surburban9

Hello, just purchase a new 2012 Lexus LS460 L AWD. Between 35 to 40 MPH I feel a slight vibration in the front end of the car. Once I get above 40 MPH the vibration or wobble goes away.Could it be a tire out of balance? Car was bought new, and currently has 1200 miles on the clock.

Thanks for the responses.

Lextrician

I think this issue is common for the awd 460 do a search on google and see what pops up to see if these are the symptoms everyone else is having....

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...w-speed-5.html.

Valley101

I do not believe you can categorize it as it is a problem with AWD being the cause. In the earlier years this was an issue, but I had a 2010 and now a 2012 and I never encountered any vibrations.
My first thought would be an out of balance problem. Be sure the people doing the balancing have the correct equipment, which the Lexus dealer would have. Road Force balancing is the only way to ensure a proper balance.

CJITTY

It is not uncommon for a car to have out of balance tires..especially from the dealer. Plus the car sitting in one position for a long time will cause dead spots where the weight of car was sitting on, especially with cooler temps..a few miles and heating up tires cures it in most cases. If it was a vey prolonged time the car was sitting, the tires may be faulty..but absolutely check tires first. If you continue to have that issue, then search on the forum for the many awd vibration threads that already exist..make note of any TSBs on the issue and complain to dealer and provide tsb# if it applies to your VIN and year range

thegov3

Have a 2009 AWD and my balance issue was bad at 70MPH + when I first bought the car. I had the tires roadforce balanced to below 10 pounds and that fixed the issue. Now it only vibrates for a few seconds after the tires sit and get a flat spot. Once they roll for for a minute it goes away. I also had the air struts replaced, but the vibration went away right after the roadfroce balance. Have they done that to your car? If not, have them.

CJITTY

wow..your air struts have been replaced already? what symptoms did you notice. .I have an 08 600hL and I wonder if mine is as smooth as it is supposed to be..sounds kind of like a rattling noise over rougher roads. so did they replace the struts because they suspected vibration was from faulty struts or they just went out that easy?

thegov3

Aug 2012 @ 41K miles: Right rear air strut replaced
Dec 2012 @ 46K miles: Left rear air strut replaced
Dec 2012 @ 46K miles: Left front air strut replaced
Jan 2013 @ 47.5 miles: Right front air strut replaced

I could tell the rears were bad easily. When I hit any depression in the road at 10-45 mph I heard a thump in the rear. The bigger the depression and the more weight in the backseat, the louder the thump noise. Even an occasional bottoming out feeling occured on big bumps. It was brutal. Easy to tell something was wrong.

The fronts on the other hand were harder to tell when they were shot. In my case, I heard chattering from the front end when driving slowly over very small bumps....like cracks in pavement small. Any slight road impression made them chatter as they went up or down..but only at low speed (under 10 MPH). It was worse when it was cold outside and below freezing. Much worse. The front of the car didn't float too much, bounce or feel strange in terms of ride, just noisy chattering in the front end. I also complained about vibration above 70 MPH at the same time.

Now....car is silky smooth. However, they also roadforce balanced my tires at the same time of the first front strut repair, so it hard to tell which fixed which. The noise is gone and the car feels much tighter. There is a TSB for the air struts. Sadly, they are crap on the LS. It is a known issue.

DaveW68

This is exactly why I love the regular suspension.

thegov3

Agree. Had mine not been replaced under warranty, I would have swtiched to a spring suspension. I am sure my air struts will have to be replaced again. Hopefully before my extended warranty runs out.

lklugman

I have a 2012 LS460 AWD. I experienced a very predictable vibration at 37-43 mph. Below or above those speeds, fine. Lexus has a service upgrade which changes the speed at which the converter locks up in the transmission. This fixed 90% of my problem. Very pleased. One more thing-had previous tires balanced three times and switched to new Michelin primacy (a very good tire). Always the vibration remained. This fixed it.