Rear Wheels Shake And Noisy Under 20 Mph

[newcp99]

My 03 RX300 has started to become noisy and rear wheels shaking when taking off, especially on r or l turn until about 20 mph. Belle tire pointed to loose U-joint on drive shaft. Over $1500 dealer-only part (the whole 6-7 foot drive shaft)

[lenore]

Look for a drive line repair shop, they would probably be 1/3 that price to replace the whole shaft. However It could also be the the support bearings which are less than $60 apiece (two of them).

[eugene.s]

Hi,

Try this and revert if this doesn't help:

(1) register your car on a Lexus site here. The exact given link may be "broken" - search within the Lexus site on how to register. Do your best, but revert if any issues.

Have your car's VIN and your home address to register. Once registered, you could check a complete service record of your car (as long as it has been serviced by a Lexus dealer - such history would usually be much more complete than a CarCheck or other "history" databases). There is also a link there to check if any TSBs are applicable to your vehicle. Check for any TSB's.

TSBs stand for Technical Service Bulletins. In other words, this is a Lexus response to any commonly reported issues with their cars. On the scratch (from your ambiguous explanations), your issue sounds much of a famous rear drive shaft issue. However, there may well be other explanations to what exactly you experience.

If you get any TSBs for your car, you'd probably know what you have to do about your car.

(2) If you see any TSB's applicable to your particular car or not, I'd still recommend going to a Lexus dealer for a check. Your car (2003) is clearly out of warranty, but their checking it (at a cost) might still be worth while. If smth is not reflected in Lexus' TSB's, who might have the best understanding of a problem with a 2003 (which has been on a market for >10 years) Lexus car if not them?

Check what they think needs to be checked/repaired (and oversea their actions in isolating a problem) and link this as to what others though need to be repaired.

Bear in mind that as this forum's user, you have a discount for any spare parts with Sewells Lexus online shop. (google for them and register there; If after that you still couldn't figure out how to get a discount, revert).

(3) otherwise I'd recommend:

(3.1.) check tire pressure of your tires

(3.2) check that rim nuts are not lose

(3.1 and 3.2 is probably not your case, as otherwise the symptoms would continue at >20mph).

(3.3) check that any of your rear tires has no rupture/hernia (though, in such case, again, your symptoms wouldn't be limited to the speed <20mph, as you said).

(3.4) check a vehicle on a lifter (hoist) by someone experienced. Understand this is what you've done. Don't isolate your choice to just one mechanic shop -- someone else may isolate and fix your problem at a cheaper price.