I have an 02 GS430 with 98,000 miles no mods. I keep having this problem with my alignment. I get it done,and a week after its off again and the steering will is not directly on center.This has been irritating me, because it seems as if the car has never driven straight since I bought it 4 years ago. I have Michelin Pilot Sports tires on the car and just put 2 new ones on the front last week. Could it be the ball joints and or shocks/tie rods? I just want to know if anyone else had this problem and what resolved it? My mechanic says that my shocks look fine,but the car feels more jarring going over bumps than it used to and feels bouncy. How often do the ball joints go? I've replaced them a couple of times since I bought the car at 40,000 miles. Please chime in. Thanks!

 

rule of thumb, if ball joints ever come up in conversation... its always good to change them You cant answer the question of when they should be changed cause the answer will always be, "you have to change them at 20,000 miles just like you would if you have 100,000 or 200,000 miles on the GS" in other words, they can go out anytime. However in addition to changing the ball joints, I will throw out there that maybe the steering bushings could be part of what is keeping your wheel out of whack the polys are a common upgrade many have done to the GS.

 

Hi Jokster, thanks for the response. It's unfortunate that the ball joints on this car come up in conversation so often. That must have been a design flaw. If only there were some after market ones that last longer.

Also, i already changed the steering rack bushings to the poly ones about 20,000 miles ago.

 

wow really... hmmm now just making guesses, maybe sway bar bushings.

what are your symptoms other than worn tires? I mean, like do you feel while driving? any swaying or wobbling, anything? also, do you keep going back to the same aligner? Could they be sabotaging them? Also, after a tire killing alignment I got, I bought new tires and got a new alignment and found that they didnt tighten my toe arms and the bolt was loose! Could be something as minor as that... Hmmm still thinking.

 

Show us your alignment readings.

 

I hate posts with such uninformative titles. "Any solution?" That's the best you could come up with? How about Need help with alignment issue or Please help car will not drive straight. The more informative the title the better chance you have at attracting the correct/qualified readers to help with the issue.

Now that my rant is out of the way once your alignment goes back out right after being adjusted you should have it rechecked. The alignment tech should have a pretty easy time scrutinizing the previous alignment specs vs the cars current specs to figure out what is moving/flexing/bending/etc.

Struts will affect ride quality but not the centering of the steering wheel. You may have multiple issues that will have have to be addressed one by one.