My original post never showed. Whatever, I meant to say that there is a nocking noise in my steering on my '01 LS430. I could feel it in the steering column when I go over even the slightest bumps on the road. When the car is parked, the cluncking noise could be heard when I turn the steering wheel within its free movement range. Anyway, it turns out this is a problem with the design of the collapsable steering shaft on the 01-03 LS430s. I took it to the dealer, they replaced the lower shaft u-joint, free of charge. Still a problem is there. Now the car is back for the replacement of the entire steering column. Also free of charge, since they addmitted that this should not have happenned in the car like this. I think it should not happen in any car. Period. But, they are good enought to fix it for me free of charge. Check your steering for that noise on your 430s.

 

Good luck. If the rack fixes it, ask the dealer what might be wrong with the rack so that it could help anyone down the line with a problem if similar syntoms.

 

Well, they replaced the entire steering shaft. Got the car back with about 75% of the noise still there.
They said it's normal and there is nothing else they can do. At least I got the whole new steering shaft.
Any suggestions?