greenchile

I just purchased a very clean 2008 with 32K miles on it to replace my 2011 Sonata SE that has a suspension too harsh for my wife's bad back and neck. It was a one owner, driven by a little old lady in Santa Fe, NM. She is no longer able to drive and her husband didn't need to keep the car. This was a private purchase, not dealer/CPO.

During my highway test drive, I noticed a little vibration in the steering wheel above 60 mph but couldn't go much faster since I was in town and there was lots of traffic. I attributed that to nearly 6-year old Bridgestone Turanza tires in pretty poor shape. So right after purchasing I put a set of Michelin Primacy MXV4 on it. I got onto the highway later that day and at about 65 mph, a vibration in the steering wheel shows up. It seems somewhat inconsistent in that if I am accelerating or decelerating, the vibration comes and goes through the 65 - 75 mph range. I have not driven above 75 to see what happens to the vibration.

I did a little searching on the forum and I've seen recommendations to have the tire company balance the tires again as well as go to a place that does a 4-wheel road force balance. I'm curious if anyone else has had this issue and what their solution has been.

John U

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es3...-at-75mph.html

RickC5

Since you just invested a bunch of cash in new tires, please be sure to have a four-wheel alignment done ASAP. The combination of a good balance job and the four-wheel alignment should cure your vibration.

greenchile

Rick, thank you for the suggestion. It is the first thing on my list of stuff to do. About 12 years ago I learned my lesson on an expensive set of tires that I had to replace after 20K miles due to wear issues. A $80 alignment is a good investment to protect an $800 set of tires. Has anyone paid for the Lifetime Alignment you can get at Firestone Auto Care facilities? Any good or bad stories regarding the technical competence of the techs or using the lifetime alignment?

RickC5

FWIW, I haven't heard or seen much positive feedback re: Firestone Auto Care. It seems very hit-and-miss, meaning that some of their techs are good and others not so much. Personally I would ask around for a good, independent front end/suspension shop that has a great reputation. If you live in a bigger city, there should be some around.

Please let us know how this all turns out.

John U

Firestone is the first place I stop. My wife kept her last Lexus for 14 years with two alignments a year for $125.00.... equals 28 alignments ......$4.46 an alignment. The tech knows my vehicles well and has seen me put 600,000 miles combined on my last two business vehicles.
I paid $159 for my recent vehicle.

greenchile

Good news. The road force balance took care of it. One of the front tires was out of balance. It appears that the the original balancing either wasn't done or the stick-on weights came off right after we left the tire shop. Everything is smooth as silk now.

greenchile

Here are a few photos of the car when I looked at it a couple days before I bought it.

John U

Great!

I always find it interesting how the balance changes on my tires. I get them rotated every 7,000 miles and watch how they move the tape weights around on the back to keep them balanced...... (I'm left with the glue to remove afterwards)

greenchile

I have to say this is the finest automobile I have ever owned. My '99 Land Cruiser had that distinction until I got this one. Granted, I haven't owned a lot of vehicles to compare to (Datsun 620 Pickup, Toyota Pickup, Nissan Sentra, Honda Del Sol, Toyota Tacoma, Honda Accord, Toyota Land Cruiser, Hyundai Sonata) but most of them were/are pretty good cars. Now if all the bells and whistles (and motorized everything) will last for a good 10 - 15 years longer I'll be really happy. The last thing I have to get over now is fact that a middle-class 37-year old male is not the typical demographic for the ES 350. But my wife has the bad spine and neck of someone 30 years her senior so it kind of makes sense.

Ronalder

I purchase life time alignments with all my cars, I have the alignment done and wheels balanced with my quarterly oil change. I found the tech that did the best job and asked that only she work on my cars.

greenchile

I opted for the lifetime alignment at Firestone. The left front and left rear had the toe out just outside of the normal limits. Also the Left Front wheel has the caster right at the edge of being within factory spec, but the tech said there was no adjustability left to bring it to the middle of the factory spec. So the acceptable range is 2.2 - 2.7. One wheel is at 2.2 and the other is at 2.5. I figured of all the specs, caster would be the least likely to cause a tire wear issue.