Hi,

I have a new-to-me, 2020 UL (roughly 23k miles) which I absolutely love! When I bought the car, it had all four Turanza EL440 tires; however, three of those tires were replaced by the prior owner due to punctures. Therefore, it had one tire from 2019 (or 2020), one from 2021 and two from 2024. The car would vibrate between 30-40mph.

Fast forward a month, I got a road force balance done. The front two tires (from 2024) are good (7 and 4) and the back two failed with no good prediction (one was 35 and the other was 41). Therefore, I ended up replacing the two back tires with new (2024) Turanza EL440 tires at Discount Tire. One new tire has a road force value of 4 and the other has a value of 14. Discount Tire says the 14 value is good, but I thought a luxury car would need single digits.

The vibration has definitely improved but I still have a slight vibration between 20 and 40mph now. Is it worth going back to Discount Tire and having them try to get it into single digits? Or is there something else you think is happening?

Thank you for your help!

 

I would talk with their manager about this and see what they tell you. Discount is a great company to work with. They work hard to accommodate their customers.

 

Do you feel vibration in the steering wheel (usually caused by front tires) or in the seat of your pants (usually rear tire culprit)? That can narrow down where the issue is. I've had my ES six years now and a few years ago, I had to replace a tire and after three tries by the installer to balance properly, I ended up going to the dealer and they corrected the vibration issue.

 

Discount Tire uses Hunter Engineering equipment and is provide a precise balance. There is not a lot that can go wrong when this equipment is used.

 

I feel it in the seat of my pants; therefore, I'm pretty confident it is the rear tires. To me, I think the 14 RFV is too high and Discount needs to try again. I'm trying to avoid the dealership but absolutely will do if needed.

 

Yep, 100% agree. One of the main reasons I chose them is because they use the Hunter Road Force Elite balancer. Not sure if you have any experience with this, but do you think agree that 14 is too high of a RFV? My understanding is that Lexus sedans need to be in the single digits.

 

The wheels may be bent so you should check them out.

 

Good suggestion! I'll have them check that. Supposedly the Road Force Elite does this automatically; however, I'll confirm with them.

 

balance wont and can't reveal itself via vibration until 50-55mph +, unless you have a sack of rice tied to your wheel. so what you are feeling is likely something else.

and btw you shouldn't have vibrations like that in any car, regardless of "luxury" or not. Same for Kia, Mercedes, Maserati, or Camry/Rav4 (which your car shares the same suspension/underpinnings.) So I wouldn't focus too much on specifics for a given model. Just know you shouldn't have vibrations like you describe period. So check for a bent wheel, destroyed bearing etc.