trbosmitty

iTrader: (2)

My car has had a vibration issue now that I'm trying to isolate where its coming from. This isn't just a nuisance vibration; its significant enough to shake the water bottles in the cup holder and I can see my empty passenger seat shaking. I can't isolate where exactly its coming from as its in the rear and in the front. Looking for some additional troubleshooting ideas. I'll give you the run down on what I've done so far.


I first noticed the vibration was there when I bought the car but didn't really sweat it as the car needed new tires anyway. I'm still on stock wheels and suspension at this point. So I have new Continental DWS06 tires installed at discount tire (mounted and balanced). I noticed the vibration is still there from 70-80mph. Multiple trips to different Discount tire shops (8 visits) to have them balance and road force balance with no luck. The second road force balance test did reveal one of the continentals had a slight bump in the tire. So we replaced them with a set of Michelin Primacy tires. Again vibration is still there at highway speeds. The manager of discount tire is determined that I'm imagining things and insist that he personally balance and road force check them to prove me wrong. I won that round but that still doesn't fix my issue. At this point I'm thinking its the wheels so I bought a new set of wheels and while I'm at it I lowered the car on Tanabe springs. Had the wheels balanced and once again...vibration is still the same. We noticed I didn't have any hub centric rings installed on any of the wheels so I ordered them for both sets of wheels thinking that would surely be the problem. I ended up getting another set of wheels just for a backup set with new Continental DWS06's this time with the rings installed...again vibration is still there. I just had the alignment done as well...surely this will fix the problem....no luck either. I thought...maybe the front rotors are warped; but shot that idea down as my car doesn't shake under braking but I had the rotors resurfaced anyways as the brake pads where grabbing part of the rotor when I spun them. That didn't fix the vibration either. I checked both tie-rods and all wheel bearings and everything is tight.


The car currently has 58K miles (majority being highway miles). I have an appointment scheduled in the morning with Lexus; but I have a pretty good feeling they will blame it on the lowering springs and the aftermarket wheels.


I ordered the SPC rear camber kit and will be adding that as well as getting my alignment accomplished again. I'm thinking coilovers to swap out my shocks as I think they will need to be replaced soon and re-surface the rear rotors; but I'm not sure that will solve my problem.


Any ideas of what I could try next would be greatly appreciated!

lamikela1

Is this AWD or RWD. Have you checked the half shafts to be sure there is no play in them? Also I wouldn't have done anything with the wheels and springs until the problem was corrected as now there are more variables involved.

trbosmitty

iTrader: (2)

RWD. No I have not check the half shafts. Yeah I jumped the gun on installing the wheels and springs.

lamikela1

Yes, anything that turns in the drive train can cause vibrations. So all of that will need to be checked to see if you can pinpoint the problem. Could also be a bent shaft. Did you hit any road debris lately.

trbosmitty

iTrader: (2)

I haven't; the previous owner might have though.

spoogenet

Hopefully not a stupid suggestion -- wheel bearings? Bent wheel? Axle issue?

Does it get worse under acceleration, cornering, or braking?

While many things should show up with road force balancing, my experience has been lackluster. I had a set of tires on a different car that, despite RFB, wouldn't balance. My belief is they were imbalanced along the width/tread of the tire, and the weight placement either didn't or couldn't eliminate that.

I'm new to Lexus/Toyota but a quick Google search brings up piles of results that sound rather similar to yours. I haven't spent a lot of time to read, but the bit I have hasn't found a smoking gun or silver bullet. In short, it affects multiple models, it's not the balancing of the wheel/tire, mechanics can feel it, and nobody knows or acknowledges what it is.

trbosmitty

iTrader: (2)

I've experienced the same vibration with the OEM 18's and 2 different sets of 20in wheels all that have checked out fine on the balancer. I did check the wheel bearings and they're all tight.

I still need to check the half shafts.

I have noticed it does get worse under acceleration and when I take a long tight turn getting on the interstate.

spoogenet

I'm not expert on this, but that sounds to me like an axle problem. I'm coming off FWD where drive axle problems create significant steering wheel vibration, especially under load, but any axle problem can cause vibration.

trbosmitty

iTrader: (2)

I'll have the Lexus techs check them out tomorrow. I'm not really sure how to check them to see if they're the problem.

Hoping they're covered under the CPO warranty

spoogenet

Maybe not exactly related, but a good read nonetheless.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...on-thread.html

trbosmitty

iTrader: (2)

Excellent thread!! I'm printing that one out.

FuzedOne

My GS actually does the same thing bro! I'm on my 3rd set of wheels (I thought it was the wheels), done 5 alignments, and balanced my wheels about 10 times lol. If you do find out what it is please post it up. Ill be very greatful!! I cant stand how much my seat vibrates and steering wheel at about 80 mph, but at 100 mph it stops.

trbosmitty

iTrader: (2)

I dropped the car off yesterday. Probably won't get the car back until Monday. I'll post up what they find. I'm thankful they gave me a loaner (2016 ES 350)!

fuddyduddy

I have a slight vibration that started around 80 mph too. It started when I had the tires rotated at the Lexus dealer. I took it back to have them balanced, however after that it's still slightly there. I'll be interested to see the outcome of this.

Tetguy

I had a vibration problem between 60 and 75 mph that developed after new tires were installed at a highly recommended tire shop. I brought the car back but the problem was still there but not quite as severe. I jacked the car up and discovered numerous weights (varied 9 to12) stuck all around the rims. Some were new (shinier). I decided to remove all of them and put them in separate bags for each wheel. I road tested the car and it was even better but not perfect. I went back to the tire shop and gave them a piece of my mind along withe weights and told them to DO A PROFESSIONAL JOB this time time since their advertising claimed they were professionals. Lo and behold my car runs smooth again. A lot of these shops try and save time and money by not removing the old weights It took a lot of elbow grease to dissolve the glue. This may be all part of the problem your looking at. Who knows ,maybe one of the weights fell off as I found 2 of the older weights came off very very easy. It will leave the sticky glue on the rim which is easy to detect. Good luck.