FlyTvr

Hi all.

I have a 2009 IS-F. 49K miles. I've owned the car since June this year and I'm not happy with the steering.

Only a few weeks into ownership, whilst driving on the motorway (highway), I noticed that the car needed constant minor corrections to keep it nailed to the centre of road. At the time the weather was quite windy, so I put it down to crosswinds.

I'm now of the opinion that the crosswinds are not the route cause of the symptoms, but just act to exasperate the issue.

I'll try and talk you through what I am experiencing. Lets imagine I'm in one lane and I need to swap lanes. I steer to the left. Once I'm in the new lane, I straighten the car up. It is at this point I encounter the problem. The initial resistance (feeling of torque) in the steering momentarily lessens. Only happens for a fraction of a second, but it is unnerving. It makes the steering feel vague.

Any ideas? I apologise for the vagueness of my description

BTW Lexus say there is nothing wrong.

ap2s2k

iTrader: (3)

Does it happen in a sport mode too? Sport mode "tightenes" the steering response. Do you mean your steering feels kind of lose? Maybe it's time for rrracing USRS or any similar solution.

kauaian

iTrader: (18)

Could be a mis-aligned sub frame.

FlyTvr

I don't think it makes any difference.

The steering doesn't feel at loose. It is almost as if the steering is disconnected for a fraction of a second and then reconnects. Hard to explain. Almost like the power steering is over powering for a fraction of a second and then corrects itself.

idoke1

iTrader: (5)

Check your front tires. Both of them. Look for inner tire wear. I had a similar experience but it was due to tires and it depended on the road conditions.

ap2s2k

iTrader: (3)

I wonder if it has something to do with steering ecu, maybe the previous owner was swaping them and has something to do with calibration, maybe lexus should re calibrate your ecu? Doesn't sound like a mechanical issue I think.

Vervish

iTrader: (4)

This is a long shot but I had very similar issues immmediately after installing new tires. Turned out one of the tires suffered from radial pull. It was especially noticible on the highway and under acceleration - car would wander and needed constant adjustment. Just as if getting hit with a strong crosswind.

If not the tires, I would look at LCA bushings and (obviously) the alignment.

nks979

Mine had this issue after hitting a large bump, they reset the power steering ecu for free at Lexus and that fixed it. The tech told me that these PS computers are very sensitive and frequently will throw odd symptoms if you hit potholes and such.

ISFMichael

To me this sounds like a power steering issue. Like a couple others have said, perhaps an ecu reset will alleviate the issue.

Did Lexus find nothing wrong as they couldn't replicate the problem during the test drive?

FlyTvr

Thanks all for the replies. I really appreciate it.

The car is under warranty and is for another 2 years. Lexus have looked at it and couldn't find a fault. I think I'll need to take one of their mechanics out to show them - but problems like these are never easy to reproduce

Driving home in the wet today, the problem did seem worse - just thought I'd add that.

F_Throttle

I think I have the same thing going on.. like a dead-feel (momentary disconnect) when the wheel returns or passes zero... It happens more when i'm making transition turns (left to right or right to left). Dealer can't replicate so have been living with it.

I also remember seeing this: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-steering.html. Wonder if its the same

FlyTvr

Sounds so so so similar. I feel I am not alone! Thanks so much for posting this!

Don't know about you, but I find it unnerving, especially in the wet!

F_Throttle

^ Since upsizing my tires, I've actually begun to notice it less.. or maybe i forgot about it. And now its driving me crazy thinking about it.

nks979

Thanks for that link jum3, mine has exactly that issue where it doesn't return to center on its own, like tracking with a groove. Probably a bit too late to get Lexus to help out with it though.

dprada01

Yea my 08 does the same thing. I just got used to it. Although it's kinda scary when I do spirited highway runs. First thing I did when I got the car was align it because I thought it was misaligned. Alignment turn out to be spot on. I upsized to 245 PSS in the front and 275 in the rear. It felt much more planted and less of that weird cross wind feeling but it's still there especially on rough roads or roads with many track marks.