LX 570 Vibration at Highway Speed

[Heckraiser]

Also FYI, if you've got pulsing in the brakes, it's not always a warped rotor (or rotor in need of re-surfacing). More often it's deposits of pad material from somebody abusing the brakes (riding the brakes down a mountain pass and then coming to a stop with their foot on the pedal while the brakes are super hot). Before you resurface or replace your rotors, take it out on a country road and do a handful of HARD 60-5mph brake stomps (do not come to a complete stop). Might fix your problem for free!

 

[jetlagged]

Thanks, look forward to hearing your update. I also ended up buying a full fresh set of OEM tires at a very aggressive discount (guessing they don't sell a lot of those Dunlops) to see if it makes the difference, awaiting delivery. The dealership is fully attributing the vibration to the tire age differential / wear (2 are six years old (life of the vehicle), 1 is 3 years old, and 1 is the new one I got). I am going to replace all the tires and move the newest of the current set to the spare position.

I'm more

If that doesn't work, I'm kind of at a loss, will have to check with another mechanic or two and consider giving 17-18" wheels and a fatter tire a shot prior to giving up altogether. That would be sad though, all in all love the lx, but the vibration is notably worse than my Rav4 and really kills its benefit as a road trip cruiser.

Also FYI, if you've got pulsing in the brakes, it's not always a warped rotor (or rotor in need of re-surfacing). More often it's deposits of pad material from somebody abusing the brakes (riding the brakes down a mountain pass and then coming to a stop with their foot on the pedal while the brakes are super hot). Before you resurface or replace your rotors, take it out on a country road and do a handful of HARD 60-5mph brake stomps (do not come to a complete stop). Might fix your problem for free!

Thanks for this clarification on bedding. Unfortunately didn’t fully understand at first, so I think replacement is already in progress. Moving to a place with a garage soon, so hopefully can start picking up on basic maintenance myself in the next few months to avoid the wild costs.

 

[jetlagged]

As an update new rotors fixed the braking issue.

For the road vibration I had all tires switched to fresh and the spare wheel swapped for one that was likely slightly warped. Everything was road force balanced. The body still vibrates and linearly increases with speed. Looking at the passenger seat or resting my head back demonstrates a small high frequency vibration that is notably worse than my rav4.

I’m starting to wonder if this is just to be expected on the stock 21” wheels. I’m going to test drive a similar one to find out, but if it’s unique to mine not really sure where to go from here.

 

[jetlagged]

As an update new rotors fixed the braking issue.

For the road vibration I had all tires switched to fresh and the spare wheel swapped for one that was likely slightly warped. Everything was road force balanced. The body still vibrates and linearly increases with speed. Looking at the passenger seat or resting my head back demonstrates a small high frequency vibration that is notably worse than my rav4.

I’m starting to wonder if this is just to be expected on the stock 21” wheels. I’m going to test drive a similar one to find out, but if it’s unique to mine not really sure where to go from here.

Yeah just drove a similar 2018 model. Very similar but higher mileage and better tires on the same size wheels (defenders). It did seem to ride a bit better…

 

[pvchaitanya]

my vibration issues are fixed after tirerack sent two tires to be replaced. The lexus dealer balanced and check for road force which is within spec and did alignment again and found the previous alignment done by local shop with perfect 0.0 is still off.
with all that, the vibration is gone. but quite a journey getting alignment in different stores and balancing in different stores, road force issue and manufacturing issues.

 

[pvchaitanya]

so there are a lot of issues why you see vibrations at steering and in body and when you brake. The brake vibration is easy to nail down, usually a warped rotor, uneven pad wear which may be caused by fault or seized caliper.

beyond that, most of the vibrations come from unbalanced wheels, flatspots if the car is sitting in lot for months, under inflated or over inflated or defective tires, loose control arms, tire rods and lastly alignment.
If the wheels/rims have visible damage or bent, it will also cause vibration but the dealer told thats the most easiest to spot out.

Without doing roadforce, dealer cannot tell the balance is the reason as the road force simulates who each tire will ride on the road with vibration or not.
If that is tested and taken care off, then control arms, misalignment can cause some level of vibration.

lastly, swapping tires front to back reduces the vibration if the front wheels are having some sort of roadforce issue and as you come to your next tire rotation schedue, the tire belts and inner working of tire should even out over time and be softer as your get it back to front again.

 

[Sandroad]

As an update new rotors fixed the braking issue.

For the road vibration I had all tires switched to fresh and the spare wheel swapped for one that was likely slightly warped. Everything was road force balanced. The body still vibrates and linearly increases with speed. Looking at the passenger seat or resting my head back demonstrates a small high frequency vibration that is notably worse than my rav4.

I’m starting to wonder if this is just to be expected on the stock 21” wheels. I’m going to test drive a similar one to find out, but if it’s unique to mine not really sure where to go from here.

Good news on the brakes. I guess more to come on the vibration. Do you know if the front and rear propeller shafts have ever been greased?

And one more question. You’ve said the replacement tires were “fresh”. Were they new, or take-offs from another vehicle?

 

[PDoyle]

Don’t forget to grease the 2 drive shafts.

 

[jetlagged]

Good news on the brakes. I guess more to come on the vibration. Do you know if the front and rear propeller shafts have ever been greased?

And one more question. You’ve said the replacement tires were “fresh”. Were they new, or take-offs from another vehicle?

New, but manufacture in 2022. They are warrantied.

I’m genuinely not sure how much of this is just me not being used to a body on frame truck vs there being an actual issue. I’m going to have an independent Toyota / Lexus mechanic assess it. If they say it’s within normal limits will probably try to change wheels / tires to a bigger sidewall combo to see if that improves ride.

It really is livable as is, just not sure exactly what to expect. This is essentially a vehicle designed before 2008 with 21” wheels, so might just be unreasonable to compare with a 2025 rav4 hybrid ride wise.

 

[Sandroad]

New, but manufacture in 2022. They are warrantied.

I’m genuinely not sure how much of this is just me not being used to a body on frame truck vs there being an actual issue. I’m going to have an independent Toyota / Lexus mechanic assess it. If they say it’s within normal limits will probably try to change wheels / tires to a bigger sidewall combo to see if that improves ride.

It really is livable as is, just not sure exactly what to expect. This is essentially a vehicle designed before 2008 with 21” wheels, so might just be unreasonable to compare with a 2025 rav4 hybrid ride wise.

I have both a ‘17 LC on 18” Michelin tires and a ‘24 RAV4 Prime on 19” Pirelli tires. No noticeable vibration in either, and I would notice if there were. I think there is more to explore with your LX.

 

[jetlagged]

I have both a ‘17 LC on 18” Michelin tires and a ‘24 RAV4 Prime on 19” Pirelli tires. No noticeable vibration in either, and I would notice if there were. I think there is more to explore with your LX.

So, to be clear, any vibration through the steering wheel on a perfectly smooth highway at 74-80 mph isn't normal? Here is a video. Now that the brakes are out of the picture I was able to replicate it on a very smooth patch of highway, for some reason, while reproducible, it doesn't (visibly - can still feel it) show up on some road surfaces.



Based on what I have seen this still probably suggests a balancing issue, bent wheel, etc, but I really don't want to spend more on a set of wheels / tires at the moment with the uncertainty.

I made an appointment at a dealership to drive it with a tech to demonstrate the specific concern, hopefully with that they would at least know if they have identified / fixed the issue. But holy s***, working this out is getting extremely costly.

If this didn't have this issue, would probably be my dream vehicle, eventually hoping to take it lightly off road in the desert (Death Valley, not rock crawling but rough dessert terrain) + daily drive, but having the equivalent of a mild theragun run through my hand / legs for hours on all highway trips would really kill that.

 

[jetlagged]

... this is what terrifies me... seems like a high probability this will never get resolved (after I spend 3k on wheels / tires + tpms change / rebalancing / realignment etc)...

2016 LX - Steering wheel vibration issue? - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

LX - 3rd Gen (2008-2021) - 2016 LX - Steering wheel vibration issue? - Hey all, I just bought a '16 LX570 and have been reading up a few threads on this. It seems the steering wheel at 40+ MPH has a vibration or feeling of all the road imperfections with my 21 wheels. I've gotten my wheels...

www.clublexus.com

 

[onelittlestar]

Unlikely at 35k miles, but obviously check the tie-rods, any play and it will present just like this.

 

[jetlagged]

Unlikely at 35k miles, but obviously check the tie-rods, any play and it will present just like this.

Thanks, will check them out after done ruling out balancing issues.

Taking elsewhere for balancing with oem wheels / the new tires tomorrow. If that doesn’t work will change to oem tundra 18” wheels with a new set of defenders in stock lc 200 size.

If that fails I think the probability of it being a balance / wheel and tire issue is near zero and will go back to Lexus dealership (or a local mechanic), drive it with tech and mention tie rods / the range of other issues it could be.

 

[onelittlestar]

Thanks, will check them out after done ruling out balancing issues.

Taking elsewhere for balancing with oem wheels / the new tires tomorrow. If that doesn’t work will change to oem tundra 18” wheels with a new set of defenders in stock lc 200 size.

If that fails I think the probability of it being a balance / wheel and tire issue is near zero and will go back to Lexus dealership (or a local mechanic), drive it with tech and mention tie rods / the range of other issues it could be.

Just jack the front end and see if there’s play…takes about 8 minutes tops

 

[jetlagged]

A lot of these threads have gone silent over the years so here is likely my conclusion:

I now believe most of this is just how the late model year lx 570s ride on 21” wheels. Due to their size and the weight of the vehicle I would guess they very easily warp or develop slight irregularities over a few years, especially if you hit a couple of curbs, etc. Have now tried 3 separate contemporary models. Of them the one with 20” was the best but still exhibited the same overall ride quality, which is totally acceptable, just very much body on frame truck vs a modern crossover ride. In all of them at 75-80 mph there was mild vibration of the adjacent passenger seat if it was empty, just significantly more noticeable than in a modern rav4.

Proper road force balancing helped significantly, but it took time (and money). The discount tire folks were great, but definitely half assed it and kept adding on more and more weights.

Tire quality also makes a difference if sticking with the oem 21” wheels. The defender ltx is sold in oem size now and rode significantly better than the oem Dunlops.

Realistically, I’m guessing that switching to a 17-18 inch wheel will make the biggest difference so have that planned for now.

 

[bloc]

I doubt smaller wheels will fix the passenger seat shaking, if that’s your metric for vibration. That’s a well-known quirk of this platform including on the Landcruiser model that came with 18s.

 

[jetlagged]

I doubt smaller wheels will fix the passenger seat shaking, if that’s your metric for vibration. That’s a well-known quirk of this platform including on the Landcruiser model that came with 18s.

No, trying to just mildly improve ride over tiny road defects etc.

 

[PDoyle]

I’ve seen a few LX’S with low miles dealer work orders which have had just one shock replaced.

 

[bloc]

No, trying to just mildly improve ride over tiny road defects etc.

In that case yes it should help a lot. As long as you avoid LT-Metric tire construction and their required higher inflation pressures anyway.