Vincenza V

I have a 1999 GS400. Had 62K miles on it last year, one owner car other than me (he was a jewler and took great care of it).
I was told by the Lexus dealer my factory wheels were bad or my new Yoko. tires were bad, they balanced them, roadforce I believe, multiple times; We thought it would fix the steering wheel shake.
I since:
-replaced the wheels to new 20" with tires, and hubcentric spacers fron and rear. Got ballanced of course at a different place
-replaced lower ball joints two weeks ago
-replaced outer tierod ends two weeks ago

All with HOPE that the 50-60mph shake would be gone. NOPE!
The car is straight up beautiful, other wise she'd be gone. What else can it be? I spent about $2K including the wheels, trying to get her to ride like a Lexus, not a Kia. What on earth, can cas a shake only really noticeable from these speeds? It doesn't make sense. Please help me trouble shoot this. Wheel bearing? I don't know. There's NO WAY these were like this off the showroom floor, where they?

MJImport

iTrader: (1)

Try using the search function, there have been countless threads about this.

Welcome to the club btw.

Vincenza V

I HAVE used the search function man-that's why I'm desparate and had to post this specific question. I say we air drop all these GS's back to Japan. What a joke.

MJImport

iTrader: (1)

Woah man, haha, I feel your frustration but you're on your way to getting banned, LOL.
I've had 2 '98 GS400's and love them both.

This should get you started...

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...nes-fixed.html

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...e-that-is.html

blazin svk

mine would come and go, especially when there was a dip in the road. mostly in the 60-70 range, and never less than 55. i tried to tighten the steering rack, and no help. i changed wheels to some 20's and it was still there(i wasn't trying to fix it with the wheels)

i put on some type flex coilovers and its gone. i don't know if it was the upper mounts that were bad, or the negative camber due to being slammed. either way, changed suspension and it hasn't been back.

i am sure that some others with coilovers still have it, but mine is gone. most strut/spring combos reuse the upper mount, so those could still have it.

good luck

link13

What kind of tires did you put on? If they were balanced and road force balancing was not done, that may be the culprit. These cars are very sensitive to wheel balance. Also, how old are the shocks?

rnsand6kds

I know what you are talking about, had the same problem with Yokos on Acura TL wheels. So, it's not the wheels and probably not the tires as all other posts place the problem across every imagineable wheel/tire combo.

I took my car into the mechanic with a laundry list of items to replace and adjust. That was in December at 83,000 miles. Here is what I had done and there has not been any problems.

Replaced front upper control arms with OEM due to bushings squeaking.

Install OEM shocks on all 4. One was leaking. -irrelevant to this problem

Put snow tires on the Acura wheels for winter. Blizzak WS50 245/45r17. -probably not relevant to this problem either but can't be sure

Replaced outer tie rods with OEM.

Wheels balanced.

Vehicle alignment.

It was a lot and total bill ran around $2000. So, if wheel balancing and alignment does not solve your problem over the long run look into the control arms and tie rods. Once the shakes go away, you will be one happy camper. Just be careful, once you are problem free, you might start modifying other items to make the car more to what you want. It can be addicting.

Hope this helps.

Ross

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Maybe your rim is warped? Mark your tires with chalk then rotate it 360 degrees and see if it lands on the chalk mark. GL>

Vincenza V

Both sets of tire and rims were balanced at two different places: one the dealer, two the local T.Kingdom. It's too unlikely that both suck I'd think. At the dealer, I had thre different guys doing it in a week too.

I replace the factiry wheels because the dealer "said" I must have a bad wheel or tire (after they had three different guys, including their best buy and all balance them roadforce style). I have Nitto tires.

The car had 67K one owner FL miles on it. Now I think 84K.

I thought shock MIGHT be it, but after spending $1600 on the wheels, heeding the Lexus Dealers advise, lwr ball joints, tierod ends, etc; I'm leary about just throwing money at the problem. I am flad that you guy are taking the time to help me, and some of you got rid of the SHAKE by swaping out shocks. I really, really, love the car other than that. It's in amazing shape for a 1999. Any other idea's? Should I try the pretensioner? The dealer's GS guy said after a test drive about two years ago; that the factory TSB on it was done, since the wheel was so responcive to him.

Vincenza V

I'll try the chalk on wheel/tire thing (gasp..I always try to keep things OFF my wheels lol) Thank you again guys for your input!

rnsand6kds

Never mind the shocks, tires and wheels. I think it's wasting time and money.

Alignment and Upper Control Arms. They should have done the alignment after the tie rods. Many have said the shakes go away with alignment only but return shortly thereafter (like 2 weeks). I had mine done in December like I mentioned above. Do not have any problems.

If it's colder you might hear the control arm bushings squeaking which would indicate they are dying on you. Daizen makes replacement bushings but they sqeak also because of the polyurethane material they use. I replaced mine with OEM arms and bushings (all one unit). Sewell Lexus had them for sale for $500 ($250 each) so I jumped on it.

I read for awhile before doing these repairs and it seemed everyone agrees the car wants to have an alignment done at least yearly. One other guy mentioned the upper control arms cause the problem by kicking the "toe" out every time you hit a bump or whatever so that contributed to my spending on those also. There are aftermarket arms for sale too but the OEMs seemed to be the least expensive option.

Vincenza V

"Never mind the shocks, tires and wheels. I think it's wasting time and money."
I think you're right. It doesn't seem to be ONE constant in the GS wheel shake thing. EVERYBODY has a different fix. I just can't believe how many different things work, or don't work about the fix? Does the LS model suffer the shake? My next step may be to trade (keep my wheels of course). When the dealer CAN't unequivically pinpoint the problem, with what's wrong-why would I think I can fix it by throwing more money at her.

djspawn00

My solution is just to never drive 60mph... at 65 theres no shake, at 55 theres no shake... so just to be safer I do around 70 and call it a day...

dcz

yeh. Join the club. My car shakes to Holy Heaven and back everyday on the way to and from school. I am so ticked off with the car I will sell it whenever. I dont want to drive out of town or give anyone rides because its just embarassing. I know my bushings are bad as they started making noises. I am going to change those soon and hopefully that will do the trick. I replaced the whole strut tower/spring assembly with aftermarket... New rims/tires and had wheels balanced and car alligned 3 times and it still shakes. I love the car, but tis just getting old

jasonlee

iTrader: (3)

have the same problem, get some hub rings n get rid of the spacer