OMLooper

Hello all,

I'm the new owner of an off-lease Lexus certified 2002 GS430 and, first, I love the car. All the gadgets, the very precise nav system, the engine (the engine!), the Mark Levinson sound system (wow). Just an awesome car.

But. I think I may have the beginning of the vibration issue that others are experiencing.

I picked up the car Wenesday and drove it from St. Louis to Chicago on Thursday, 300 miles. Here's what I noticed.

1) ... the steering wheel felt VERY "loose" resulting in some pretty
good understeer. Nearly an inch of play before engaging steering.
2) ... I had to break hard while going in a straight line at 60mph and,
rather than break straight, I noticed a lateral vibration of the front
wheels. That got the heart rate going.
3) ... when going over large bumps the car really bounced, both
vertically and horizontally. I was thinking "Is this a Lexus?" It was
very boat like.

AND, more importantly, during the ride to Chicago I noticed that I had to constantly correct the
position of the steering wheel while at cruising speed (65-80 mph). While I wouldn't call my issue a "vibration" (although I may be heading in that direction) I would call it something that severely subtracted from the enjoyment of the car. It was exhausting.

I've looked through most all of the vibration related suspension quotes. Has anybody nailed this one down with any of the following reasons?

Alignment / bad balance
Bent rims
Lower ball joints
Tie rods
Thrust arm bushings - apparently shot between 30-50k miles.
Road force balance?
Steering wheel pretensioner?

FYI, car has 43k miles and is still under new warranty and is certified for another 3 years and/or 100k total miles.

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Bill

gserep1

First things first...WELCOME ABOARD! You already know that you have one of the finest vehicles around regardless of price. You made a wise choice.

That being said, we all experience little issues now and then. I am making a few assumptions..
1. You have the 17 inch tires
AND
2. The tires are NOT brand new.

Let me start by saying that the 17 inch tires are always noisy, regardless of the tires brand, but in my experience, the michelin Pilots are some of the noisiest I heard. I have the 16 inch tires, and experience no vibration or alignment problems whatsoever.

The 17 factory tire/rim combination is subject to a lot of vibration. I know that it is hard to get and keep this combination balanced and aligned. There are many posts on this problem, and many folks make an adjustment to the rack and pinion to take out some steering wheel slack, and thus, reduce the vibration. The also install an steering ECU computer piece to help in the steering, but some models of the GS already have this installed. You should check to see if your car already has it.

I also replaced my stock struts with Bilstein Sport struts as soon as I got the car, and the difference in the floaty feel is like night and day. I am not sure if you plan on lowering thecar or not, but that would dtermine what kind of strut you could get. It you like a tight stiff ride, then the TEINS might be one of your choices.

I hope this has helped you somewhat!

Thanks again!

pavster

I don't know what it is, but mine is also a 2002, and it's also exhibiting pretty much all the issues you are talking about. I am really enjoying the engine, but the steering is so lame it's spoiling all the fun. I have 17s and I just bought new tires (Avon M500); they made it a little better, but it's still bad compared with pretty much any car I've tried (but these tires are nice and quiet, BTW).

Last winter, right after I bought the car, I bought a set of 16" wheels with sporty snow tires (Dunlop M3), and it took away all the issues except for vibration under braking, which became much more pronounced. I really think that this chassis just doesn't work with low profile ultra-high performance rubber which 17" wheels give us. The wheels follow grooves in the road, and the suspension bushings and members are too soft to resist deflection; thus requiring constant steering correction.

There are countless posts on this board regarding all those issues, and I don't think anyone has come up with a resolution. On older cars (pre-2001), people change the steering ECU and tighten the rack (don't know what that means), but our cars already have the better EDU and a redesigned rack.

I am personally at a loss of what to do. One option is to spend thousands on alignments and suspension mods hoping they will take care of all the issues, and another is to just cut my losses, and trade it in for something that was designed with a driver in mind.

Sorry to be so sour, but once I got used to all the gadgets and started to focus on the actual driving experience, I started to realize that my GS just doesn't deliver it...

-pavel.

OMLooper

gserep1 and pavster,

Thanks for the quick replies.

gsrep1, I have the 17 inch chrome wheels with new dunlop sport tires. At least the tread LOOKS new. Dealer didn't install them.

How much would Bilstein sport struts cost installed?


I guess a followup question for the board might be, how many of these possible fixes can the dealer do for us under warranty?

Bill