JawnsGS4

I'm New to this forum and don't know much about cars beside knowing when to do regular maintenance. So with that being said I got my 99 GS4 around February as a gift from my mom cause she upgraded to the 08 IS350.. When i got the car most of the major work was already done all I did was replace the left bushing, new front tires, alignment, and balance, and radiator..

So far the car still has steering wheel vibrations and the whole car shakes when driving on the highway its pretty bad at 55-90 mph it feels like a roller coaster. At low speeds the ride is smooth and so is the shifting. I keep hearing knocking when breaking in the rear right side of the car and there is also a weird flapping sound when my car is moving at any speed, I thought my tire popped when I heard it driving home late at night from class but when I pulled over to check everything looked fine which confused me.

Is there any advice and online stores that sell cheap but good quality parts for my problems? Its really stressing me out when I have to drive to school hoping my car doesn't fall apart on me.

rogzballz

iTrader: (9)

Vibration is prob from the wheels, take it back to the the tire shop to have them re-balance it. The knocking noise is probably caused by something loose, take it back to the shop and have them check what they did.

Advice, find a good mechanic that'll treat your car with care/respect. Don't buy cheap ebay parts. Focus on SCHOOL, make money and then you'll be able to do all the things you'll want in life and to your cars. I honestly wouldn't have been able to afford maintenance or upgrades to a Lexus when I was in college. Now after 10 years of working professionally, I can do whatever I want to it. I don't know about your financial situation but focus on long term goals and don't get into credit card debt...

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

First off, welcome to Club Lexus

As for the problem, did it start after the alignment and balancing? If so then yea, the above suggestion is the way to go. If not, then you need to look into either the lower ball joints or most likely the wheel bearing. I'm thinking the latter. Lift the car and see if you can move either rear wheel, if it moves at all, its probably the bearing or the joint.

Not everything on ebay is junk, just be wise when shopping on ebay.

DMPesso

I suggest changing your INNER and OUTER tie rods, they are the most important factor besides new tires and alignment, regarding the vibrations. If you still feel shaking after changing them, check the rest of the control arms and the struts. If any of the arms have play this will cause vibrations, if everything on the car isnt nice and tight, you will feel loose/shaky steering as the 2GS is very sensitive to worn suspension parts, more so then mostly any car on the road. I think of it as it is the cars way of telling you something is worn out in the suspension. In reality though, its because of this stupid reinforced steering column thing they made where if the car gets into an accident the steering column will still be able to turn the car, so all the vibrations get transmitted through. For some reason they decided to leave this stupid safety feature out of the LS but left it in the GS, which is now causing more problems then it is preventing as this probably was not an issue when the car was new and they were designing it.

UDel

Sounds like a tire/alignment issue if it is shaking that bad. GS steering wheel tends to shake a little at higher highway speeds but not very bad. I had a really bad wheel shake in a Honda Accord I thought was some serious suspension or steering issue which turned out to be just worn tires.

I would first get all the problems diagnosed from either a trusted mechanic or Lexus dealership and then post up what they say, there are many things you can do for yourself and that we can help you with but trying to guess what things are and then repairing them can get very expensive, you need to find out for sure.

I would invest in some jack stands so you can do some work on your car on your own like oil changes, trans fluid changes, brake pad changes, etc. The normally only run $20-$30.

Since you were given the GS that is a different story but if it was something you bought or planned to buy I would have advised you to not get a used GS being a college student and find something that was less expensive to buy and maintain while you are in college.

JawnsGS4

Thanks for the referral about that. My dad was mentioning about changing it since we do not know when it was last changed. It also turns out my mom put on the wrong tire size in the front so maybe after I change those it will be less shaky.

DMPesso

Yea make sure you get one of the sizes stated inside your door in the sticker. Throwing off the size kills the way the car drives it's a night and day difference. Same with rims. This car is super finicky to OEM parts, especially suspension related parts!