hello lexus owners and fans,
i've just recently acquired a 2005 LS 430. Nice car. It has 18'' wheels. Tyres are Dunlop 245/55R18 96W. There's only one thing that annoys me. That is the car has a very slight tendency to pull toward the right. Just very slight. I suspected it needed an alignment and/or wheel balancing. The Toyota dealer looked at it and said it needed a wheel balancing, not alignment. Nevertheless, after they balanced and rotated the wheels it still has the tendency.

In addition to this, the car is little darty on the highway. I need to frequently adjust the steering wheel to keep it straight.

Does anyone have any suggestion?

Thank you.

 

It's always better when a car drifts a little to the right. Could save your life one day.

 

what type of tires does the car have?
Are the tires new or somewhat worn?

Pulling to one side suggests an alignment issue, although it could have been balance related. Looks like the dealer ruled out the balance as an issue though.

I've had experience with 4 sets of different 18" tires on my LS now. None of these pulled the car in any specific direction on the highway.

 

Make sure all the tires are inflated the same. Though if they rotated the tires, that would be a moot issue.

 

The tire is 18'', 245/45R18. It's a Dunlop, and looks pretty new.

I'd say the steering is "twitchy"; I need to keep correcting the steering on the highway. And it has a slight tendency to pull to the right.

They balanced the wheels, I checked the pressure and all 4 had 33psi.

 

I suggest you get an alignment. The tires seem OK and they're balanced. The only thing left that could be an issue is the alignment, or a suspension issue. If you get an alignment done by a good shop they'll be able to tell you what the problem is. You'll also know for sure that your alignment is perfect.

If you don't want to get an alignment you could always go and drive another LS and see how that performs.

 

Did the dealer check alignment?
If yes, then you probably don't need it.
Balance has nothing to do with pulling to the side either.
Tire pressure is fine and rotation did not make any difference, which means that it's not the tires.

I can make two conclusions from the above:
1. There is no problem. 18' tires do have a tendency to follow the road more than 16s and 17s. Roads are typically offset to the right for water run-off, so I bet that this is what is happening. To know for sure, I would need to know how much it really pulls to the right.
2. The car has frame damage and the whole frame is tweaked. Body shops would typically pull the body back as much as they can and then do alignment. Alignment machine does not show any issues, but the car still doesn't ride as it should. This is a loooong shot, but entirely possible nonetheless.

I would ride it for a month or two and get used to it. After a thousand miles or two, check tire ware. If it is uneven, then indeed there is a problem. Just make sure to look at the tires now and remember what they look like for comparrison.

 

If it were front wheel drive, I would say it was torque steer, but the LS430 is rear wheel drive and there shouldn't be any "steering drift" associated with it unless there is some heavy suspension issue. You mentioned 2005, so can't imagine too many miles but it doesn't take a lot of miles to mess a suspension up, just a lot of huge potholes. UL edition? Maybe the air suspension is acting up and not leveling the vehicle properly?

 

Alignment or suspension is the issue! I also would get Michelin's after thhe Dunlops you have wear out. I had Dunlops before and now use Michelins and the Dunlops don't compare to the road grip and feel I get from the Michelins but, that said Dunlops are great tires!

 

The point AlexusAnja made about air suspension could be on point as well if the car you own has air suspension. Also check to see if the air suspension is level if you have that feature!