Does anyone know what would cause a vibration in the steering wheel of a 2007 RX350?
Car has 75,000 miles, never had any vibrations until a month ago. Purchased 4 new Bridgestone tires 6 mos ago. Had car checked and needed new front brakes which I had replaced, vibration occurred twice again since replacing brakes. Just had tires rotated and
blanced. Waiting to see if it happens. Anyone experience this?

 

check tires first, then brakes/rotors....

 

Lost wheel weight; Tire not mounted properly; torqued too tight/loose; low power steering fluid (not sure but check anyway since the racks are a common problem).

Go to a tire shop that uses a Hunter DSP 9700 road force balancer:

http://www.gsp9700.com/search/findgsp9700.cfm

 

Ironmanfan,

I'm experiencing the same vibrations with my wifes 07 RX350. Curious what Bridgestone tires you purchased? I bought new Bridgestone Dueler Alenza HL tires last year and after 18,000 miles they started to get very noisy due to cupping. This past July America's Tire replaced the tires for new ones (same tires). After only 6 weeks the tires started making the same noises and horrible vibration in the steering wheel and also floorboard. Just yesterday, America's installed new Michelin MXV4S8 tires and the vibration noise is much better.

I had two previous sets of Michelin's on the car prior to buying the Bridgestone's but I was looking for a tire with a little better warranty and I didn't like the way the Michelin's handled in the rain. The only reason I chose the Bridgestone's was because my neighbor has the same tires on his wife's 05 RX 300. The Bridgestone's were extremely loud on the RX. I would look into this as tire performance can vary significantly between car models.

Finally, curious how your steering rack is holding up? We had a recall on ours about 4 years ago and it was replaced, however, when I brought the car into Lexus service a few weeks ago they mentioned to me the steering rack was leaking and would need replaced again ($1,600!!). I wasn't a happy camper to say the least especially after the steering rack was just replaced once. I'm going to monitor the situation and not replace it until I actually see fluid leakage. Good luck!

 

I purchased our car CPO in 2009. For me, the steering wheel vibration is extremely intermittent--occurring 6 times in 4 years. It only occurs after sustained freeway speeds. The dealer has never been able to identify the cause--we've ruled out tires, balance, alignment and engine issues.

 

Also, told today that the steering rack is leaking. The car mileage is 80k.

 

Are you still uner warranty of some sort?

 

Hi,
It seems as though you have a balancing problem. I would have the tires checked and balanced first. It is the cheapest and most likely fix for your issue.

 

i have same issue. No leak and i have re-balanced tires and it is okay for 2 or 3 days and then goes vibratyish again.....

 

Have you tried roadforce balancing? This method measures rim and tire (separately) runouts and high spots. A wheel (rim + tire) can be balanced but not quite round. With roadforce balancing, you can measure the defect(s) if any, and try to remedy them by best matching tire and rim (e.g. tire 'high' on rim 'low' spot) to the extent possible.
I had the problem with a Michelin tire. Problem was the tire.. Even though balancing was 'perfect', I only got a smooth ride when the rim and tire were adjusted, position-wise. The tire was actually 'out-of-spec', but we were able to get something acceptable going notwithstanding.

 

unfortunately i have no idea where that can be done here (Hong Kong).

 

Sorry I cannot help on that. But I believe that the machine that does the roadforce balancing is a Hunter machine. Perhaps a call to the Hunter rep. would yield some info.? (or through Google (?) - I had looked up the Hunter machine about 18 months ago, and they had a map of where their roadforce machine were installed in the neighbourhood.)
If I can find the same for HK, I will post it for you. But it will probably be easier to find yourself in HK.

HONG KONG

JAPCO AUTO EQUIPMENT & ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
5/FI. 20 KAI CHEUNG ROAD
KOWLOON BAY
KOWLOON HONG KONG
Tel: +852-2768-2988 Fax: +852-2707-9121
likc@dchmsc.com.hk
www.dchmsc.com.hk

 

For those here in the US with vibration problems, you are looking for a shop with a Hunter 9700.

http://www.gsp9700.com/

 

I have also experienced this vibration issue on my 2007 RX 350. It only occurs on the highway and it seems to be pretty random. Usually you can feel the steering wheel start to tighten and then it starts to gently vibrate and gets stronger the longer you drive until you have to pull over (I have captured it on video several times).

I took the car to two different dealers on multiple occasions (Westminster) and (Pleasanton) and was told to have the tires balanced, then check the rims, then get new tires, etc. I spent $1,200 on new Michelins which have been balanced at two separate shops, most recently Big O tires. But the problem persist.

This is very annoying and sometimes outright frightening, especially for my wife who shuttles two small kids around in this vehicle. It is especially disconcerting in that it only occurs at highway speeds. We travel between LA and SF often and it will be three or four hours into the trip before the shaking starts, we pull over, stop the car (but do not turn it off) and then merge back onto HWY 5 and it will be fine for the rest of the trip. Insane!

Another mechanic told me he thought it might be a defective ball bearing in the CV joint of the front axle, which means you need a new front axle. I mentioned this to the Lexus dealers but got no response. I am not inclined to spend another $1,500 on the vehicle unless I am sure that it will resolve the problem.

So my question to the forum is has anyone been able to fix the random vibration issue and if so what exactly did you do?

 

I have this same issue couple of years ago. Have the dealers checked and road checked and got nothing Did all the thing folks mentioned here - brake pad change (twice), balance, alignment, and all 4 tires change... What did it for me was the last item on my list - rotors! When I have them taking out, it's all warped up on the back side only - the side you don't see. This cause uneven surface wear on the rotors and thou cause the pad to worn out unevenly and eventually cause sticking/vibrating issue with the braking system.

You can take out the pads and check to see if there's an issue there before you replace them. If so, I would recommend replacing the rotor AND the pad, otherwise the uneven pad will wear out the new rotor quickly. Break the new rotor and pad in lightly during the first 100-200 miles. Also make sure you torque your lugs at 76lbs and not use air tool to tighten them, otherwise it will warp again quickly.

Report back if this is the case and if changing the rotor help.