires and put those noisy tires back on the back. The ride is a bit better, but still some steering wheel vibrations at 130km/h +.

While I realize he is trying to up-sell a shock/ strut job, is there any truth to what he has to say?
At what mileage are ES330 owners changing shocks/struts?

John U

Yes, Your shocks are bad and once replaced it will magnify the struts also needing replacements. Rest assured once they are done (KYB's are OEMs) you will be surprised how well the car once again rides.

Unless you can find a tire shop that can "shave" your rear tires down to level off the high spots.... you will want to look into new tires to complete the "restoration" of your ride and handling


PS: LOL's That right, stuts on both ends. I've replaced (myself) so many on my vehicles I forget what had what on them.

hypervish

A bad alignment can also ruin the tires. So I'd get that checked as well.

Did you get the tires road force balanced? Or just dynamic?

speedkar9

My car isn't bouncy. When you push on the trunk, it settles in 1.5 bounces. Or is the tire wear just an early indication that the struts are going bad?

I've been looking at KYB vs OEM. I read that the KYB GR2's are stiffer than OEM. I'd like to retain OEM Lexus ride quality.

Did you find a difference when replacing your struts? What mileage did you replace them at?

Yes I can tell the alignment is off as one side of the tire is worn a bit more than the other.

They were balanced the regular way, take them off and put them on the machine.