Lexb

Hi All,

A couple things to share and seeking some advice.

Have a read if you've been frustrated by brake vibration.

I have a 2011 ES350 with 165,000 Kilometers (I live in Canada . I got the car in 2015 and everything has been great except a recurring vibration when braking and vibration at speed which I assumed was a wheel balancing issue. I replaced front pads & rotors 3x's. Had the wheels balanced but... After each replacement the brakes felt ok initially, but after a few weeks I'd get a bad vibration in the steering wheel (and a bit that seemed to come from the rear). I finally checked the hub runout on all 4 and found that the rears were out a bit and changed the hub/bearing assembly. The fronts were fine so I was scratching my head about the recurring issue. I then took the car to a friend of a friend who did a thorough test drive and inspection. Although the suspension seemed to pass the traditional bounce test, he insisted that my struts were bad and recommended changing them before doing brakes again. He also showed me a lot of play in my drive shafts so recommended that I replace both sides. I was skeptical, but my friend swears by him. Unfortunately Monroe doesn't make a quick strut for our car, but I did get the best premium parts he could find including mounts. I have to double check the brand of quick strut. Don't think it was KYB Can't recall off-hand...

So, in all I did:

• New left and right drive shafts
• New front and rear struts
• New premium front pads and rotors
• New rear sway bar bushings
• New front and rear sway bar links
• Serviced rear brakes
• 4 wheel alignment

The good news is that 6 weeks later, the vibration is gone and has not returned. Stops are nice and smooth and the car feels great at speed. Only an ever so slight vibration above 120ish...

BUT

I am hearing some annoying clucking and squeaking from my suspension:

very common clucking sound when going over small bumps. I call it the taxi-cab sound because EVERY cab I've been in has it... It's coming from the front and rear. I thought at least the rear would be ok with the new sway bar links and bushings. Any ideas what I should look at next for the rear??

For the fronts, I do have front sway bar bushings but I have to check and see if that's something I can do myself or whether I need to take it to a mechanic to do and I'm not convinced that that's the issue.

I'm also hearing squeaking from the front when going over bumps (nothing when turning the wheel). Not sure if lubing the strut mount assembly will help with this.

Does anyone know if there are any grease fittings on our cars? Should I try re-torquing the front struts?

I know at some point I'm going to have to look at control arms, and some of the other suspension parts up front, but I already dropped $4k and am looking to do what I can myself and/ or deal with some of the lower cost items first. Let me know if you guys have any recommendations for what do next with the cheapest possible fixes first.

Any help would be appreciated

chuyrobles

So, after changing what part(s) did the vibration stop? Or, did you do change many parts at one time that you don't know which one was causing the vibration?

When our ES350 had about 170K it developed a vibration when braking. Threw in some cheap DuraGo rotors to replace the OEM rotors and no more vibration.

We now have a vibration when accelerating, which I've diagnosed to be the right-side motor mount, that is physically located in the front by the radiator. I've ordered all mounts to replace...