its not steering flutter. my suv has the seat shaking sometimes when the steering wheel doesnt.

 

Did Discount Tire do road force balancing? You could have a bent wheel(s).

 

Yup, I confirmed they road forced. I don't think they did the first time. Wouldn't that pick up on a bent wheel?

I did go back through my lexusdrivers service history. I don't know how I missed it the first time around, I searched for words this this. At two points steering wheel vibes/shakes was mentioned, once around 50K mile and again around 90K miles. They balanced one time and swapped out two tires another time. This vehicle was owned by one person before me, so I'd have to assume if the problem didn't go away after the customer brought it in for vibes, they would have stayed on top of it if it wasn't fixed.

I also noticed in the report that at 127K miles, the power steering fluid was dirty and contaminated, and a flush was recommended but the customer declined. (Because they were about to sell it) It seems like I'm reaching here, but could that cause vibes?

And considering these are original rotors with 132K miles on them, and have been turned and resurfaced at least 3 or 4 times, I'm tempted to replace front rotors and pads just to see, but I really don't want to keep throwing money at this..

 

Replace those rotors and pads. These wear items should have been changed at least once in the 132k miles. Maybe ok if on a lighter car like a Honda Accord or so, not this 6000 lbs of truck.

 

Yeah, I definitely will... But
I want to get to the source of these vibrations before I put any more money into this vehicle. If it's a lemon, I need to let it go sooner than later. I've had it for about 5 or 6 weeks now. It's a vibey ride, it's not pleasant. My passengers feel it in their seats and through the floor. Which on one hand makes me feel better because that most likely means it's not a steering rack issue.

So still had bad vibes from Michelins, on a whim, I took it to another tire store in town and had them just check the balance of the front two tires. One of was off balance, over what minimum tolerances should be. The other was WAY off balance, by over 2 ounces. (Each of those weight plates is 1/4 ounce...) Took it to discount, asked them how those tires could be so out of balance when they were familiar about the issues I was having. Their guys spent about 30 or 40 minutes balancing the tires again, mounting and remounting each wheel the the machine 5 or 6 times and balancing it each time until it balanced every time. Drove it home, ride quality was improved, but still vibey (maybe because they only did 2/4 tires) I'm getting my ultraterrains put back on Monday, and then I'm going to go straight to the shop that found the out of balance tires and have them balance.
f that doesn't solve it, I'm thinking I'll go to the Toyota dealership in town and check out their balancing machine's capabilities.

Depending on the results from those 3 shops, then I'll replace front rotors (with OEM, right?) and pads, and go from there.

 

Have the zerks been lubed along the driveshafts and slip yokes? I've read that can cause vibration issues as well at speed on some 4Rs.

Various possibilities from other threads: tire balance of course, rims, ties, rotors, transfer case, driveshafts & slip yokes, steering rack...

 

I'll take a look at driveshaft lubing- for no reason I assumed it was done.

Everyone says wheels look fine. Vibing with brand new goodyears and highway michelins. My mechanic suggesting pulling the driveshaft and dropping it off at a specialist. I'm wondering if it's steering rack, because I get vibes in my seat and through my feet too, not just steering wheel flutter.

I'm tempted to pull the trigger on OEM rotors and.... EBC (??) pads and do them this week, even though it's only like $250, I just don't want to throw anymore unnecessary money into this vehicle in case it turns out to be a lemon..

 

Are the wheels on your GX OEM wheels or aftermarket? If they are aftermarket, maybe try switching back to OEM wheels and see if that fixes the shaking issue.

 

They're OEM, which is an interesting point you bring up:I Finally sucked it up and took it to local Toyota dealership (closest Lexus one is 4 hours away). Apparently one of the techs there used to be a Lexus tech for 10 years. He said it was common enough for freshly mounted tires to "slip" on OE wheels like mine. Which is why every shop claims they're as perfectly balanced as can be, but then they're not once I drive off. He said I need to use some kind of special bead sealant when mounting tires on these wheels. They also suggested road forcing, which I knew, and I mentioned that discount had been doing that every time as part of the free balancing they offer since I got the tires there. The dealership was skeptical discount was actually roadforcing everytime, since this dealership charges ~$150 for a roadforce balance. (That seems excessively high?)

I'll hopefully find more on Wednesday when I go back in.

 

Set a follow up appointment to the dealer. Seems that the issue has become more pronounced when driving now. The vibration is happening whenever I push the gas pedal. I can feel it thru the steering wheel (especially the airbag), and gas pedal. It goes away when I shift to neutral while driving. Kinda been noticing firmer shifts as well. Thinking it's a transmission mount...

 

Good call on the transmission mount with vibration issues. That would be an easy fix. I swapped myself on the LS years ago in a few min.
​​​​​​

 

Is it possible for it to fail at 40k though? Seems really early.

 

This doesn’t sound like it but worth a quick look - my new GX had some weird vibrations at certain RPMs last year. Turns out the exhaust was loose from one of the rubber hanger mount points and that exhaust was vibrating against the frame. Sent a weird vibration throughout the vehicle. If not disconnected, perhaps the exhaust is bent somewhere, causing it to vibrate against another component?

 

So I took it to the dealer for a 4th time... Turns out the transmission needs to be replaced. Engine coolant has found it's way in and mixed with the transmission fluid. I am at a loss for words... Should NOT happen on a 2017 with 40k!!!

 

I could be wrong but I think this is the first pink milkshake report I have heard on a 460. Those I know of are from years and years ago though and high mileage Tacomas and 4Rs.

This would either be at the ATF warmer end where coolant lines run through or the more likely ATF cooler built into the radiator.