Pulling My Hair Out

[wagsy22]

Well, I was skeptical that Discount Tires would know what they were talking about. So I went ahead and allowed them to replace my almost new Yoko H4S on my 98 GS400 to solve this vibration problem. They were replaced with Pirelli PZero Nero M+S. Cost me $150 extra of course. Guess what? The vibration is not only there, its much worse. Now, the vibration starts at 55-70mph. The Yoko had been balanced 4 times (for same vibration) before and the vibration was down to between 60-62mph. I am pulling my hair out over this. What suspension components could be causing this - bearings, etc.???? I have had two of the wheels analyzed for trueness and one was bent so I had it straigtened.

I would be forever grateful if someone knew what what causing this....and told

me how to fix it. Discount Tire told me the Yokos were not right for the car but couldnt tell me why....of course.

Wagsy

[blue06gs]

my friend who drives a 2000 GS300 had the same exact problem and the same problem with discount tires. They told him the tires he put on were not meant to be put on a lexus so they swapped them out for another set of tires (at no cost) and the vibration was still there, no one could figure out what was wrong so he just upgraded to 20" rims/tires and he no longer has the vibration.

sorry i dont have a specific fix, i honestly dont know what could cause the problem besides a loose bearing or the tires/rims are not balanced properly.

[wagsy22]

I should add some more info which may help - the car has 104K on it. No clunking heard while shifting - and shaking appears to be in the seats, steering wheel, and foot wells. No shaking felt on shifter which makes me believe it could be either the wheel alignment (which I have not done yet), wheel bearings, and/or poor balancing. No symptoms/noises heard in drive shaft, u-joints, or differential.

Wagsy

my friend who drives a 2000 GS300 had the same exact problem and the same problem with discount tires. They told him the tires he put on were not meant to be put on a lexus so they swapped them out for another set of tires (at no cost) and the vibration was still there, no one could figure out what was wrong so he just upgraded to 20" rims/tires and he no longer has the vibration.

sorry i dont have a specific fix, i honestly dont know what could cause the problem besides a loose bearing or the tires/rims are not balanced properly.

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[GuyTelefunken]

I have found the GS to be particularly sensitive to tire imbalance. When I replace tires, I mount the wheel with tire on the balancer and check it with no weights installed. I note the imbalance. Next I loosen the wheel and rotate it 180 deg. Check the imbalance again. If it's the same, but 180 deg. from the last position, I know the wheel is on the balancer correctly. If the second reading is different from the first, I keep remounting and spinning it until I get identical readings from several positions.

Most shops throw the wheel on the balancer, slap on the weights, and off you go. It's absolutely critical to get the wheel on the balancer exactly right or the balance will not be right. Also it's best to balance down to 5 grams or less. The correct wheel weight for the inside is type "FN." The "FN" series hammer-on weight is marked in grams. Some shops do not stock all the right weights and use whatever they have. This can be a particular problem if the incorrect weight used in marked in ounces.

[wagsy22]

I checked all four wheels and they all have the 1/4 oz. press on weights on the inside of the rim. One rim even has a double-decker of weights on it ( to me,

that doesnt sound right). Can I buy these weights in grams from somewhere

and then take them to my local mechanic and use your adivce to try balancing all

four tires - I think the balancer he has is a Hunter and I have read those are the best.

Thanks for the responses, you are really helping ....

Wagsy

I have found the GS to be particularly sensitive to tire imbalance. When I replace tires, I mount the wheel with tire on the balancer and check it with no weights installed. I note the imbalance. Next I loosen the wheel and rotate it 180 deg. Check the imbalance again. If it's the same, but 180 deg. from the last position, I know the wheel is on the balancer correctly. If the second reading is different from the first, I keep remounting and spinning it until I get identical readings from several positions.

Most shops throw the wheel on the balancer, slap on the weights, and off you go. It's absolutely critical to get the wheel on the balancer exactly right or the balance will not be right. Also it's best to balance down to 5 grams or less. The correct wheel weight for the inside is type "FN." The "FN" series hammer-on weight is marked in grams. Some shops do not stock all the right weights and use whatever they have. This can be a particular problem if the incorrect weight used in marked in ounces.

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[TurboGS300]

I checked all four wheels and they all have the 1/4 oz. press on weights on the inside of the rim.  One rim even has a double-decker of weights on it ( to me,

that doesnt sound right).  Can I buy these weights in grams from somewhere

and then take them to my local mechanic and use your adivce to try balancing all

four tires - I think the balancer he has is a Hunter and I have read those are the best.

Thanks for the responses, you are really helping ....

Wagsy

I have found the GS to be particularly sensitive to tire imbalance. When I replace tires, I mount the wheel with tire on the balancer and check it with no weights installed. I note the imbalance. Next I loosen the wheel and rotate it 180 deg. Check the imbalance again. If it's the same, but 180 deg. from the last position, I know the wheel is on the balancer correctly. If the second reading is different from the first, I keep remounting and spinning it until I get identical readings from several positions.

Most shops throw the wheel on the balancer, slap on the weights, and off you go. It's absolutely critical to get the wheel on the balancer exactly right or the balance will not be right. Also it's best to balance down to 5 grams or less. The correct wheel weight for the inside is type "FN." The "FN" series hammer-on weight is marked in grams. Some shops do not stock all the right weights and use whatever they have. This can be a particular problem if the incorrect weight used in marked in ounces.

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I'd check the one with the doubledecker weights on it, might be bent! Or swap it to the rear <_<

[daztd]

I'm looking at buy a Lexus GS 430......so i was just checking out this site. GREAT WEB FORUM! To maybe help you out on this problem, I have a 94 Ford Probe GT with the same problem that you have. I had 4 new tires put on and a 4-wheel Aligment. 60 mph and higher, the front end would vibrate badly. I had the tires balance 2 more times from the same shop with no luck. I was very *BLEEP*ed! I called around for some answers from other people. I had the tires and rims balanced at Discount Tire ( free of charge for some odd reason) and that didn't solve it!! Grrrr. So finally I called The Tire Rack to see if they could help me solve this fricking problem. They told me to go to a place that has a "Road Force Tire Balancer." This type of balancer is better then the old type of balancers. It will tell you if the tire or the rim is bad or good. So guess what....one of the tires was not perfect from the start and could never be balanced right, no matter how many times you try to balance it. I brought the car back to original shop that put the tires on and told them about these findings from a different shop. They used their road force tire balancer(they should have done that in the first place!) to confirm their findings and replaced the bad tire. Now, i can drive Above 60mph without the frinking vibration! I hope this helps you. Can't wait to get a GS 430! :D

[wagsy22]

Does the GS400 have hub centric or lug centric wheels? Mine are the factory chrome 17" wheels? I have read that if you dont balance lug centrics using the lugs (which you will need an adapter for) then you will never balance the wheels right? Is the correct?

Wagsy

I'm looking at buy a Lexus GS 430......so i was just checking out this site. GREAT

WEB FORUM! To maybe help you out on this problem, I have a 94 Ford Probe GT with the same problem that you have. I had 4 new tires put on and a 4-wheel Aligment. 60 mph and higher, the front end would vibrate badly. I had the tires balance 2 more times from the same shop with no luck. I was very *BLEEP*ed!    I called around for some answers from other people. I had the tires and rims balanced at Discount Tire ( free of charge for some odd reason) and that didn't solve it!! Grrrr. So finally I called The Tire Rack to see if they could help me solve this fricking problem. They told me to go to a place that has a "Road Force Tire Balancer." This type of balancer is better then the old type of balancers. It will tell you if the tire or the rim is bad or good. So guess what....one of the tires was not perfect from the start and could never be balanced right, no matter how many times you try to balance it. I brought the car back to original shop that put the tires on and told them about these findings from a different shop. They used their road force tire balancer(they should have done that in the first place!) to confirm their findings and replaced the bad tire. Now, i can drive Above 60mph without the frinking vibration! I hope this helps you. Can't wait to get a GS 430!  :D

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