In article , snipped-for-privacy@roadkill.net (lugnut) writes: | On 27 May 2008 04:37:33 GMT, ddl@danlan.*com (Dan Lanciani) | wrote: | | >I have a 1995 Lexus GS300 with ~30k miles. It has had regular dealer | >service, though perhaps not optimally since they like to go by | >mileage. Recently the car has developed an odd vibration and | >steering wheel oscillation on certain highways at 50-60mph. (The roads | >aren't great, but they are the same roads I've been driving for 13 years | >so I don't think they have all changed in this very specific way. Also, | >other vehicles I drive on the same roads don't have this problem.) | > | >Basically, the car starts to vibrate and the wheel oscillates back and | >forth about an inch at probably a couple times per second. If it gets | >bad or if I try to steady the wheel (I can't) there is a disturbing | >clicking sound. The shift is also moving back and forth a bit in time | >to the vibration. If I accelerate to ~65mph the vibration goes away. | >I assume I'm getting out of some resonance range. | > | >I recently had a service and the dealer found no problems. I took the car | >to a local Meineke and they couldn't find anything. I had them replace | >the struts but that made no difference. I wouldn't normally push for a | >fix for a random "vibration" but when this happens it really feels like | >something is going to break. Any thoughts? Could there maybe something | >failing to damp the power steering or such? | > | >I looked up the recall history on the car and the only thing I found | >involved the lower front ball joints. The dealer "found" and fixed this | >problem (for about $500) two years ago. The recall notice seems to imply | >that they should have done it for free; I have to ask about this. :) | > | > Dan Lanciani | > ddl@danlan.*com | | | Classic symtom of a severe tire imbalance or out-of-round | condition.
The thing that bugs me is that I would think such a problem would show up on any road at the appropriate speed. This happens only on certain roads--actually only on certain stretches of those roads.
| At that mileage on the tires which I assume are | oem, a failing tire is the most likely cause.
I replaced the tires once about 6 years ago at around 15k miles. They did not appear particularly worn, but I still worry about tires aging. I guess this isn't as big a deal as it used to be?
| In any event, | it signals a relatively sudden change in vehicle | characteristics and shold be checked ASAP by someone | experience in tire and front suspension problems. This may | be a safety issue should the tire fail catastrophically | resulting in a traffic accident or vehicle collateral | damage.
I was going to have them balanced as suggested here, but I decided I might as well just replace the tires again since they are almost as old as last time. This is currently in progress and then I guess they will test drive the car again. But if they don't go where it happens or if they drive too fast they won't see the problem.
I took an old friend who used to be in the repair business for a ride yesterday and demonstrated the problem. His advice was to stop driving the car, so I don't think I'm over reacting. For completeness I tried putting it in neutral; the problem did not stop. Oh, I also tried turning off traction control with no effect.
Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com