Our troubles may be solved by the recall, if our vehicles are included in this campaign. We'll see.

 

Go check your Lexus.com owner's page.

Yesterday I checked my page and since I have not done the carpet recall, I have a warning...SAFETY RECALL to get the carpet thing done.

This is one way of Lexus covering their behind.

I really have to make an appointment to get it done.

 

Nah, just go buy a new Lexus!

 

I had little bit similar problem with my rx300, problem solved after flushing my steering fluid with Mobil 1 ATF

 

Could you post a pic of this part?

 

mine was doing the same thing
I flushed my system checked the steering u-joint and it was moving freely
I had my wife turn the wheel while it was on jack stands and it felt the same in the air as on the ground
I was looking at everything while she turned the wheel and it looked like the struts were freezing up then letting loose as the steering wheel was turning thought I would try spaying PB blaster in though the top as she was turning the wheel and she told me after about five full rotations that it was smooth again
I took it for a drive and it drove just as it always had before
The day before it happened I had driven though some larg puddles and I think water had gotten in around the bearings in the struts and froze them up
I changed the struts and there working great

 

Ok I finally fixed my steering earlier this year.
It was the steering rack bushings that was changed.

 

Started experience hard steering with my 2004 RX330 a month ago. A couple weeks back, I ordered the steering shaft from rockauto for less than $40 and installed it. Two tips to make it a bit easier to replace the shaft:
- remove the bolt that fastens the other [straight] end of the shaft to the u-joint under the steering wheel(inside the car, below the driver side dashboard)
- from the engine bay, remove the engine air filter box to gain access to the u-joint of the shaft that connects to the steering rack. This way you don't have to jack up the car and get under it.
With the new shaft, steering is light and easy as new.