Very nice, but is the the gs's suspension that bad where everything needs to be replaced by 100k miles?

 

Sort of. It's not bad if everything is working, but the design is such that any degradation in one or more parts ends up causing enough play that causes shaking.

You can imagine a snowball on the top of a mountain: tip it one way or another and it'll just gather speed to cause shaking.

In comparison, a snowball sitting in a valley you tip it one way or another and it'll roll back to the middle.

 

Question to those who have tried everything and still have the shakes but in the steering wheel only. There are three sources of play between the steering rack and the steering wheel. Two u joints and a moving spline inside the steering column (that allows the steering wheel to telescope). The spline is greased. I noticed on my car that the steering wheel only slightly vibrates around 60 to 70 on certain parts of the interstate when I go to work. The vibration is only in the steering wheel. The passenger does not notice it at all and there is no evidence of anything else vibrating. There are certain parts of my commute (actually most of the commute) where there are absolutely no vibration and other parts of the commutte there is a slight vibration. If I do the same commute with my 1992 LS400 I get no vibration at all. Has anyone looked into the possibility that for this type of symptoms the ujoints or the spline have excessive play? It is obvious to me that the cause is a resonant frequency. I suspect that if anything in the suspension and steering is worn this resonant is amplified through the steering mechanism play. When I go to work today I will telescope my wheel in different posistions and see if the vibration , as slight as it is, lessens (indicating spline wear). Maybe people who have their steering telescoped in feel less vibration than those who have it telescoped out. I have mine all the way out. Just one source of possible vibrations I have not heard mentioned anywhere on this site.

 

Glad I don't have this.

 

Well interesting results, of course due to the fact that I nearly have no vibration it could be a placebo effect. I telescoped my steering wheel in different positions and noticed no difference (in, out or inbetween) then I did the push the button ten time so that the steering wheel would telescope out to its hard stops, logic being that the spline would be in a position of least wear since it never sits in that position (of course if the wear is only on the male part of the spline it should see not difference). Well as we all know doing this telescopes the column only a few milimeters more but it should be in virgin ground. I believe I noticed my steering wheel to be nice and tight, I swear I felt a noticeable diffence especially in turns. I still feel the vibrations but I also believe its less (it is so slight that if I had not read these forums I probably would have never thought about it). Can you guys do the same experiment and tell me if I am having a placebo effect? I know its not too good for the telescope gear train to put it on the hard stop but I have my auto exit feature turned off so I will leave it in that position for now.

 

I just found out what was causing mine... old lower balljoints.

I replaced mine with Moog LBJ's and my shake is gone. I know this isn't the case for everyone but it worked for me. My old one's were extremely worn, I'm glad i changed them before i had a failure.

 

thats good but I am wondering on people who have done all the suspension and still have a slight vibration. Is yours completely gone? I mean absolutely nothing under all conditions and roads? the funny thing is I have a miata with flat spots on the tires, from the race track no antilock on this car, and you feel the vibrations but not in the steering wheel like the GS. Of course the miata has no tilt or telescope and no power steering. So I still think there is a design issue that makes it sensitive and I think its the telescoping spline. What say you?

Does your steering feel tighter when you telescope into the virgin zone?

On my LS400 (1992) you could turn off the auto exit feature with a button so my theory is that most people would turn it off and therefore there would be less wear on that spline. if you have no vibration at all under any condition when you bought your car was the auto exit turned off?

 

Yeah it made a huge difference, the steering wheel shaked awful before at 60-70 mph. I wouldn't say completely gone, but it's 95% better than it was.

 

I have replaced everything in the front suspension. All except lower control arm #1 & Upper control Arm as the bushings seemed fine. I'll look into replacing the rotors and possibly the upper control arms.

I still get the shakes/vibration in the front end between 60mph+.
I checked my power steering fluid and it could stand to be changed, so will do that also.

I had a bent wheel on the front repaired and just brought a new wheel to swap it out. (Aftermarket 19" wheels) I'm believing that front wheel is the cause of the shake.

 

bumping this thread again and suggesting sticky.

Would like to also add,
For tires, try adding more air pressure if you are at the recommended 32psi or lower. Try doing a test with 35 PSI to see if it helps with your shake.

 

Replaced my balljoints but still get that vibration around 50-55. I just speed up so it doesnt bother me. However around 80 I get a vibration coming from the rear. Any idea what that is? Im thinking I might need to rebalance my rears.

 

Sorry to be snarky, but the whole point of this thread was to compile all the possible reasons in the first post.

If you're looking for possible ideas, there's a whole handful of them right there. Please read all those, but yes start with your wheels and tires in the rear.

 

NEW SWAY BAR LINKS.... problem solved

 

Sounds stupid, but after i got the rear diff fluid changed out, car SEEMED to be a lot smoother, I also checked the pressure in the tires and changed from 32 to 34

 

Anybody try the zip tie on steering column shaft?

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...-movement.html

It goes along with my previous comments on this string

Also this for those who have older 2nd gen cars

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...ain-speed.html