Vibration/wobble at all speeds. Not a tire/wheel issue
06-04-15, 08:16 AM
#1
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Vibration/wobble at all speeds. Not a tire/wheel issue
Hello, long time lurker first time posting here on CL. I am in need of some help figuring out this vibration issue i have. 2011 RX350 purchased CPO in 9/13. Has been smooth as glass from when we bought it until about 2 months ago. My wife drives it daily but we use it as a family car on weekends. Noticed a slight vibration while driving it about 2 months ago. Ill run through what i have done so far to try to fix/diagnose this. Tires have 20K on them and are Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopias.
It feels like at really slow speeds the car is rocking back and forth like its on a bumpy road (this occurs even on freshly paved blacktop). As you get up more speed you start feeling a vibration and around 60+ is where it is most noticeable. The steering wheel has a slight vib in it but def not shaking, but the body is feel is where you feel it most to the point you can see the seats slightly shaking or if somthing is on the seat it has a shake to it.
Car was first checked by tire installer, tires check visually and rebalanced. No change
Brought the car to the Lexus dealer around me because they have Hunter GS road force balancer.
First time there was snow on the ground and couldn't feel anything on the road test so i brought it back the next week. They said they fully checked the car over and everything looks good. Told them to road force balance it anyway. They did although I don't think they really know how to use it but said all was good.
That day when I got home put the car on ramps noticed right away right rear shock was blown with dirt covering the whole shock body. Called back Lexus made an appt to have it replaced under warranty. They replaced right rear shock and both rear trailing arms. Still no change.
I then swapped out each wheel one at a time with the spare and road tested it. no change
Yesterday I brought it to an indy mechanic around me that has a Hunter Road Force Balancer who is highly recommended on some vette forums. They road force balanced it and all wheels and tires passed no problems with out of round, runout, shifted/broken belt etc.
When i had all the wheels off while swapping them I check for a stuck caliper ( all pads look like they have even wear plus all calipers seemed to move freely, did bearing shake test on all wheels and checked tie rods for play as well as spin wheel looking for runout/ or grinding noise. Also checked CV's , no rotational play although drivers side inner CV has some (maybe 1/8-1/4" of up and down play) don't know how normal this is.
At this point i don't know but could it be a bearing/CV? It has to be something rotational because it happens all the time while moving, accelerating or not, braking or not. Any ideas? I was convinced it was a tire/wheel problem but now I am pretty sure its not after the latest Road Force Balance.
Thanks in advance,
Andrew
It feels like at really slow speeds the car is rocking back and forth like its on a bumpy road (this occurs even on freshly paved blacktop). As you get up more speed you start feeling a vibration and around 60+ is where it is most noticeable. The steering wheel has a slight vib in it but def not shaking, but the body is feel is where you feel it most to the point you can see the seats slightly shaking or if somthing is on the seat it has a shake to it.
Car was first checked by tire installer, tires check visually and rebalanced. No change
Brought the car to the Lexus dealer around me because they have Hunter GS road force balancer.
First time there was snow on the ground and couldn't feel anything on the road test so i brought it back the next week. They said they fully checked the car over and everything looks good. Told them to road force balance it anyway. They did although I don't think they really know how to use it but said all was good.
That day when I got home put the car on ramps noticed right away right rear shock was blown with dirt covering the whole shock body. Called back Lexus made an appt to have it replaced under warranty. They replaced right rear shock and both rear trailing arms. Still no change.
I then swapped out each wheel one at a time with the spare and road tested it. no change
Yesterday I brought it to an indy mechanic around me that has a Hunter Road Force Balancer who is highly recommended on some vette forums. They road force balanced it and all wheels and tires passed no problems with out of round, runout, shifted/broken belt etc.
When i had all the wheels off while swapping them I check for a stuck caliper ( all pads look like they have even wear plus all calipers seemed to move freely, did bearing shake test on all wheels and checked tie rods for play as well as spin wheel looking for runout/ or grinding noise. Also checked CV's , no rotational play although drivers side inner CV has some (maybe 1/8-1/4" of up and down play) don't know how normal this is.
At this point i don't know but could it be a bearing/CV? It has to be something rotational because it happens all the time while moving, accelerating or not, braking or not. Any ideas? I was convinced it was a tire/wheel problem but now I am pretty sure its not after the latest Road Force Balance.
Thanks in advance,
Andrew
06-04-15, 09:26 AM
#2
Moderator
Is this AWD or FWD? If AWD check the driveshaft.
Swap tires/wheels with another RX and take a test drive.
Did the independent shop do all the suspension checks or did you do them while they had it on a lift?
Swap tires/wheels with another RX and take a test drive.
Did the independent shop do all the suspension checks or did you do them while they had it on a lift?
06-04-15, 09:45 AM
#3
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Its AWD. The Indy checked the suspension while on the lift. I've checked the suspension while on ramps then again when swapping tires with the spare. Only other thing I notices was the front passenger side ball joint had a little crud stuck and you could see some grease. Brought it to the attention of the dealer at the time of the shock and trailing arm replacement but they said it was tight (which it is, theres no play) and they weren't going to replace it under warranty in that condition.
Dont know anyone with another RX but swapping wheels and tires i agree would be ideal, although after this RFB i am at least fairly convinced there's another cause.
As for the driveshaft, do you think it would be out of balance or something else like a damaged u-joint? Even when crawling while idling off the brake at 5 MPH I feel the rocking/slight thump. Years ago I had a '91 GT foxbody mustang 5.0 with an out of balance driveshaft and that made more of a sweeping motion when decelerating only, you could almost feel the car lunging forward with every rotation of the driveshaft.
Dont know anyone with another RX but swapping wheels and tires i agree would be ideal, although after this RFB i am at least fairly convinced there's another cause.
As for the driveshaft, do you think it would be out of balance or something else like a damaged u-joint? Even when crawling while idling off the brake at 5 MPH I feel the rocking/slight thump. Years ago I had a '91 GT foxbody mustang 5.0 with an out of balance driveshaft and that made more of a sweeping motion when decelerating only, you could almost feel the car lunging forward with every rotation of the driveshaft.
06-04-15, 09:49 AM
#4
Moderator
Since it is under a warranty, if the dealer does not give you satisfaction you can always escalate it to the zone representative. They are much better than dealers at diagnosing a problem vehicle and are more aware of customer satisfaction issues than dealer level staff. There should be contact information in your manual.
06-04-15, 11:48 AM
#5
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Since it is under a warranty, if the dealer does not give you satisfaction you can always escalate it to the zone representative. They are much better than dealers at diagnosing a problem vehicle and are more aware of customer satisfaction issues than dealer level staff. There should be contact information in your manual.
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elbulldog1 (11-01-23)
06-07-15, 06:57 PM
#7
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I agree with trying different wheels and tires. I had a similar problem, although not as bad as yours and I got rid of those Duelers. I hated them anyway but as soon as I did, problem solved. Perhaps you might go to the dealer and ask if they will take wheels off a used one and swap to yours just for a test drive. Just don't swap with Duelers. I put Pirellis on and they are fantastic.
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06-08-15, 06:57 AM
#8
Racer
I'm going to vote for an issue with driveshaft or u-joint. I've had both issues in my time on older cars. Did a lot of the things you did with zero effect, before I realized it was nothing to do with the wheels.
06-08-15, 02:37 PM
#9
Driver School Candidate
It does sound like a drive shaft issue. I had a bad undercoating job that did that to me once. Hard to find but easy to fix once it was found.
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Woleokotoyin (10-31-23)
11-23-20, 10:32 PM
#10
Driver School Candidate
Did you get this figured out???
Hello, long time lurker first time posting here on CL. I am in need of some help figuring out this vibration issue i have. 2011 RX350 purchased CPO in 9/13. Has been smooth as glass from when we bought it until about 2 months ago. My wife drives it daily but we use it as a family car on weekends. Noticed a slight vibration while driving it about 2 months ago. Ill run through what i have done so far to try to fix/diagnose this. Tires have 20K on them and are Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopias.
It feels like at really slow speeds the car is rocking back and forth like its on a bumpy road (this occurs even on freshly paved blacktop). As you get up more speed you start feeling a vibration and around 60+ is where it is most noticeable. The steering wheel has a slight vib in it but def not shaking, but the body is feel is where you feel it most to the point you can see the seats slightly shaking or if somthing is on the seat it has a shake to it.
Car was first checked by tire installer, tires check visually and rebalanced. No change
Brought the car to the Lexus dealer around me because they have Hunter GS road force balancer.
First time there was snow on the ground and couldn't feel anything on the road test so i brought it back the next week. They said they fully checked the car over and everything looks good. Told them to road force balance it anyway. They did although I don't think they really know how to use it but said all was good.
That day when I got home put the car on ramps noticed right away right rear shock was blown with dirt covering the whole shock body. Called back Lexus made an appt to have it replaced under warranty. They replaced right rear shock and both rear trailing arms. Still no change.
I then swapped out each wheel one at a time with the spare and road tested it. no change
Yesterday I brought it to an indy mechanic around me that has a Hunter Road Force Balancer who is highly recommended on some vette forums. They road force balanced it and all wheels and tires passed no problems with out of round, runout, shifted/broken belt etc.
When i had all the wheels off while swapping them I check for a stuck caliper ( all pads look like they have even wear plus all calipers seemed to move freely, did bearing shake test on all wheels and checked tie rods for play as well as spin wheel looking for runout/ or grinding noise. Also checked CV's , no rotational play although drivers side inner CV has some (maybe 1/8-1/4" of up and down play) don't know how normal this is.
At this point i don't know but could it be a bearing/CV? It has to be something rotational because it happens all the time while moving, accelerating or not, braking or not. Any ideas? I was convinced it was a tire/wheel problem but now I am pretty sure its not after the latest Road Force Balance.
Thanks in advance,
Andrew
It feels like at really slow speeds the car is rocking back and forth like its on a bumpy road (this occurs even on freshly paved blacktop). As you get up more speed you start feeling a vibration and around 60+ is where it is most noticeable. The steering wheel has a slight vib in it but def not shaking, but the body is feel is where you feel it most to the point you can see the seats slightly shaking or if somthing is on the seat it has a shake to it.
Car was first checked by tire installer, tires check visually and rebalanced. No change
Brought the car to the Lexus dealer around me because they have Hunter GS road force balancer.
First time there was snow on the ground and couldn't feel anything on the road test so i brought it back the next week. They said they fully checked the car over and everything looks good. Told them to road force balance it anyway. They did although I don't think they really know how to use it but said all was good.
That day when I got home put the car on ramps noticed right away right rear shock was blown with dirt covering the whole shock body. Called back Lexus made an appt to have it replaced under warranty. They replaced right rear shock and both rear trailing arms. Still no change.
I then swapped out each wheel one at a time with the spare and road tested it. no change
Yesterday I brought it to an indy mechanic around me that has a Hunter Road Force Balancer who is highly recommended on some vette forums. They road force balanced it and all wheels and tires passed no problems with out of round, runout, shifted/broken belt etc.
When i had all the wheels off while swapping them I check for a stuck caliper ( all pads look like they have even wear plus all calipers seemed to move freely, did bearing shake test on all wheels and checked tie rods for play as well as spin wheel looking for runout/ or grinding noise. Also checked CV's , no rotational play although drivers side inner CV has some (maybe 1/8-1/4" of up and down play) don't know how normal this is.
At this point i don't know but could it be a bearing/CV? It has to be something rotational because it happens all the time while moving, accelerating or not, braking or not. Any ideas? I was convinced it was a tire/wheel problem but now I am pretty sure its not after the latest Road Force Balance.
Thanks in advance,
Andrew
pls let me know what solve this problem
11-25-20, 07:06 AM
#11
Moderator
Please do not be offended ... I am merely asking some awkward questions to help diagnose.
1. Did the change happen suddenly or developed over time (gradually)? If sudden, then please speculate on possible causes.
2. Has the dealership acknowledged the problem?
3. Has any shop acknowledged/reproduced the problem?
4. Has any one checked the suspension completely?
5. Has any one checked the engine & transmission mounts for tears or breaks.
Salim
1. Did the change happen suddenly or developed over time (gradually)? If sudden, then please speculate on possible causes.
2. Has the dealership acknowledged the problem?
3. Has any shop acknowledged/reproduced the problem?
4. Has any one checked the suspension completely?
5. Has any one checked the engine & transmission mounts for tears or breaks.
Salim
10-31-23, 11:34 AM
#12
#8
I have read all the possible cause for this problem, my 2002 started having this wobbling problem when the drive shaft suddenly fell off and I just went to the junk yard and pulled one off a Lexus RX300 not checking if its AWD or not but right now from what I am reading so far it looks like it's the rear drive shaft, I have put in new tires, new front and rear suspension and it's still wobbling, I have ordered a new rear drive shaft and will keep you posted if it fixes the problem
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