LX570 New Alignment Problem Please Help

[gaijin]

A few days ago I set pressures to 35 psi at the gas station air machine. A couple of days ago I checked in my garage with my own gauge and they read 34.5 psi.

So you would you say my looseness over bumps after an alignment is due to being .5 psi off from 34 in tire pressure?

No. You're fine. Just trying to lighten the mood - obviously, didn't work

 

[CharlieS]

A few days ago I set pressures to 35 psi at the gas station air machine. A couple of days ago I checked in my garage with my own gauge and they read 34.5 psi.

So you would you say my looseness over bumps after an alignment is due to being .5 psi off from 34 in tire pressure?

Tire pressure varies with temperature. .5 psi is irrelevant, unless you are at a threshold.

 

[CharlieS]

No. You're fine. Just trying to lighten the mood - obviously, didn't work

@gaijin My dad used to say "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades". You brought back good memories of my youth!

 

[gaijin]

@gaijin My dad used to say "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades". You brought back good memories of my youth!

Good to hear, thanks. Maybe at 70 years old it's time to update my analogies to be more recognizable by a younger crowd...

 

[gnob]

You need to have some toe in.
The caster is fine.
A good alignment takes time and can be hard to hit perfect on the first try.
Generally production tire shops are not the place.
I used to work with a guy(at a Firestone) , great tech, one of VERY few people id trust to work on my ride. Almost always had alignments come off with steering wheel crooked.
Specs and actual road manners do not always match.

 

[milellie111]

No. You're fine. Just trying to lighten the mood - obviously, didn't work

Gotcha You’re the tire pressure expert on here from what I’ve seen so if you told me .5 psi was relevant I would adjust accordingly

 

[TeCKis300]

So now I’m a little confused. @Taco2Cruiser tells me the the Toe is off. @hickuptruck tells me it’s the Caster. Yet @TeCKis300 says the alignment looks fine. Yet, the truck has never felt this loose over bumps before the alignment even with worn tires. Dealer says this is the way it should drive if I want it to track straight, not wander and give best tire wear and that the GX’s are looser especially on Comfort mode (lots of customer complaints).

I took it to Lexus because of all of the horror stories with independent shops not being able to properly align the LX. Many have said the dealer is the place to take it if you want the alignment done right the first time. I paid $145, yet I feel as if I could have gotten the same result for cheaper at a shop. And this is one of the top Lexus dealers in the area.

I don’t see how driving on it a couple of weeks to let the new tires settle in will affect anything much over bumps. I can see if they were slightly vibrating while driving on smooth roads and needed to round out.

I feel as if I take it back and tell them to do the alignment again, it will be a waste of my time and I’ll get the same or a worse result (tighter drive but wander and tire wear issue).

Is it that the car feels loose going straight ahead? Or is it impact harshness as you're describing going over bumps?

Your new tires do have firmer sidewalls than stock, being extra load (XL) rated, and requiring more pressure. The stock tire size are relatively low profile. Add the firmer riding tires, and you're going to notice.

As an experiment, trying going down to 30 PSI (not going to hurt or damage anything). Does the ride over bumps stabilize and reflect more what you're expecting?

Tires are a key part of the suspension. Most that go up in tire rating, also upsize the tire. As this is a body on frame truck with secondary motions, impact harshness with firmer sidewall low profile tires will translate into more movement in the chassis.

 

[milellie111]

Good to hear, thanks. Maybe at 70 years old it's time to update my analogies to be more recognizable by a younger crowd...

Is it that the car feels loose going straight ahead? Or is it impact harshness as you're describing going over bumps?

Your new tires do have firmer sidewalls than stock, being extra load (XL) rated, and requiring more pressure. The stock tire size are relatively low profile. Add the firmer riding tires, and you're going to notice.

As an experiment, trying going down to 30 PSI (not going to hurt or damage anything). Does the ride over bumps stabilize and reflect more what you're expecting?

Tires are a key part of the suspension. Most that go up in tire rating, also upsize the tire. As this is a body on frame truck with secondary motions, impact harshness with firmer sidewall low profile tires will translate into more movement in the chassis.

Car tracks straight ahead. However, on bumps it feels loose. I lowered the tire pressure by 3 psi. Feels worse and less unstable. Going straight I can jiggle the steering wheel and the car doesn’t react much.

 

[PDoyle]

You could go to the road force website call them and find the newest road force machine close to you .

 

[SWUtah]

I put 285/55/20 BFG AT/KO2’s on my LX with 30k miles. Road force balanced, alignment never touched. Drives perfect factory alignment.

 

[milellie111]

So here’s an update.....

Took car back to the dealership and spoke directly with service manager about my issue and how I want it realigned. He said no problem and gave me loaner and did a recall as well. He called me back later in the day and said something strange was up with the alignment machine. They would align the car, and any slight bump of the vehicle would skew the alignment. They had to call in the guy from Hunter to recalibrate the alignment machine. After it was fixed. The alignment was definitely out on some values. They realigned the car and I picked it up today. It drives so much better. Steering and handling way better. Here’s the new alignment sheet:

 

[grinchy]

I wonder if they will call all the alignments done lately to correct?

Glad it’s tracking better.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

So here’s an update.....

Took car back to the dealership and spoke directly with service manager about my issue and how I want it realigned. He said no problem and gave me loaner and did a recall as well. He called me back later in the day and said something strange was up with the alignment machine. They would align the car, and any slight bump of the vehicle would skew the alignment. They had to call in the guy from Hunter to recalibrate the alignment machine. After it was fixed. The alignment was definitely out on some values. They realigned the car and I picked it up today. It drives so much better. Steering and handling way better. Here’s the new alignment sheet:

View attachment 2375619

Nice. Toe’d in now. It’s amazing how that little makes the difference?

 

[milellie111]

Nice. Toe’d in now. It’s amazing how that little makes the difference?

Feels like a different truck

 

[TeCKis300]

Interesting, so their machine was out of calibration?

Showed 0.0 toe coming out of the previous alignment, yet -0.05 toe out when put back on the rack again without adjustment.

Wonder how many other vehicles were mis-aligned in that time.

Good call @Taco2Cruiser .

 

[milellie111]

So, something still feels off to me. I have taken the truck to get a Road Force Balance and I’m still not quite satisfied. The front end and steering wheel feels loose over small bumps, expansion joints and speed bumps. Car aligned twice and all different tire pressures tried (currently at 34 psi). Could this just be a characteristic of the LX and new tires? I’ve driven close to 1,000 miles on these Michelin Defenders. I took off work Michelin Latitude Tour HP’s and they didn’t feel like this. Is this how the LX is supposed to drive with a twitchy steering wheel over certain road irregularities? Lexus dealership says that is normal and the GX is actually worse.

 

[1world1love]

So, something still feels off to me. I have taken the truck to get a Road Force Balance and I’m still not quite satisfied. The front end and steering wheel feels loose over small bumps, expansion joints and speed bumps. Car aligned twice and all different tire pressures tried (currently at 34 psi). Could this just be a characteristic of the LX and new tires? I’ve driven close to 1,000 miles on these Michelin Defenders. I took off work Michelin Latitude Tour HP’s and they didn’t feel like this. Is this how the LX is supposed to drive with a twitchy steering wheel over certain road irregularities? Lexus dealership says that is normal and the GX is actually worse.

My 13 LX with 285/55/20 KO2s was the same way but seemed at times to be worse than others. I never could make heads or tails of it. Some have suggested to check the hydraulics in the suspension, but mine checked out fine. The dealer blamed it on the extra weight of the KO2s. I never did figure it out, but when I switched to 17s, it changed everything. I'm still rolling with the same alignment. I chalked it up to the higher pressure required by the 20" KO2s (42 PSI if I recall).

In your case, the tire pressure shouldn't be an issue and I suspect that the dealership would have checked for any codes in the AHC. You may want to find a suspension specialist and have them drive the truck. You could waste a lot of time and energy trying to convince the dealer that something isn't right.

 

[1world1love]

So, something still feels off to me. I have taken the truck to get a Road Force Balance and I’m still not quite satisfied. The front end and steering wheel feels loose over small bumps, expansion joints and speed bumps. Car aligned twice and all different tire pressures tried (currently at 34 psi). Could this just be a characteristic of the LX and new tires? I’ve driven close to 1,000 miles on these Michelin Defenders. I took off work Michelin Latitude Tour HP’s and they didn’t feel like this. Is this how the LX is supposed to drive with a twitchy steering wheel over certain road irregularities? Lexus dealership says that is normal and the GX is actually worse.

Also, have you had your steering column checked?

 

[grinchy]

Do you trust the alignment machine now that it's fixed? What you describe sounds like a neutral (no/low toe) alignment, maybe you just need more toe?

 

[1world1love]

Do you trust the alignment machine now that it's fixed? What you describe sounds like a neutral (no/low toe) alignment, maybe you just need more toe?

Yeah, that's a good point too. I wonder how long it was out of spec to begin with.