Jittery steering on motorway

Flytvr · July 3, 2016

I took the ISF down to Cornwall at the weekend (180 miles each way). The Mrs drove the first leg, and I couldn't help notice that she seemed to be making lots of tiny corrections to the keep the car pinned bang in the middle of the lane.

When we swapped seats, I found the steering rather odd as well. When waited up with just a few degrees of turn left or right, all seemed fine. However, on the straights it felt jittery - almost like there was a numb point either side of dead centre.

I stopped and checked the tyre pressures - which didn't seem to far out. Unfortunately, the rest of the journey was twisty A roads, so I was unable to tell if the problem had been fixed.

On the return journey, I noticed the problem again, but also spotted that there was fair old bit of wind - cross winds.

I'm want to believe that maybe the car is just susceptible to crosswinds, but I'm really not sure. OR maybe we were imagining things!

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Cheers.

Dav

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/forum/134-lexus-is-f-club/?do=add#

JonP · July 3, 2016

My 2011 is not jittery, it's pretty much rock solid, even at autobahn speeds (several trips to Germany). Never noticed any significant effect from the wind either and I spend a lot of time trucking up and down the motorways in mine.

If the tyre pressures are OK that suggests some other possible issue, perhaps a wheel took a knock and affected the tracking??

Flytvr · July 3, 2016

Wheels have certainly not taken a knock, not even a kiss with a kerb! :(

Tracking wise, she doesn't pull to right or left

is200 Newbie · July 3, 2016

Has it recently been in for a service or into a garage for work done?

Flytvr · July 3, 2016

1 hour ago, is200 Newbie said:

Has it recently been in for a service or into a garage for work done?

Lexus had it for the day as it has a gas leak from the air con - but nowt else

Flytvr · July 3, 2016

1 hour ago, is200 Newbie said:

Has it recently been in for a service or into a garage for work done?

Lexus had it for the day as it has a gas leak from the air con - but nowt else

emjay82 · July 3, 2016

Not experienced that in the ISF as yet but I'm sure the old IS250 on a couple of occasions felt less precise on the motorway. Maybe it was cross wind but worth checking out if it continues.

Peter P18 · July 4, 2016

Maybe wheel alignment? If not, could be time for the RR-Racing USRS?

I don't get any issues with mine. Not that I recommend it, but even tried braking quite hard on an empty stretch of road without holding the steering wheel, and car steered straight and true.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

is200 Newbie · July 4, 2016

22 hours ago, Flytvr said:

Lexus had it for the day as it has a gas leak from the air con - but nowt else

Sorry - a bit suspicious of further work needed, not apparent before, to the car after it coming from a garage after having work done. Does the car feel different immediately from when it came back from the garage? Find out what they removed to do the repair to see if its been put back on correctly or tightly (wheels etc) - don't know what would have been removed to do the job?

Flytvr · July 5, 2016

13 hours ago, is200 Newbie said:

Sorry - a bit suspicious of further work needed, not apparent before, to the car after it coming from a garage after having work done. Does the car feel different immediately from when it came back from the garage? Find out what they removed to do the repair to see if its been put back on correctly or tightly (wheels etc) - don't know what would have been removed to do the job?

Yeh, I see your point.

As the car is under warranty, I've informed the garage. At the end of the day, they are the experts, so hopefully they can shed some light on it.

Thanks all for the responses :)

Matrixxxx · July 5, 2016

I was surprised to find that my ISF is sensitive to cross winds,

Flytvr · July 7, 2016

Did a little bit of motorway driving this morning. No wind whatsoever, so that eliminates crosswinds from the equation.

I'd go as far as saying the steering is almost 'notchy'.

Lexus are having the car back in to have an aircon gas leak fixed soon, so I'll get them to have a look at the steering as well.

A bit disappointed to be having issues only a month in to ownership :(

Matrixxxx · July 7, 2016

I find the wind makes the whole car drift , no sensation throught the steering wheel

It does tend to follow the camber but other than that it's very solid and smooth.

It's my first experience of electric steering.

Linas.P · July 7, 2016

2 hours ago, Flytvr said:

Did a little bit of motorway driving this morning. No wind whatsoever, so that eliminates crosswinds from the equation.

I'd go as far as saying the steering is almost 'notchy'.

Lexus are having the car back in to have an aircon gas leak fixed soon, so I'll get them to have a look at the steering as well.

A bit disappointed to be having issues only a month in to ownership :(

Is it the same when A/C is off? I am not sure if that can be the case for IS-F, but I know that when my A/C compressor was faulty it affected steering, it was much heavier than normal and because issue was intermittent it was kind of "notchy" going from very light to quite heavy.

As you mentioned gas leak I just though maybe A/C issues are related to steering.

Flytvr · July 7, 2016

33 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Is it the same when A/C is off? I am not sure if that can be the case for IS-F, but I know that when my A/C compressor was faulty it affected steering, it was much heavier than normal and because issue was intermittent it was kind of "notchy" going from very light to quite heavy.

As you mentioned gas leak I just though maybe A/C issues are related to steering.

Good thinking. I'll pretty sure the aircon was off this morning, but I will check this evening (as I have some motorway driving to do).

Ithought · July 9, 2016

On 3/7/2016 at 7:05 PM, Flytvr said:

I took the ISF down to Cornwall at the weekend (180 miles each way). The Mrs drove the first leg, and I couldn't help notice that she seemed to be making lots of tiny corrections to the keep the car pinned bang in the middle of the lane.

When we swapped seats, I found the steering rather odd as well. When waited up with just a few degrees of turn left or right, all seemed fine. However, on the straights it felt jittery - almost like there was a numb point either side of dead centre.

I stopped and checked the tyre pressures - which didn't seem to far out. Unfortunately, the rest of the journey was twisty A roads, so I was unable to tell if the problem had been fixed.

On the return journey, I noticed the problem again, but also spotted that there was fair old bit of wind - cross winds.

I'm want to believe that maybe the car is just susceptible to crosswinds, but I'm really not sure. OR maybe we were imagining things!

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Cheers.

Dav

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/forum/134-lexus-is-f-club/?do=add#

Got a 2003 GS300. Had a similar problem. Got it on a ramp and my mechanic checked it over, no sign of any wear in the steering parts or suspension.

Over the course of time I replaced front shox, all brake rotors and pads, tyres all-round. Tracked and balanced twice and the problem persisted, got worse

even.

Last Tuesday driving at 80 kph on a country road kapow, crack the front driverside steering ball joint let go, bit scary. Slithered to a halt after about 100 meters.

Got away with ball joints * 2 (replaced both) , new tyre (old one left it's rubber on the road), tracking and a slightly bent wing. Steering, braking suspension are lovely now.

Ball joints are cheap (about 140 a pair ) and easy to do, but make sure you get it tracked.

My only problem now is that I've got the 'ABS', ' VSC' and 'VSC off' lights lit up all the time, with no diagnostic codes found. Tried the paper clip trick to no avail. Any ideas anyone ?

Gerry

Wexford, Ireland