Gs400 Pulls To Right

[cxsmall]

I have a 98 GS400 - After about a 1.5 years, the car started severely pulling, (could be either to the right or the left) upon braking (could actually end up in the next lane). The dealer inspected the car, and could find nothing wrong except for worn tires (about 22K miles, but were worn). the problem seemed to alleviate after I replaced the tiresuntil about 2 years after that, when it came back in a different form. The car will occasionally tend to pull to the right, almost always during the time the vehicle has just about slowed to a stop, i think when on uneven pavement. The pull can sometimes result in the steering wheel turning about 90 degrees off center. My wife and daughter have experienced the steering wheel being pulled out of their hands during a stop. About a year ago, the car started to vibrate at about 63mph, fairly consistently; sometimes though, the vibration will be more severe such that it feels as though the tires have lost traction with the road (does not actually lose traction, though). I've brought the car to the dealer quite a few times; replaced the tires at the onset of round 2. later on the tires were re- balanced, checked brakes (replaced pads and turned rotors as part of normal service), calipers, alignment. the latest visit resulted in a replaced right ball joint. Too early to tell if the problems have been resolved; can still see movement of the steering wheel during stops on uneven pavement, but I think this could be normal for the car.

During one of visits to the dealer, the service manager test drove the car with me and told me that the car was responding to the crowning on the road, as well as dips and ruts. He showed examples of this. That seems normal, but not having the wheel pulled out from under you - that's kind of dangerous ! the service manager told me that this too was a problem with GS400's and was normal for the car (I wiish I had that comment tape recorded, i didn't believe what he was saying and at that point, it was my word of what he said against his ).

Has anyone else had similar experiences with their lexus ? if it was resolved, what was done ?

[LEXUS420]

Um, I'm on my sixth lexus and my current is a 99 GS400 and I have never heard of anything like that being a COMMON problem. I know this sounds bad and I'd hate to see those kind of people working there, but sometimes someone might tell you what you want to hear cause they can't reproduce the same thing as you state is happening. I have never heard of it, but it might be something specific with ur car for some reason. I'm sure other members will be able to give you a better idea. Sorry for the issue and welcome to the board! I'm pretty new myself.

KJ

[jdmparts_guru]

Did you still have the standard rims or aftermarket rims?

I also sometimes occur that the car is following too much the dips/marks on the road, I expect that this is because the bad condition of our roads, and because of my wide rear tires ( 265/35/18).

Perhaps if you can try some other rims and compare if that makes a difference?

[Lex_Chick _GsBGizzle]

Hey,

too bad your stuck with this problem: it just sound like your just unlucky with an unsually defect. (I never heard of such a thing, we have a '98 300, with pratically zero problems aside from a recalled alarm which wil soon be resolved. )If you noticed this and your obviously not lying, this sound like a serious, and DANGEROUS problem. If the dealer couldn't find anything, don't give up, i think you'd better find somone who specialises in this stuff, and test drive with them. Don't give up, and drive carfully!

(This may be of interest, there was some kind of officialy testin g in terms of quality of all makes of models, and the GS came to number FOUR! That's right, four not of the lexus brand, or certain models in a class, but overall all models in all makes.!)

[Lex_Chick _GsBGizzle]

PS. ( I missed the part about what that idiot dealer told you)

WHat an idiot. THis is something else, you should complain to lexus "headquarters", as they should not have such low lives, cheap people on their staff. If you didn't figure it out yet, that NO OF COURSE THIS IS NOT A COMMON PROBLEM~! HE just realized that yes you do unfortunetely have a realy rare and really bad problem so to avoid a lawsuit, he attempted to brush it off with a comment that pathetic. lol. Don't beleive a word of it as i'm sure you don't . I recommend you change dealers, for not willing to adress their default being so large and dangerous, by .. i don't know maybe stating that driving it is now too dangeou period, and giving you a loaner for a while? AND two, hiring such *BLEEP* you'd think you'd only find at ... a dode or kia, or izusu, etc dealer

GOOD LUCK!

[braheem]

Has your car ever been in a wreck?

Are you 110% sure, I've seen BRAND NEW CARS sold with previous damage.

[TouringGS]

Has your car ever been in a wreck?

Are you 110% sure, I've seen BRAND NEW CARS sold with previous damage.

I agree.

Remember, no matter how much the dealer says they care about the customer, what they really care for is the customer's money. The second a car is wrecked or damaged, no matter how minor, it should be sold as a used car even it has zero miles. There have been cases where a porter employed at a dealer severely wrecks a brand new car while transporting it to the lot, and the dealer's body shop takes care of the damage and it is sold as a brand new car.

Some people (usually specializing in body work) have an eye for detecting previous damage on a car.

[JPI]

This could be your tires. Did you replace new tires? I rarely see this kind of problem on the GS, One way to find out is to swap the tires. You will find a solution right there. Check your tires pressure also.

JPI

[ozarra]

Hey, I had a similar problem on my sc 430 and it was due to my tires. I had the run flat ones and the car was severely pulling while coming to a stop. I replaced them by new ones, non run flat and the problem disappeared.

Anyway, it is also possible that one of your rims is slightly bent and make an unusual tear on your front tire which ultimately create a dimisnished grip on the road. Also, you can investigate the suspensions.

But this is definitelly not normal and lexus should fix it.

Call corporate headquarter if the dealer is "unable" (more often unwilling) to resolve.

Good luck.

[JPI]

Make them put it on the alignment. Make sure the camber and caster are not off. Negative camber can cause excessive tire wear. But start with the alignment first.

www.jpimportz.org

[cxsmall]

I have a 98 GS400 - After about a 1.5 years, the car started severely pulling, (could be either to the right or the left) upon braking (could actually end up in the next lane). The dealer inspected the car, and could find nothing wrong except for worn tires (about 22K miles, but were worn). the problem seemed to alleviate after I replaced the tiresuntil about 2 years after that, when it came back in a different form. The car will occasionally tend to pull to the right, almost always during the time the vehicle has just about slowed to a stop, i think when on uneven pavement. The pull can sometimes result in the steering wheel turning about 90 degrees off center. My wife and daughter have experienced the steering wheel being pulled out of their hands during a stop. About a year ago, the car started to vibrate at about 63mph, fairly consistently; sometimes though, the vibration will be more severe such that it feels as though the tires have lost traction with the road (does not actually lose traction, though). I've brought the car to the dealer quite a few times; replaced the tires at the onset of round 2. later on the tires were re- balanced, checked brakes (replaced pads and turned rotors as part of normal service), calipers, alignment. the latest visit resulted in a replaced right ball joint. Too early to tell if the problems have been resolved; can still see movement of the steering wheel during stops on uneven pavement, but I think this could be normal for the car.

During one of visits to the dealer, the service manager test drove the car with me and told me that the car was responding to the crowning on the road, as well as dips and ruts. He showed examples of this. That seems normal, but not having the wheel pulled out from under you - that's kind of dangerous ! the service manager told me that this too was a problem with GS400's and was normal for the car (I wiish I had that comment tape recorded, i didn't believe what he was saying and at that point, it was my word of what he said against his ).

Has anyone else had similar experiences with their lexus ? if it was resolved, what was done ?

to all who responded and offered advice, thanks. since my original post, i've been back to the dealer twice, the latest being about 1 week ago (end of dec 2003). after some serious complaining on my part, the service rep keeps both the service manager and myself away from each other. i've been working with one particular

service rep who is very eager to ensure my problem is resolved.

1) right new ball-joint. this did not fix the orignal problem, but did significantly improve the ride. both my wife and i did not realize the ride had degraded until after this repair. they also load-aligned the vehicle and rotated the tires.

2) the front rotors were slightly warped. lexus turned the rotors and replaced the pads (no charge).

items 1 and 2 did not resolve the problem

i had not brought up the tire issue as the problem seemed to continue even

after i had purchased new tires about 14 months ago. This last time, the head service tech was convinced it was the tires as he could find nothing else mechanically out of spec with the frame, brakes, etc. The deal i made with them was that i would agree to replace the tires if they would guarantee me that they would purchase back the tires from me if the problem recurred (within a few months). they agreed and put it in writing :)

it's been going on two weeks with no signs of either the intermittant vibration or the pulling. we have noticed that the car is, for lack of a better technical term .... bouncier. for once, i'm at a loss of words that will exactly describe this. It is by no means a disconcerting event, just different. I have to check the air pressure. i'm wondering if they messed with the suspension and covered it up with the tires, but deep down i think it very well could have been the tires. i seem to recall that way back, when this first started, the problem took a leave of absence after my first set of tires was replaced.

anyway, thanks again for your suggestions. if the tires do ultimately solve the problem (time will tell), i'll send another post, should anyone else experience this type of problem in the future. for now, no news is good news.

Have a happy new year.

charlie

[SKperformance]

just a thought

it may have een tire pressures not the tires.

i have the same kind of problems in my cars if i have low pressure.if i raise it a little above the recommened levels a few psi

the problems all go away and the ride smoothens out as well.

[jtanoyo1]

It's a common case of bad road conditions and Lexus infamous crappy suspension. Lexus makes its suspension so soft that it follows every rut and dips on the road without being able to correct it. Occasionally on my Aristo, I could feel the steering wheel pull violently to the left or right especially when the road is very wavy (like one of those test tracks for military hummers).

Put on some swaybars on your car, you would be very surprised at how much of the problem would go away. Trust me on this.

[nemesis]

I have a 98 GS400 - After about a 1.5 years, the car started severely pulling, (could be either to the right or the left) upon braking (could actually end up in the next lane). The dealer inspected the car, and could find nothing wrong except for worn tires (about 22K miles, but were worn). the problem seemed to alleviate after I replaced the tiresuntil about 2 years after that, when it came back in a different form. The car will occasionally tend to pull to the right, almost always during the time the vehicle has just about slowed to a stop, i think when on uneven pavement. The pull can sometimes result in the steering wheel turning about 90 degrees off center. My wife and daughter have experienced the steering wheel being pulled out of their hands during a stop. About a year ago, the car started to vibrate at about 63mph, fairly consistently; sometimes though, the vibration will be more severe such that it feels as though the tires have lost traction with the road (does not actually lose traction, though). I've brought the car to the dealer quite a few times; replaced the tires at the onset of round 2. later on the tires were re- balanced, checked brakes (replaced pads and turned rotors as part of normal service), calipers, alignment. the latest visit resulted in a replaced right ball joint. Too early to tell if the problems have been resolved; can still see movement of the steering wheel during stops on uneven pavement, but I think this could be normal for the car.

During one of visits to the dealer, the service manager test drove the car with me and told me that the car was responding to the crowning on the road, as well as dips and ruts. He showed examples of this. That seems normal, but not having the wheel pulled out from under you - that's kind of dangerous ! the service manager told me that this too was a problem with GS400's and was normal for the car (I wiish I had that comment tape recorded, i didn't believe what he was saying and at that point, it was my word of what he said against his ).

Has anyone else had similar experiences with their lexus ? if it was resolved, what was done ?

hey i have a 1998 gs 400 also and i ahve experienced the same exact problems my mechanic told me that i needed new tie rods i just changed mine last night and the ride is much better

[nemesis]

Hey i have a 1998 gs 400 and i have experienced the same problems my mechanin told me that i needed to change my tie rods, i just changed them last nite and the ride is much better

[Troy1Star]

I Had the same problem. I thought it was many things, but it end up being the tires. They were too hard. Had the Yokohama AVS Sports. Changed to Toyo Proxes and problem disappear.

[tcancian41]

I have a 99 gs400 that had this problem about a hundred and twenty thousand miles ago. I took it into a local mechanic who told me that the left lower ball joint was bad. He replaced both lower ball joints and the problem immediately went away. Shortly after the problem resurfaced and we determined the ball joint was faulty. We replaced the faulty ball joint and the problem again went away. It is now back at two hundred eighty five thousand miles and I can find nobody to tell me what's wrong with the car so I'm going to tell my mechanic to replace both lower ball joints. It has to be the problem because it is identical to what the symptoms were the first time around. It's just odd that I'm telling the mechanic what to do.