Well, after almost 2mo in the shop trying to resolve my vibrations at idle while under load, my Tanabe NF's are removed.. After trying everything and anything, the only thing that subscantially helped the vibration was removing the lowering springs. The vibration is still there, specially on cold days, but the springs amplified it by causing increased angle/pressure on the joint between the tranny and front wheels on AWDs. This may be only on 2006s since i found out that something was found early on and a production change was made w/o a TSB.. They actually put my original springs back on and apparently were not satisfied and orderd a 'current' version of the springs, spring pads, etc. and installed those. So, i'm back to my monster wheel gap What i don't understand is that my dad just bought a new Avalon, which is front wheel drive, 3.5 engine, and there is no wheel gap.. so, if they can do it in that car, why not the GS ?? The dealer didn't charge anything and I had a new IS the whole time, so in the end, I at least had free 'winter storage'

Anyone interested in my Tanabe springs, PM me.. but I would be hesitant to install them on an AWD.. I only had them on about a month..

Guess it's time for that front carbon lip to at least make the front a bit closer to the ground.. and maybe give the Tanabe exhaust a try.. or just give it to the wife and get the IS-F

 

Hi kuch123

How is your car right now. Does new 'current' version of the springs, spring pads help ?? I am still suffering with these annoying vibration. After last attend at dealer, I haven't hear from them since.

 

Still some vibration.. it's wierd.. some times its there, some times its not and some times i feel like i should be in a truck.. specially in cold weather.. but overall its better with the newer springs for now.. i think Lex is trying to ignore the problem because they don't know how to fix it and they also really hate supporting these 2006 models. It was their screwup in the first place even making the 300s because they can't get their engine/model releases in order.. there never should have been a 300 or 430 3rd gen!! and the 2009 RX should not have been out in Feb 08!

 

kuch and CK...,

If by vibration under load you mean when in gear as opposed to no vibration when in park or switching to neutral...then you may want to review ES350 TSIB. After many denials and claims the vibration was normal, finally a TSIB was issued for this for the ES350, currently on last page of TSIB thread top of ES350 Forum though copied here. Maybe have them look at your GS from the ES perspective. On ES vibration in steering wheel, armrests and floorboards when in gear, gone when out of gear, if same for you guys it's a worth an approach. Good luck with it...

TSIB:
EG023-07 Engine idle vibration and drone noise

At long last: A fix for the ridiculous vibrating and noise of the engine while idling in gear.

Production change effective VIN:
JTHBJ46G*82177233

The repair: replace the active motor mount.

 

Yes, that's exactly the problem, but unfortunately they already changed the engine mounts.. even exhaust mounts/hangers, spark plugs, O2 Sensors, etc.

 

Same there!!! They replaced both engine and tranny mounts
but still ....no luck.

 

ever notice how the % series beamers have almost no wheel gap. I wish the japanese would kill some of the gap as well

 

Yup - I've commented on this for years. Audi and MB too. It's not just gap either, it's fitment horizontally (how flush with fender). The ES350's wheels look inset to me (ugly). The 2GS had big wheel gaps too. Toyota/Lexus just isn't interested in decent wheel fitment it seems. Even the IS-F isn't as 'tight' as the concept pics they showed. I guess they want more suspension travel??

And the AWD GS is definitely worse (huge front wheel gap) than the RWD - not sure why it should be jacked up so high - I can only guess they want the center diff. and anything else to have reasonable clearance from the road???

It's crazy - the 2GS was out 8 years and it seems like when the 3GS arrived, it seemed 'very rushed' with creaks, squeaks, rattles, and other issues and to cap it off, it had the 2GS engines for a year (not that they're bad engines, but the I6 is thirsty and the V8 was no longer class leading).

I think Lexus put the most effort into the big sellers, the LS, RX and ES. Maybe they got tired of putting much effort into the GS since it's never really been a big seller.

 

It did not have the 2gs 3L engine, it had its own V6 3.0L engine which is still used in many parts of the world on the gs300 and is300 etc, all that other stuff you mention...it has LOL

 

I have a 2006 GS300 AWD with 18 inch GS430 wheels and also complained about the gap between the fenders and wheels, but realized that the car looks much better with the 18 inch than 17 inch wheel option and does not make the gap that significant. As for the idle vibration, coming from cold Michigan, the car does that when warming up and at stop light, but hardly does that all the time. I feel it on my 2006 Audl A8L and my Infiniti coupe even more at idle when below 40 degrees. Its common.

 

You're right, my bad - was the 3.0 V6 the one from, say, the Avalon at that time? So the 3GS had the 3.0 V6 for one year, right?

 

I'll be on the lookout for this vibration.

I had the NF210's a long time ago, and had *some* vibration, but I can't remember enough of it to pin it down (AC compressor turning on?)

The car is at stock right now till Wednesday, so I'll look for it because it's cold out.

On Wednesday, I'm installing the TTE lowering springs; so I'm going to be curious if it arises with this spring install.

and also... WTF is with the wheel gap crazy Lexii?