Lexus GS430 Vibration in Steering

Your symptoms remind me of probs I've had in the past with some types of tires holding a little
flat spot after being parked a while in cold weather. If you have a vibe that's 1 per wheel
revolution, has a severity less strongly related to speed than would be so for an unbalanced
tire (but may be especially noticeable at certain speeds), subjectively is sharper-feeling than
an unbalanced tire would be, and fades away after some miles of driving then you might suspect
this.

One odd characteristic of this prob is that the vibration will change a lot as you drive around
a broad curve at highway speeds. The flat spots on opposite sides rotate in and out of synch as
the car goes around the curve, changing the vibration a lot. Checking this helps diagnose the
problem (but does not absolutely rule out some other causes).

I understand steel-belted tires are less susceptible to this than some other designs.


Pete
http://www.ccoder.com (personal)
http://www.ccoder.com (business)

I agree. It sounds like a tire problem. Also, if you have wheel weights
that are stuck inside of the wheel. They can come off causing the wheel not
to be balanced but, it sounds more like a tire out of round. If a tire shop
puts on a machine. They can tell or you could jack up the car and do it
yourself.
...

I had a similar problem on a 2001 LS430. The dealer said that
everything comes up OK in his tests and claimed that it may be a flat
spot on the tires. His offer was to replace the tires under warranty
if the problem does not go away after several thousand miles. It did
go away.

Thanks much. Your are right about the problem occurring when parked
for long in a cold weather and once it is driven for a while, it runs
ok.
Also, I noticed that the Engine does not start immediately when the
ignition is turned. (unlike my earlier BMW 328ic, which just started
in a slight twist of the ignition key). I thought, since it is a big
engine and a V8, probably that is how it is supposed to be. might be I
am wrong here.

thanks much for all input. I will check with the dealer again this
weekend. otherwise, the car is awesome.

regards

Ravi

Sounds like the front rotors may be warped and need turning.

Just replace the brake pads and have the rotors tuned at the same time.
John

...

I had a similar problem with an early production model gs400 (1998). It
turned out to be warped rotors and the dealership resurfaced them under
warannty.









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http://www.ccoder.com

What you are feeling is a cold tire flat spot which is fairly common with
high performance tires. You will notice this even more in colder weather.
...