2001 ls 430 and have owned it for about a month. Done decent amount of work to make my conscience clear. Have had a vibration in the steering since purchasing and the dealer replaced the front strut. Still had vibration and had the wheels balanced. Discovered a bent rim which was ok because the previous owner had some cheesy rims on it. I replaced those with stock wheels today. Still vibrating. Almost more now. Happens when I’m around 60 mph and worsens when I slam the brakes. I was told could be warped rotors? Any thoughts? I ordered rotors but wanted to cover all possibilities and fix them as well

 

A bad rotor could do it. Did you keep the same tires with the new wheels? I've had tires that looked fine cause steering wheel shake even when balanced.

 

yes same tires . That would suck.will keep you posted. let me know if you have any suggestions

 

Check your LCA bushings.

 

How many miles on the car?
How many miles on the tires? Are these some decent quality tires, or no name tires?

When you replace the wheels but keep the tires, I assume they are installed and balanced, right?

It definitely sounds like problems with brakes since the vibration is worsen when slamming on the brakes, but if it vibrates without hitting the brakes, then I suspect it is something else. The braking just making the vibration worse, but it may not be the cause of the vibration. You need to eliminate each components one by one.

To eliminate if the tires/wheels are the problem, move the tires around. If the vibration moves, then the tires and/or wheels is the problem.

 

could swear an alignment did it for me. Because leading up to it I had LCA (which I thought it would be) and wheels balanced. Alignment after purchasing vehicle was red at all corners.

 

240,000 on my 2003 and I put on new front struts, brakes and brake rotors. No alignment, no brake fluid replacement and it took care of my shimmy. I do still have a heavy "klunk" going over holes and speed bumps, but i'm guessing thats bushings.

 

These cars suck when it comes down to tires and balancing. I hate driving mine on the highway because it shakes so much and now im just forced to either pay ~$120 for a rebalance at a new shop because the one that road force balanced them says they are all fine. All I learned was dont skimp on tires, ill run michelins next time if I still own the car, and 2, dont run nitto motivos.

 

Choosing sub-standard tires is somehow the cars fault...?!?!?
Sounds like there may be a deeper issue somewhere.