Lexus Es 350 - Vibration

[lambert61]

I hope you have better luck with your '07 ES350 than I have had in the past years. I'm ready to dump Lexus. I experienced the exact same issues. When I test drove the car it seemed fine. Not sure if it was due to the excitement of driving the car that lead me to miss some things or what.....Driving the car home from the dealer my wife and I noticed the "shake"....I just put my third set of tires on this car, have had numerous alignments, wheel balances.....Lexus tried the "road forced balance" crap. It was all hype to me. The car STILL shakes. The shake was actually WORSE after I took it to the dealer. It has improved dramatically with the Michelin's that I recently had installed but the vibration is still there. I first start to get it around 40-45 and then it is more pronounced again around 75-80. This car has ALWAYS given me the shakes. It's annoying as hell and I have been looking at Mercedes. This ES350 was my second Lexus and in my view Lexus is still in the pursuit of perfection. Not perfect by a long shot. I'm done vibrating down the road.

[SW03ES]

Mine rides perfectly smooth...as has every other ES I've driven (many, of varying model years). Something is obviously wrong with yours.

[TexasComputerMan]

I have hesitated to jump in here, but I just want to tell you of my experience. I bought a 2008 Lexus ES350 Ultra two years ago. It has been my travel car. That car and I had been literally all over the US. It has always had a slight shimmy at 65-75 mph for that whole time. However on a driving trip to Florida and after a very hard brake effort. (A Nut cut me off at 70 mph) I realized that the shimmy was much worse. I called my buddy who is a mechanic and asked him for his opinion. He thoght that it was warped front rotors. OK, I had never heard of that. When I got back home, my buddy checked the rotors and they were warped. He had to take it into his garage to prove that but I know and trust him. He suggested that I buy after market rotors and get ceramic pads. I did that and it totally cured my problem. We now believe that the rotors had been mildly warped by the first owner. Now at Any speed it is super smooth. You may have a completly different problem, but it might be worth taking your Lexus to a shop and having them check the rotors.

[johnlewisgrant]

My 2011 es350 HAS THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM!

Our previous es, a 1999 es 300, did 70-90 mph very smooth. Sure, at 160 miles OD the steering was a little iffy, but NO vibration.

Purchased the 2011 a year ago, off the showroom with no pre-drive or test drive.... a mistake. It vibrated under the seat and at the steering wheel from 70-90 mph, and I haven't even tried 100.

Don Valley Lexus, the most "exclusive" dealer in this town of 5 million (greater Toronto) was unable to fix the problem. Regular balance, special road similated balance, etc., etc. .... none of them made any difference.

Of course, I'm not happy. Our little 2010 Golf is noisier, but smooth as silk at any and all speeds.... handling is superb.

The 350 handles fine, but not great.... you don't buy this car for handling but for serene highway miles.

Just don't take the 350 over 65 mph.

Truly a geezer vehicle.

J. Grant

Toronto,

Canada

A disappointed 350 owner.

[LexBob2]

Sorry to hear about your vibration problem. It's obviously something with that particular car. I hope you are able to find out what it is and can get it corrected.

I've had two ES350's, a 2007 and a 2010 both used extensively on the highway and neither one has had a vibration problem at speeds above 65, 70, 75 etc.

You are correct, the ES is somewhat of a geezer mobile favored by the "mature" crowd.

[SW03ES]

Take it somewhere else for a road force balance and see if that fixes it, if not buy new tires.

Mine is 100% smooth at 80-90MPH.

[bearone]

I would try another Lexus dealer.

[lenore]

My sons also shaked, Replaced with aftermarket rotors (slotted) from fleabay, all shaking is gone....

[SW03ES]

I don't even know that I would worry about it being a dealer. I'd go on TireRack and pick a good well rated installer in your area who has a Hunter Road Force balancer and call them. Road force balance costs $100, not a huge deal.

These cars are really hard to balance because the balance has to be PERFECT or you'll feel a shimmy.

As for the rotors, I'd be surprised if that was his problem since his car is new and the issue has been since new.

[LexusSam]

I too have my story of the 'Vibrating ES'. I purchased my 09 ES350 with 18,900 miles on it 5 weeks ago. On the 2nd day I noticed a vibration at 35-40 and again at 70-80. I do a lot of highway driving and found after about an hour I felt a numbing feeling in my feet and hands. I could feel the vibration in the door, the center console, the floor and, of course, the steering wheel.

The Saturday after purchasing the car, 1 week later, I took it to a tire shop and had the tires LOW roadforced and alignment checked. This did NOT fix the problem.

A week and a half later I took the car BACK to the Lexus dealership. They HIGH roadforced the tires. Still no fix.

I returned a week later to the dealership where they replaced the brand new Bridgestone tires they sold with the car with the orginal Michelins that came on the car originally. They told me the Bridgestones was known NOT to work well on the ES. They then HIGH roadforced the tires and checked the alignment again. They told me the Bridgestones were already out of balance after only a week. This id NOT fix the problem.

I returned to the dealership AGAIN 5 days later and met with their diagnostic technician who had been with Lexus since they started in the U.S. We drove the car for about a half hour. He definately felt the issue. We then drove an 09 ES off the lot with the same tires but with 50K+ miles on it. Actually this one was worse.

They kept the car for 24 hours. They 'loosened' and retorqued the motor mounts, transmission mounts and whatever else. STILL NO FIX. When the service receipt was presented to me it as all one sided and basically said "OPERATING AS DESIGNED"! WHAT? Funny thing is my 07 I traded did NOT have this problem.

I have owned 8 Toyotas and 4 Lexus and have NEVER had an experience like this. Even my big 5.7 Tundra rides better than this. I can not believe that Lexus is putting cars out like this. It looks to me as though they have joined the ranks of "ALL THE OTHER CARS"... meaning NOT setting themselves apart from the norm.

At this point I have requested a meeting with the Service Manager, the GM and/or the Owner.

I will keep you guys posted on what happens next.

Final question... has ANYONE found or experienced a FIX for this problem.

[LexusSam]

I hope you have better luck with your '07 ES350 than I have had in the past years. I'm ready to dump Lexus. I experienced the exact same issues. When I test drove the car it seemed fine. Not sure if it was due to the excitement of driving the car that lead me to miss some things or what.....Driving the car home from the dealer my wife and I noticed the "shake"....I just put my third set of tires on this car, have had numerous alignments, wheel balances.....Lexus tried the "road forced balance" crap. It was all hype to me. The car STILL shakes. The shake was actually WORSE after I took it to the dealer. It has improved dramatically with the Michelin's that I recently had installed but the vibration is still there. I first start to get it around 40-45 and then it is more pronounced again around 75-80. This car has ALWAYS given me the shakes. It's annoying as hell and I have been looking at Mercedes. This ES350 was my second Lexus and in my view Lexus is still in the pursuit of perfection. Not perfect by a long shot. I'm done vibrating down the road.

I am having the EXACT SAME PROBLEM. I traded my 07 ES350 for an 09 and there it is... THE VIBRATION! I have had it for 6.5 weeks and only put 2000 miles on it. Noticed right off the bat. Have had it back to the dealership with MULTIPLE road force balances and new Michelin tires. It has come down to the people from Lexus examining my car (today as I write). Supposedly they have some digital equipment they will put on the car that measures vibration. Fact is I am not holding my breath. The dealership seemed to know the ES has problems with this... but NO RECALL. They told me Lexus doesn't usually repair the ones on the road but continually works at making mods to fix the new ones coming out. Please... if ANY of you know a fix, have heard of a fix or can provide ANY information towards a positive solution... I would love to hear it!

[johnlewisgrant]

Resurrecting this old thread to say that I had the IDENTICAL problem on my 2011 350. Balancing, even road balancing, did not correct the problem: vibration under pedals and seat starting at 80 and becoming severe at 90. My 2011 Golf, in comparison, is dead smooth and fantastically stable at ALL speeds (just a whole heck of a lot noisier.)

Just can't comfortably drive the car over 60. It IS a wheel balance problem in all likelihood, since it gets worse as the tires warm up. And it IS very frustrating.

As I said to my wife: "Never, ever buy another one of these things off the lot, sight unseen. ALWAYS get one you can test drive first!!!"

Owned a lot of cars in my 60 years on the planet. Including a previous es. Never, never owned a car that vibrated this bad at high speeds.

Lexus has some explaining to do. At this point I will never purchase another one.

JG

[LexusSam]

Resurrecting this old thread to say that I had the IDENTICAL problem on my 2011 350. Balancing, even road balancing, did not correct the problem: vibration under pedals and seat starting at 80 and becoming severe at 90. My 2011 Golf, in comparison, is dead smooth and fantastically stable at ALL speeds (just a whole heck of a lot noisier.)

Just can't comfortably drive the car over 60. It IS a wheel balance problem in all likelihood, since it gets worse as the tires warm up. And it IS very frustrating.

As I said to my wife: "Never, ever buy another one of these things off the lot, sight unseen. ALWAYS get one you can test drive first!!!"

Owned a lot of cars in my 60 years on the planet. Including a previous es. Never, never owned a car that vibrated this bad at high speeds.

Lexus has some explaining to do. At this point I will never purchase another one.

JG

I have to agree totally with you. I DID test drive the car around under their direction as I didn't know where I was going. It was basically around the block. Not enough to notice anything... and certainly not enough speed.

The dealer had the car the 4th time for another 24 hours. This time they had someone directly from Lexus there with a digital vibration tester. The Lexus guy and the dealer's top troubleshooter could NOT make a difference. I will say though... they gave it the old college try. I can NOT fault the dealership. They did all they could do execpt buy the car back.

In my research I have found even some of the LS's has vibration issues.

I have to agree again with you... I will NOT buy a Lexus again. I have had 38 autos in my 65 years, 12 Toyota based autos (8 Toyotas and 4 Lexus). It looks to me as though Lexus has simply joined the ranks of ALL the rest... cheaping to keep the profits... or to maintain the profits I should say. It it weren't for the high parts/service prices of German cars... I would go that way.

Without a doubt it will be a hard decision on which way to go next. For now I will have to get use to the lack of comfort as I do a lot of highway driving.

[LexBob2]

It's too bad a fix can't be found. I owned two ES350's, a 2007 and a 2010, and neither one had any vibration problems. So it isn't something that all of them have, but I can understand it would be very annoying for those that have the issue and can't get it resolved.

[Chuy]

Try a tire rotation to see if the vibration patterns change. If the vibration patterns remain the same, then I would not focus too much on the wheels/tries. Anything in the suspension that rotates can cause vibrations. Some folks reported changing rotors stopped the vibrations. Also consider the CV axles and wheel bearings. Just cause the car is brand new does not mean those parts should not be looked at.

Edited January 13, 2013 by Chuy

[Quagmire2]

I agree with Chuy. Change the tires around or better yet, have the dealer put on four different wheels and tires for a test ride. If you still have the vibration you can rule out the tires and wheels.

I used to have a 300ZX that I could not get the vibration problem solved. I finally found an old guy at a tire store that took the tires off the wheels one by one and found a wheel that was out of round. When he spun the wheel without the tire on it you could just barely see the the wheel had a small flat spot on an inside edge using a straight edge for reference. I ordered a new factory mag wheel and all vibration went away.

Just something to check.

My ES has what seems like a transmission vibration at 38-45 mph. The dealer can not find it even after a test ride with me. They probably think I am too picky.

Cheers

[LexusSam]

I agree with Chuy. Change the tires around or better yet, have the dealer put on four different wheels and tires for a test ride. If you still have the vibration you can rule out the tires and wheels.

I used to have a 300ZX that I could not get the vibration problem solved. I finally found an old guy at a tire store that took the tires off the wheels one by one and found a wheel that was out of round. When he spun the wheel without the tire on it you could just barely see the the wheel had a small flat spot on an inside edge using a straight edge for reference. I ordered a new factory mag wheel and all vibration went away.

Just something to check.

My ES has what seems like a transmission vibration at 38-45 mph. The dealer can not find it even after a test ride with me. They probably think I am too picky.

Cheers

Thanks guys for all the tips...

I have had to put my car away for the winter. We're in the middle of a blizzard right now.

I have a completely different set of wheels and tires (summer chromes w/Michlens) off my GS that I will be putting on in the spring. That shoudl tell me if it's the wheels.

To be honest with you guys... I am STRONGLY considering just getting rid of this Lexus and not buying another one. Just to many headaches considering the cost. Just don't know where to go from here. Any suggestions from that perspective?

Will let you all know if the wheels do the trick. Oh... and the other thing that has been recommmended is changing the rotors... guess I'll try that as well.

LexusSam

[Chuy]

When you change out the wheels, do two simple tests to check the wheel bearings and CV struts. Hold the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock positions and firmly try and move the tire/wheel in and out. there should be no movement. Any movement would indicate bad wheel bearings or ball joints. Bad ball joints don't generally cause vibrations, so in this case, you'd be suspecting a bad bearing. (Some movement in the 3 and 9 o'clock is natural because the tie rods and/or steering will give a little.) The second test is to spin the tires off the ground. The wheel should rotate smoothly. Any binding or rough spots will point to a bad bearing and/or CV strut (95% of the time, it's the bearing). You will feel some drag from the brakes; so, spining the rotors without the brake pads will provide a more accurate assesment in this test. These are things the dealer should have checked but what have you got to lose in doing it?

Damaging a wheel bearing is easy to do - any hard hit like driving over a pot hole or debris can damage the wheel bearings and/or bearing races. Another easy check are the back (inside or engine-side) of the brake rotors for debris that may have got caught in the cooling fins. Any mud or debris in there can throw off the balance. Good luck and let us know if and how this is resolved.

[JballsES]

Hello everyone. I just joined. I have been researching the web for answers to my vibration problem in my 2010 ES 350. I had a 2008 ES and it road great! Traded into a new 2010. After putting a few thousand mile on it, I started noticing a vibration. It was not bad on the highway, but on secondary roads the ride went to hell. I blamed on the junky Bridgestone tires that came on the car and figured the problem would go away when I put new tires on. Just put on a set of new Michelin tires and road forced balanced them. Ride is better, but still getting a jittery ride between 40 to 60 mph. I am now starting to think the problem is in the suspension (springs & struts). Does anyone have any ideas on this?

[LexBob2]

Hello everyone. I just joined. I have been researching the web for answers to my vibration problem in my 2010 ES 350. I had a 2008 ES and it road great! Traded into a new 2010. After putting a few thousand mile on it, I started noticing a vibration. It was not bad on the highway, but on secondary roads the ride went to hell. I blamed on the junky Bridgestone tires that came on the car and figured the problem would go away when I put new tires on. Just put on a set of new Michelin tires and road forced balanced them. Ride is better, but still getting a jittery ride between 40 to 60 mph. I am now starting to think the problem is in the suspension (springs & struts). Does anyone have any ideas on this?

You didn't say how many miles are on the car now but it might be suspension related. I had a 2010 for three years on the OEM Bridgestones and the car was stable at all speeds. If there is any mfgr warranty left on the car you might have the dealer look at it.

[JballsES]

The car has 15,000. I did find out that Lexus changed the strut and mounting on the rear starting in 2009. This could explain why my 2008 was fine. Still investigating. I don't trust the dealership to find the root cause. They just start changing things hoping to get lucky and then you've lost the baseline. At this point, I am thinking the problem is in the suspension.

[JballsES]

There is a slight vibration in the streeing wheel at 65 and up. In addition, at lower speeds between 35 - 45, the rear end of the car seems to have a hoping feel. Any one have any thoughts...............

[Lesux]

The only time I have vibration in the steering wheel is when I am at a red light. It is very, very light. I noticed it because I've never had such thing in the other 13 cars I have owned previously. I figured it is maybe a 'characteristic' of the ES350. No vibration whatsoever at any speed (city or highway). To me, it is a very small price to pay in exchange for what I'm getting out of my 2009 ES 350.

People are not perfect, neither are cars...

[johnlewisgrant]

I've heard many complaints about es350 vibration, even in recent models. Mine was and remains no exception. Unfortunately wheel balance is NOT the issue in my case.

It's a 2011 at 32k kilometers (20k miles very approximately), on the THIRD set of tires. 2 sets of Michelins: the original factory set; a dealer set (more than slightly used) and finally some Coopers which I paid for myself, out of desperation to try to solve the vibration problem. The second set (Michelins) were, as it turns out, used and had flat spots. No wonder they were so bad!

Fed up, I replaced the Michelins with brand new Coopers (US made), which were much smoother.

But here's the deal: now I have decent tires, road-force balanced by Lexus, there is a noticeable engine vib at 70 mph and up. It's a vibration that will be familiar to anyone who's driven a 6 cylinder car where one of the cylinders is not fully firing. Very slight, but noticeable with the application of a little throttle at 70 and up.

Car's smooth as silk below 65 but not very nice above.

For me, this feels electrical, but that can't be, because there's no engine light.

I suspect that Lexus's engine vibration control (which is electrical) may contain a design flaw, or there's not quite enough not working to trip the engine light. Try to get Lexus to diagnose THAT?

It's not going to happen.\

And, oh, my old 1999 es was smooth as silk to 100 mph. Not the 2011. So drive at 70 and up, but only with an unpleasant albeit faint engine vibration.

[KBRX330]

I had a slight vibration on my 2008 ES and did the balance routine to no avail. Took the car to a performance tire shop and the guy found one of the wheels was slightly bent at the hub. Switched that wheel to the spare and road forced all of the wheels and off we went. No more vibration. The guy did also clean all of the wheel hubs where the wheel bolts up and did clean the back of each wheel where it contacts the hub to reduce any runout caused by corrosion. So that may have played a part. Now I clean the hubs & wheels with a cup brush and apply some permatex anti-seize to the mating surfaces to reduce sticking.

Problem solved. That was 100,000 miles ago. BTW my tire guy thought the wheel was bent by a guy running lug nuts on with an impact gun without seating the wheel on the lugs first. Now I rotate them myself and torque each wheel to 80ft lbs with a torque wrench.