I've had people make comments about my car being a really rough ride before, I don't know if i am just getting picky about my car but i am really noticed it too.
I can feel even the smallest bump, and they hit pretty hard. I don't think the struts are going bad because the car isn't bouncing at all. Its actually very very very stiff.

What's causing this? Or are sc's just a rough ride stock?

I've also noticed that when I hit small bumps it jerks my steering wheel. It seams like its getting worse, specially at slow speeds. If I slow do a stop and am hitting bumps it will almost jerk my steering wheel out of my hand.

I tried searching but didn't really come up with much, if there has been threads on this before place link me to them.

Thanks!
Will

 

What year is your car sounds like you have worn out shocks ,is your car lowered .

 

Its a 92, just broke 100k miles. No, its not lowered.
About 3 months ago I had my front bushings replaced at the toyota dealership, I told them to take a look at the shocks also and they said they were fine.
Maybe they were wrong? The car isn't bouncing at all, its just very very stiff.

 

If the wheel alignment is off it'll react differently to bumps,I'd go and ask the dealer to verify the alignment with a printout showing the exact #s while you are showing them the problem first hand,during a test drive.

 

Could be your tires or tire pressure?

 

It doesn't really seam like the alignment to me. Also I do need one! I think I had this problem when my car was aligned correctly. Its just so damn stiff! Its weird, I have had struts go bad on cars before and it makes them very bouncy and softens the ride.

As for tire pressure, I thought it may be that also. I didn't check it since winter and now its getting warmer here. The pressure was way up there (around 50lb), I let it down to exactly 37 in each tire. It softened the ride just hardly enough to notice, but its still really stiff.

I guess ill just take it into the dealer and have them go over it and also do an alignment and see if that helps correct the problems.

 

Are you still using the factory-issued Bridgestone Potenza RE940s? Those tires are considerably harsher than other brands I've used. Of course if the harshness problem occurred while you already had the RE940s, then that probably isn't the source of it, but different tires may help alleviate the stiffness?

 

I have both new rims and tires on there. The ones are had before were even harder! I could really feel bumps then. Also had alot of road noise. When I got the new ones it went down a little bit again, got rid of the road noise. But still a really rough ride.

The rims/tires that came on my car were not factory. Im almost wondering if the person who had the car before me put on after market shocks (car was bought from dealer with no books ).

Whats an easy way to check and tell? Or will I have to pull off my wheels to look?

 

Welp.. Just got a call from the toyota dealership and they told me my control arm busing were bad.

This would cause the car to have a rough ride, wouldn't it?

They also can't do an allignment until its fixed. Another $1,200 spent on the lex ::sigh::

 

I'm assuming your front lower control arm bushings are bad. You can buy those bushings and have them installed for far less than allowing Lexus to replace the entire arm with the same factory bushings. Do a search.

 

Crap! I already ordered the part. Oh, well!

 

ztikmedia, you can cancel the order if you want. You are not obligated to buy ordered items unless they required a deposit, in which case you lose the deposit only (but sometimes even that isn't always the case). You don't have to buy the entire control arm, you can just have your current control arms stripped of the worn bushings and retrofitted with them polyurethane bushings. I will caution you that the poly bushings do stiffen the ride and increase road feel, but they do have improved handling properties. Plus the bushings themselves only cost $99 in parts, not $1200.

 

Thanks for the info, I did already pay for them in advance though.
Atleast everything on my car will be in 100% working order now

 

im having the exact same problem but it was after my bushings were changed..

CEO