RydahG

Greetings everyone,

I just purchased my first Lexus. It's a 2007 GS350, so far the car seems great other than a couple things. The most pertinent being the steering feedback. I wanted to ask you fellow GS owners if it's normal to get weird steering feedback through the steering wheel. This vehicle being my first EPS car I've ever owned I didn't know if it's really supposed to be that bad, the car feels like the front end wants to "wander" and is indecisive about ruts in the road. It's not confidence inspiring to say the least. Any help would be appreciated!

Hanxious

AWD or RWD? That sounds like suspension or tires.

RydahG

My GS is a RWD model. The tires look pretty new and the suspension feels fine. I thought it might be an alignment issue so it's going in for an alignment in the near future but I'm not confident it is. I really want to say the root of the problem is the EPS system.

Sodium

Welcome to CL!

Could you give one or two specific examples?

ArpusTT

i had these same thoughts when i first bought my gs. put a brand new set of tires on and it got much better. for some reason. will report back after i install new lower ball joints and inner lower control arm bushings.

it feels like when you turn the wheel a little bit the car seems to be more eager to turn in that direction until you bring the wheel back. and wanders a little under braking at low speeds, like when pulling up to a light. steering is light but somehow varies in lightness with different steering inputs (non-speed related).

sound close? to me, the ball joints bushings and tires have to be main culprits.

Sodium

The aft lower control arm bushings are soft and prone to thrust deflection and lateral deflection, which can cause bump steer and wandering while braking (especially hard braking). I replaced my OEM bushings with harder bushings from RR-Racing and I'm very happy with them! Here's a link: http://www.rr-racing.com/Lexus-Lower...isfxlca001.htm


EDIT: there's a lot more info on this thread from the ISF forum: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...rr-racing.html

Robertcave

Sounds like its tramlining check the tyre pressures i suspect they are low needs to be at least 36lb

wickedtaco

I agree w/ the above. Check the simple things like tire pressure and alignment. It always helps to have an honest mechanic.

Lukas99GS

I will say our 3GS definitely have very little steering feedback, that was probably the biggest thing I noticed right away after upgrading from a 2GS, I was actually nervous to take it hard around turns at speed at first because of how little response there is, but it actually handles quite well, the steering wheel is just light. But it shouldn't wander to one side or another. I'd start with an alignment and have them look over the suspension.

speedkar9

I second this big time. While the steering feels very silky smooth as it should for a luxury car, there is no feedback from the electric power steering. That makes you not want to push the car around corners because you don't know what the wheels are doing.
My brother has the 2GS and the steering is much stiffer with more feedback.

RydahG

Thanks for the input guys I appreciate it. Having just purchased the car less than a month ago and the recent snow storm we had in Portland I haven't had a lot of free time to diag the car. Thankfully I have access to a well equipped shop so getting the car on the alignment rack will happen soon enough. The tire pressures are fine I checked them when I did the first oil change a couple days after purchasing it. While I had it on a rack I went through to check for leaks, abnormal wear, etc and the vehicle looked very clean through and through. Having some driving experience I really want to say that it's not an alignment issue as the problem seem almost intermittent and a more consistent irregular feel would be more characteristic of an alignment issue but I am not positive. Sorry for being so vague.

For instance when I'm driving on the highway the steering wheel will feel neutral and very light( too light for my liking but what can you do) but then I will start to feel feed back from it wanting to push one way or the other enough so I feel if I let go of the wheel all together it would noticeably change direction. This would be more understandable if it were following the ruts but I have caught it at times going against them.

Another example would be how binary the steering feedback feels at times. It's almost like playing a driving game with one of those steering wheels. Not very smooth and "notchy" sort of say feedback.

Maybe it's just me and my paranoia but I figure for what was once an 50k car it would have better steering feel.