Hello fellow lexus drivers!

So I love my LS, but at this time it just gives me anxiety just from turning the key!

Main issue is steering/handling and I’m going to write down all symptoms;

It feels really unstable while driving, it kinda steers wherever it want to on imperfections.

Driving over certain bumps/rough roads, the steering wheel rattles quite good left to right.

In low speeds and braking the steering wheel turns quite aggressively to one side, almost half a turn.

Vibration is present while driving in mostly highway speeds, sometimes more and sometimes less. Also seem to go away more the more you drive, not always though.

In parking lots the car is ”jumping” while turning steering wheel fully and drive slow. Feels like the steering wheel wants to turn itself to max while you’re starting to turn fully as well.


I don’t know it all this is related together or separate issues.

I have checked for play in the front without success, shop did not find any as well, also passed the yearly inspection every year, saw the rear bushings for the lower control arm having some minor cracks, but not excessive play.

I have replaced the lower ball joints since these were bad and done wheel alignment after, found the car to being a little more stable on highway after alignment, but still having all these issues.

Thankful for feedback on this!

Sincerely
Christoffer

 

Tough to diagnose things like this from behind a laptop but lower ball joints quickly come to mind. When were they replaced and what brand did you buy? A cheap Chinese brand may have already failed so don'r rule them out simply because they've already been replaced.

 

You already mentioned that an alignment service was performed on the car so I believe the problem is not likely to relate to the suspension system. The next thing to check for the wandering steering would be the two bushings for the rack and pinion assembly.

 

Would you mind to write what is the tire brand used in your car, age, and pressure? Does low tire illuminate on the dashboard?

Were the struts ever replaced in your car?

Lower ball joints are also a definitive area for inspection. I also recommend in your particular case to have a Lexus Dealership do a proper diagnostic.

if your car is driving super bad and volatile in every speed AND in the parking lots, likely there are more than one issue with the car.

 

This please, also even if parts seem fine when being checked unloaded in the air they can still have play under load. My original upper arms seemed fine, no weirdness under inspection but when I was replacing my entire front end I went mostly all at once but I did the lower arm bushings ahead of everything else and the difference was dramatic, I also did the upper arms after the inner/outer tie rods and ball joints since they arrived late and they also made a surprising change to the "glide" factor and calmness over touch roads. The steering on center/wandering error is likely the tie rods both inner and outer since mine were done but you could not tell via inspection until the parts were off the car entirely.

Basically there is a point (about 200k miles) that you simply need to replace the upper arms, lower bushings, sway bar links and bushings, struts and mounts, rack bushings, all tie rods and lower ball joints, and hubs. Both ends of the car for best results, made a huge change for my car vs when I bought it but I went into it full well intending to replace everything plus the driveline mounts since I wanted a "new" car. Cost me about $2600 in parts for everything I've done so far, I'm likely going to do some light performance mods too.