Inner Tie Rod Symptoms

[nc211]

Hey gang, I've got a question. I've still got this funny wobble in my car around 30-40 mph. The car's been aligned / balanced twice from the dealer. That helped, but it's still there. I had the front rotors turned not too long ago "3 weeks" when I had new pads put on. I don't feel any braking vibration, except coming down from high speeds when I'm standing on them. My question is this, for those of you who have changed out your inner tie rods, what were your symptoms that made you change them? I've done every other component except these and of course the wheel hub itself. I do notice when sitting in park and I move the wheel back and forth quickly a slight thump noise in the steering wheel, like some free play, but not much.

Thanks all!

[maxed_out]

Yo nc, I wondered the same thing about mine but for now I'm pretty convinced my vibration around 55 is related to the motor mounts. I can get vibration from the front going downhill and a vibe from the rear going uphill. I just did the tranny mount and it helped. So Will advise. I may have to go the rack route eventually. You did your motor mounts? if so what was your expereince?

maxed

[akewlguy]

Curious how many miles? Did you drive the LEXUS hard?

Good luck..

[SRK]

If your car has been aligned by a competent mechanic, there should not be any concern with play in the inner tie rod ends, the outers, the ball joints, nothing at all. A pre-alignment check is mandatory, and any mechanic who claims to have done an alignment without checking for play should find a new job. So you need to question those who claim an alignment was done - twice.

When a tire is balanced, a good mechanic will check for a "hop" in the tire, which is an indication of a carcass problem that can cause a vibration even when the balance zero's out. Check with whoever did the balance and see if they looked for a hop. Perhaps rotate the tires front to rear.

Unless your foot is on the brake pedal when the vibration occurs, it isn't the brakes. It must be in the wheel assembly, the alignment, or perhaps the engine mounts.

[nc211]

Thanks SRK. The Lexus dealership actually did the alignment and balancing for me. The first time was before a big road trip a couple weeks ago. I threw a weight on the trip and took it back to the dealership when I got back. They redid everything again for free. The car tracks perfectly, and the wheels are balanced. I'm wondering if it's not in the tires? Got Mich energy tires on there, and they're in good shape. The car just feels like it shifts on the X axes too much, left to right, like those old caddy's did back in the day. The outter tie's, ball joints and all other parts have been replaced with new oem stuff already. I'm wondering about (1) inner tie rods (2) drive shaft flex couplings (3) rotors. It's just a wierd feeling.

Example: When I do a slow circle in the parking lot, the front of the car feels like it wants to push out, and you feel it wanting to do so, like it wants to fold the outer tire under the car. All the control arms are new, and bolted to torque specs.

The back wheels feel like they don't communicate very well with the direction the front wheels want the car to go. But it's aligned right, it's freakin' got to be. The dealership has always done this right for me.

Maxed: Did the motor mounts shortly after I got the car, made a nice difference! Probably the one repair I've done that made a very noticable imiprovement on vibration and engine noise. You won't be disappointed. Buy them from parts.com and take them to an indi mech to replace. Driver's side is easy, passenger side is a chore.

Kewl: The car has 103k miles. It's been pampered it's entire life. The previous owner traded it in at 84k miles for a new LS430. It was his corporate car...well, wife grocery getter. Local car, single owner, retired banker. Always serviced at dealership, even for oil changes @ $90 a pop. The guy loved the car and only got rid of it for the navigation option on the new ones. Apparently he started to get lost a lot due to old age. All of my repairs outside of the motor mounts and differential mounts were done as a preventive chore, not a required repair. I aim to keep this car for at least 5 more years, if not longer. Nothing beats having a 4 digit loan balance on a world class car! :D

So: Anyone else have expierence with the inner tie rods?

[SRK]

Sounds like a bad tire to me. Try inflating the tires (briefly) an extra 10 psi or so and see if that makes a difference. Low speed wobbles, which I take it you experience, and not high speed ones, indicate a tire distortion, especially if the wobble is a yaw left-right.

[nc211]

I think you're right about the bad tire somewhere. It just seems to me after all these alignments and balancings over the past year, this problem would have been fixed, if indeed it was an alignment/balancing issue. I've got a full size spare in the back and I might swap that one out and test each tire. But I am wondering as well about the stabilizer bar link. I remember when I was doing the front suspension arms that I loosened one of the links, then tightened it back up, but it felt wierd, and the bolt felt week. What do these things do? and what happens when they go bad? It's #4 on the attachment.

Thanks amigos