Looking for a bit of guidance. I own a 2005 UL. I am noticing that at speeds above 40 MPH I am experiencing steering wheel shake when hitting uneven pavement. Smooth surfaces are still that, smooth, but given that I spend a lot of time driving on the highway in the Chicagoland area (which is notorious for having terrible road quality) I hit a lot of poor pavement. It feels as though the front wheels are skipping, which is very unsettling when driving around corners. I brought my car to my local mechanic to have my wheels balanced which did not fix the issue. We noted that the lower control arm bushings are quite worn and cracked. I want to correct the issue but before I start throwing money at it I figured I would reach out to this community to see if you could provide me with some insight. I have searched the forum and it seems that a lot of people are replacing the lower control arm bushing assembly with ones made for the IS/GS. I found a pair on Amazon that appear to be the ones that people have been using successfully. Has anyone used these before? Does anyone have suggestions as to what else it could be? All feedback is welcomed, thanks!

 

I had this issue when I bought my car in Oct. 2016. This is what I had done to it--new rotors/pads/caliper bolts/sensor done by dealer no charge after sale, LCA bushings, wheel balance, wheel alignment (never had any shaking since). I felt that the first 3 had zero effect whatsoever, and I did an alignment for the heck of it. I think there were only 2 settings that were green all else was red. I think LCA bushings is a real unnecessary job because if we ask around, we are told on some cars it's so bad that a person can move the arm by hand. That's not even remotely the case when cracks are there. My indie strongly advised me that pressing out the old and in my OE bushings would have no effect on the car, but I went forward anyway. He was right. my .02

p.s. my LCA bushings are now 3 y.o. and I can see tiny cracks and don't care no way I'm doing them already! I reserve the right to be hallucinating though who knows.

edit p.p.s. since you have a UL, does the air suspension introduce other possibilities? Is your ride height ok after sitting overnght (this I'm just curious I've never had a car with an air or hydraulic suspension and want one)?

 

Hate to throw another thing at you but it could also be steering rack bushings. Thats the biggest draw back to these cars, the possibilities that can cause steering wheel vibrations is massive. Mine has never been right since Ive owned it (162k-186k miles), it literally has good days and bad days. The steering rack bushings really helped the most for me, but every car is different. Now Im thinking of going after strut mounts too since Ive done those LCA bushings.

 

Appreciate the feed back from both of you. Unfortunately I am now even more confused! The car is still on the air suspension. It sits just fine overnight and seems to dampen just fine.

 

The bushings others have been using with success are OE Toyota / Lexus but from an IS.
You can find the part numbers, and more info here (jump to post #181)- https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...repair-12.html

 

OP: Could your alignment be way off? Mine was when purchased as a used car, and I think that's what cured me.

I actually think my LF strut mount is creaking. I'm only at 123k. But again, age, car was produced 9/05. These are the things about driving an old car no matter how well built. I think looking back, someone who got the LS430 at age 8 probably nailed the sweet spot for depreciation and car's age. 10 was still ok for me, but 14 going on 15 I truly don't recommend it! lol

edit: I would also qualify....anything you can DIY, then it doesn't matter. Meaning a person who has time, and can in fact replace everything underneath, it's worth it. It's just not worth paying a shop....

 

Just replace it all at this point, it's the "easiest" way to solve it if you can't isolate the issue. If you get it on a lift you can pry at all points to see if there is any excessive deflection anywhere and with rack related issues you can jack one side up and move the wheel in the lifted side to induce movement of anything in the steering if it is loose. Parts are not like GM cheap but they are not bad if you just want to replace everything, can do it for less than $500 plus an alignment if you are moderately skilled

 

I might start there. The car could use an alignment as it pulls slightly to the right. The vibrations seem to be a quite extreme for the amount the car seems to be off. Its pretty minor.

Maybe you're right Striker. I am relatively handy with a wrench but my current hours and the fact that its winter here is going to hold me back for a bit. Was just hoping it was something simple.

 

These cars can get vibration based on the tires. Easiest thing to do is have them balanced. I lost a couple weights and they needed a re balance after powder coating.

Even a tire rotation at the same time is a good idea. But yes if the tires arent rolling true it can pick up a vibration. Just cover the basics first!

Some guys even get the tires 'tuned' like shaved some how?

 

That's a good point because I have my original spare, and on the spare, it has two circles on the tire, one red, and one yellow I think, to assist the tech mounting the tire. On old tires those marks are gone, so it could very well take more than one try to balance....

I have heard today with traction/stability/AWD you cannot simply replace one tire you must replace all 4. C'mon now we didn't all just win the Super Bowl, who do you know even a billionaire, that would replace 4 tires because 1 went bad? So I've heard they have to shave the new one to the same wear as the other 3.....

 

Depends on the car but yes some systems get really mad if rotational speed is off. Some cars allow the tech to correct for variance but not all and the LS doesn't allow for correction.

The shaking of tires would be speed dependent, it should get worse the faster you go and not only at certain RPM. If it's only at certain speed it's something that spins at fractions of engine speed like the drive shaft, if it's only when the road alters it's in the suspension, if you can feel it in the wheel it's somewhere that the steering connects to.

I could probably figure out your issue in person fairly easy but it is very hard remotely like this.

 

You can always come visit the lovely city of Chicago! Though I noticed you're from Ohio. I will be in Cincinnati this weekend...

 

Not even exaggerating but if you want to come to my shop I will look at your car and see what the issue is. I have relatives who are in the city there and if memory serves you will be able to drive near me anyway to get to Cincinnati with only like a hour or so extra. If you want to that is.....

 

Im in Cincinnati, Where is your shop @Striker223 ? Kind of have me wanting to get mine looked at lol. I dont trust ANY shops which is the main reason I put up with it. I already had my front 2 tires road force balanced by a place called Performance Alignment and that barely helped. Im almost just thinking that the nitto motivo tires I bought just arent easily balanced.

 

You have two options, my house (30 min closer to you) or my shop. I'll pm you address once you tell me where and when works for you, I'm working till 6 today and tomorrow I should be free a little at around 1pm