20's on '00 gs300 for about a month now. 0 trouble until a few days ago. Any speed really after like 35 and the car starts to noticeably shake, i don't know if its the wheels or steering wheel or what but it shakes so bad that the inside of the car you can see shaking mirrors, seats, everything is shaking bad the steering wheel too and if you look at the hood while you're driving the whole thing is shaking like the whole car not just the hood.

A reputable chain tire/wheel place in the Northeast aligned and balanced it twice now if anything the problem is worse. They say that two cambers are frozen/seized so I guess they can't align that part? Anyways like I said I've had 2 alignments and 2 balances done in 2 days and if anything the problem is worse if anything. I have 3 questions.

1. They had my car down as a '05, it's an '00, I just noticed this looking at the paper work, could that throw it off even more and thus not fix the alignment/balance problem? It actually says '01 - '06 next to the year of '05 on the paper work. Having the car info wrong, when they align it could they cause more problems or does the year/make/model have nothing to do with that? I clearly know nothing about cars/tires/wheels...

2. If I get these cambers fixed and have them realign/balance whatever is that goign to fix it? They said the front left rim was bent a little but nothing that would cause any harm or make the car shake like that so they put it on the left rear/back.

3. What the hell could be causing this as the car is basically un drivable now after about 40 mph, once you hit 60 it feels so unsafe I can't describe it... It just started one day and hasn't gone away and it's pretty noticeable at any speed but worse and worse the faster you go.

I know this is long but please if anyone has any input I would greatly appreciate it. I loved this car but it sucks now, the AC just went, I'm spending so much money on it it's crazy, wondering if it's all worth it...

 

Someone please help me at least with the alignment part. If they are aligning an '00 to '01-'06 specs, '05 to be exact was it a wasted alignment/alignment done wrong?

 

re-balance the wheels? are you missing hub centric rings? codder pins missing? just some things you can check

 

I was missing hub centrinc? rings but that put them on today, still no help and this all just started one day, the left front rim was bent and it's the left side front and back cambers that are frozen/seized, any relation?

Thanks for your input. I now have 2 sets of weights on top of eachother for balance, basically the alignment was useless since they can only do the right, could all this be from a bad alignment and when I get the cambers it could fix it? Also anyone know how much front and rear left cambers are? can't really find anything on the net or here... Thanks so much!

 

The camber and alignment generally won't make the car shake, it'll just wear-out the tires faster.

Tell us more about your 20" set-up- brand of wheel, tires, etc.
Were the wheels re-balanced after the hub-centric rings were installed?
If they just popped them in there without rebalancing the wheel & tire assembly the balancing could be affected.

You mentioned you have a bent rim. If it's bent enough to see it, it's bent enough to feel it. The Lexus cars are very sensitive to wheel/tire imbalance and bent wheels- you will feel everything and anything.

I am 97.639% certain your issues are wheel & tire related.

 

yeah, come to think of it i had the same shaking issue in my car. it was a bent rear wheel. took the wheel off and couldn't see where it was bent. put it on the rotating balancer and it was apparent immediately. replaced the wheel and it is all gravy now

 

urghh, yea I think it has to be the rim, you can sorta see it, the tires are way too skinny for the wheel or at least for use in New England. I have had them about a month and already there is a noticeable bend. I had no issues until I hit a pothole, a huge one because some pr*ck in a p.o.s. car was in a rush and came into my lane forcing me to slam the pot hole.

They said my left rear and front cambers also seized and the bent rim was on the left front, they switched it to the back and said it should be fine, it's not it's actually worse now. So I paid for an alignment twice to have my car aligned only 50% since they can't do the left side. Does it matter if they aligned the car to '05 specs and not '00 specs or is there even specs?

I am thinking I am just going to take these wheels off as I am not going to buy at least a new wheel once a month. This sucks and I wasted a bunch of money in the process. Maybe I'll get some 18's next summer, never 20's again... You can't have anything nice in these parts and this sucks!

Should I even bother getting the cambers replaced and any ideas how much they cost? Also one more thing, is this insane shaking going to eat my tires up in no time? It feels so unbelievably safe when the car is shaking like that, I am just waiting for the wheels to fall off one day while on the high way...

 

Sorry to hear your having problems, I'd put the stock wheels back on and see if that fixes your problems. If the shake goes away, you know it was a wheel or tire.

Shouldn't they still be able to tell what the camber is and how close it is to spec even if they can't adjust it?

 

They have the car down as an '05, it's an '00, does an '00 have a different alignment pattern or whatever (totally clueless here) than an '05? I am hoping they just aligned it wrong or something.

The bend isn't really noticeable, I wouldn't have saw it unless they showed it to me and they said that it wouldn't cause the shaking.

It's Town Fair Tire in Massachusetts if anyone's heard of them. They sell wheels and tires and only do alignments and balances, no parts are sold or anything.

Could a car that is way out of alignment do this? I am concerned about them doing it as an '05 when it's an '00, is there a difference in those two years when it comes to aligning balancing? The new balance is just a new set of weights on top of the old ones, which are about a month old.

 

most likely bent wheel(s)

or

possibly, ball joint failure? not sure if that makes your car shake though

 

if you're feeling it all speeds that you must have one seriously bent rim.. i wouldn't recommend doing a road force balance either, because if you're feeling it everywhere, then the problem should be pretty apparent.

can't comment on the camber issues as i'm clueless there..

 

okay thanks for all your input guys. The rim isn't seriously bent, it's like a little indented on the lip but you can barely see it but it just started all of a sudden so it has to be the rim.

I paid for an alignment and balance and they can't do the alignment thoroughly until the cambers are fixed so I guess i'll have those done if they aren't too expensive, get my rim straightened and drive even more carefully.

Sorry to drag on here, I have OCD bad and want to make sure of everything Just to confirm, there is no way if they aligned the car to '05 specs and it's an '00 that it would continue to act like this if it just needed an alignment? Also is this lil prob of mine goign to just chew right through my tires? They are already making the screeching noise when I just turn into my driveway and stuff at very low speeds...

 

i would put the stock wheels back on like others have recommended and then take to to lexus or another shop to have them align it and set the camber proper. i have never heard of the camber adjustment being frozen but i'm sure it can hapen. i have found out in my travels that some shops don't know what the hell they are doing and by taking to another place you might get a completely different analysis... even my lexus of annapolis has told me little white lies. i.e. that my shimmy couldn't be fixed by just doing an alignment and balancing the 20's which i had done at another place and guess what, it fixed the issue.

Question for SoCal??? you said after getting the hub rings put on that you should have the wheels re-balanced... my hub rings weigh like a gram a piece, is it really necessary to have the wheels balanced with the hub rings on/in place?

 

Do I need like a special torque wrench or something to put my stock wheels back on? I just don't want to keep spending money left and right trying to see what is going on.

The alignment/balance place just said the 'cams are seized' on the left side, front and back, I called the Lexus dealer and they said any where from $300 to $1,200 depending how bad it was. I don't even know for sure if there is anything wrong with it and I don't know how to tell or anything.

Now I'm afraid to go to the dealer since I already told them they are frozen/seized or whatever but the alignment place said they were seized/frozen, is it possible they broke them or something? I've never seen a nice car at these places but...

Thanks for all the help everyone seriously...