aftermarket wheels and wandering
 

Had the brakes done by thes shop that helped me with my "wandering" issues.

While waiting,I was talking with the service manager who said that putting "some" inexpensive aftermarket wheels on a big, heavy car like an LS (or BMW / Mercedes, Audi, etc ) is not a good idea - as the wheels may not be built "strong enough" for the weight of the car and could lead to drivabilty issues - like wandering ...

The guy wasn't trying to sell me wheels, but is this true ?

Why I am asking:
I only paid $ 500 for my new summer wheels, so they are pretty cheap, and put on Michelin MXV4s and my car still doesn't track on the highway the way I'd like with this set up.

The car tracks the road significantly better on the aftermarket wheels with cheap Firestone Winterforce snow tires. I have no idea if my winter rims are better than my summer rims - but the wandering is worse with the more expensive (summer) tires.

Both wheels are 17s and the tire size on both winter and summer tires is identicle.

Did I buy too cheap a summer wheel perhaps ? In my defense it's not easy to find ANY aftermarket 17s that fit an LS, so I really didn't have much to choose from, and I wanted 17s for the ride.

Long post, I know, but I'd be interested if anyone has any comment.

i have aftermarket wheels and i have no issues like that.

He did say the problem was with some usually less expensive aftermarket wheels.

Did you buy a quality ( more expensive ) forged aftermarket wheel ? - maybe that is why you are ok.

Look for DOT or TUV or other quality assurance industry stamp on your rim (usually backside) or purchase info... if it met any of those specs, then it should be of high quality. If you bought rims off e-bay and have no idea... caveat emptore my friend.

See what markings you have on your rims front or back and what else you know about them and we can try to help you more.

Ask him WHY he feels this way... He should back up his opinion with a technical reason. So many of these guys are quick to blame the "fancy wheels and tires" without even knowing why. Are the wheels identical in offset and width?

I bought them new from a wheel/tire store and guy I have done business with for many years .... He knows I don't want to buy crap. The wheels are made by Akita ... they are $ 500 + tax new, not expensive, and are 17 X 7.5

Pretty sure there are no markings on these wheels. They are off the car and in storage for the winter, but I will check this weekend.

Both sets of wheels are 17 X 7.5 with a 35 offset

He said that the cheaper aftermarket wheels can be sold cheap because the are not engineered as well or built as strongly and to the same standards as higher priced, brand name wheels, and when you put them under a heavy car the wheel will have not maintain their dimentional shape.... and as a result the car will have drivabilty issues - like wandering.

He said when he was getting the wheels on his big Mercedes rebuilt after they were damaged by a pothole, he bought some cheap knock offs to use temporarily and the Benz was wandering all over the road..... it stopped as soon as he removed the knock offs and put his quality rebuilt wheels back on.

He said its only an issue on inexpensive wheels, and if you buy a quality wheel its not going to be a problem. I didn't feel like spending $2500 on 4 quality wheels - I spent $500 for 4 cheap wheels. However if what he is saying is true, next time I buy wheels I will spend the extra money for sure.

The car did this wandering even worse on my OEM 18" wheels too .... and they had with brand new Continental ExtremeContact DWS 245/45/18 tires - I got rid of both these wheels and tires, and the problem is less - but still there. I am stumped, I can't seem to get this sorted out, and have had three sets of wheels and 4 sets of tires on the car in 2 years.

:sad:

I'm assuming you've had the alignment checked multiple times. How about the steering rack? Maybe check to see if the tie rods are adjusted equally on both sides? The car can be "in alignment" but if the tie rods are threaded on the very unequally then the car can wallow and wander on the highway.

yes, Had the car in for 3 alignmets and had the front end looked at by Lexus. I replace the steering bushings but it was not needed the ones they replaced looked perfect.

I am starting to think I have had a combination of BOTH tires that were defective and wheels that were making the situation worse, plus some other issue that no one has been abloe to fine. It had significantly reduced my enjoyment of this otherwise dream car, and while I own it I will contine to try to get it resolved but I don't think its going to happen ... and will probably result in me trading the car for something else eventually.

I heard worn out lower control arm bushing can cause wandering as well. Have you checked those out too?

After a lot of work and hunting on my SC430 my shop found that my front cross member was lose. It is 51100G in the picture. It's only held in place by 4 bolts. On the SC all the front suspension and engine is attached to it so if it moves so does your entire front suspension and alignment. It is also responsible for a lot of your chassis stiffness. They said that these bolts are not normally checked when doing an alignment and that's why they didn't find it over the course of four or more alignments. I checked the Lexus service manual and there isn't a specific service procedure or torque for these bolts. I think it said "check chassis bolts" somewhere in the scheduled services.

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/images/...000/510604.jpg

This is called out in maintenance section and mine did tighten up a little bit when I re-torqued them so I recommend you do it if you have the right tools (big sockets and accurate torque wrench).

Front suspension lower cross member to body bolts are 130ft/lb on the two forward ones (nearest PS rack) and 116ft/lb for the two rearward.

Rear all four are 133ft/lb.

I think I'm going to check these out on my car just to be safe!

How would one know if the bushings are done on a car? I havent checked for cracks yet but any other symptoms driving wise?

Bon / Viper
If the front and rear suspension cross members are loose - and Lexus missed it - I'd be pissed + surprised. I would hope a Lexus dealer could diagnose a wandering issue ( when the car is on a hoist ) at least as well as you guys ( please, no offense, you guys are trying to help and know a LOT more than I do )

Still, it does not explain why the car drives great on the cheap snow tires with their aftermarket wheels, and the car wanders a lot more on the more expensive( better ? ) Michelins mounted on the other set of aftermarket wheels.

The explanation provided by the shop guy in my initial post, if true, means the aftermarket wheels I ride on in the summer are not built strong enough for my LS, and my winter wheels ( which do not wander ) are stronger. .... Maybe may try switching the rims in the spring and see how the Michelins drive on the winter wheels. If the wandering stops, its obviously the wheels, and I will go out and buy either OEM Lexus 17s or a high quality aftermarket wheels that have DOT or TUV or other quality assurance industry stamps on them.

Or take the car back to Lexus again. and again, and again .... and if they can't sort it out, give up and it !

Stu, You've put on new tires and are sure that the air pressure was somewhere between 27 - 34 psi and you still had wandering? I've experienced poor centering with tires that were chronically underinflated and then when properly inflated steered terribly. The cause for this is that the outer edges were worn from the underinflation and when reinflated they became rounded from the middle of the tire. New tires fixed this of course.

Regarding the front cross member: at least it's dirt cheap to check it for tightness. When a dealer, or anyone, does an alignment they don't have to remove the plastic panels underneath the engine so they won't see the cross-member and scuffing around those bolts that indicates that things are loose and moving. I sure never heard of it until it hit me square between the eyes. Until that moment everybody was blaming everything on the terrible handling qualities of my SC: tires, bent wheels, wheel spacers, chrome wheels, bushings, ball joints, shocks, inner and outer tie rods and even engine mounts. Everything. And a lot of people had a chance to find the problem before the right mechanic found the real problem.

Bon, I always make sure my tires are properly inflated. I never, ever run underinflated tires.

I will take in back to Lexus one more time and get it looked over. If it is the crossmember, I think it would wander all the time - and it doesnt. Something is definitely wrong, it's NOT my imagination, and the guy who replaced my brakes thinks it the inexpensive aftermarket wheels on the car.

What are the chances that at the start of my problems it was the new 18" Continentals ( my OE wheels ) that were defective - and now, a year later, it's the new aftermarket wheels I bought ? Its possible that the car is fine and I am buying defective parts for it ... ? If it is, I would be pissed off - at myself !