GrnEyeDog

Hello everyone!
Quick question on steering wheels vibrations, well it's not vibration it's more like quick movements left and right, starts at around 50mph and sometimes it's really bad and then it disappears for a short while.
First I thought it happening because of mismatched front tires but now I installed all 4 new tires and the issue is still there. Does that sound like worn lower ball joints?
Thanks in advance!

jaaa

A broken transmission mount can cause vibration around the 45/50 MPH range. Doesn't sound exactly like what you are describing, but I'd check it out anyway.

Losiracer2

Check your outer tierods for any slop and play. Also jack up the front wheel and lift it up and down to see if there is any play in the lower balljoints..

My lower balljoints were completely worn out when i bought my car at 253k, even though the boots were sealed and had grease still. You can pickup new ones from the dealer for 75/piece or get them on Rockauto for 75/pair. I would choose Lexus OEM for critical suspension components like this though.

Also if you hear a clunking when going over bumps, my issue was the sway bar bushings were shot and I could move my sway bar in the front from side to side. I also replaced the sway bar endlinks since mine were worn out. You can go to O'Reilly Auto for things like this since its not critical if it fails, plus they give a lifetime warranty and it only cost me 15.64 a piece for those. The dealer wanted well over 100 a piece for those links which seems a waste.

GrnEyeDog

First thing I replaced when got the car - transmission mount, it was in really bad shape.
Both lower ball joints are covered in black grime, that why I suspect they cause that problem, just wanted to get confirmation here

dicer

Front end looseness and that could be ball joints, also the shimmy damper, tie rod ends etc.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

immediately i think ball joints! check them especially the lower ones. clunks are also a sign of bad strut rod bushings, very common on our cars but i would def check the lower bjs first!

GrnEyeDog

Replaced lower ball joints, steering feels a little tighter, but vibration is still there, just slightly reduced.
Mechanic saying that alignment needs to be done and he could not see anything wrong with control arms or other suspension bits - everything is tight and good according to him.
Any ideas?

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

alignment is a good idea and a rebalance of the wheels and tires too. the next step would be your strut rod bushings which as I stated is a very common failure point. what year car do you have and what's the current mileage?

GrnEyeDog

Thank you for your replay!
It's 2000 LS, 140xxx miles

Scraape

just did front suspension overhaul in my 98 LS. Replaced front lower ball joints, lower control arm/bushings, sway bar end links, strut rod/bushings, and tie rods. My vibrations disappeared. Lower Ball Joints, strut rods and lower control arms were in horrible shape. I think these got rid of the vibration.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

What bushings did you use for the lower control arms?

Scraape

i did everything the easy way and bought the whole part with bushings already installed. I got OEM strut rods, Moog Ball Joints, Ebay lower control arms, aftermarket other misc suspension. The ebay control arms didn't fit great and needed to be ground down a little (go figure, ebay)