LS400 Steering Wheel Shaking Between 60-65mph

[J4AVX]

Hi All

So far loving my LS400 and im now into my 2nd month of ownership 🙂

First time I took it for a long tide on the Motorway and today noticed the steering wheel shaking between 60-65mph. 

Could wheel misalignment cause this or could it be something more serious?

After 70mph its fine and below 60 all good.

Hoping it something simple to fix!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated !

Regards, Jav

[Texas]

For a start do a complete visual check on the condition of the tyres checking for any damage, bulging or deformation, and then next step would be getting the wheel balancing checked as one or more might have lost their balance weights.

paul m.

 

[J4AVX]

4 minutes ago, Texas said:

For a start do a visual check on the condition of the tyres checking for any damage, bulging or deformation, and then next step would be getting the wheel balancing checked as one or more might have lost their balance weights.

paul m.

 

Thanks for the speedy response Paul!

The tyres need changing anyway (thread pretty low) so was thinking of getting brand news on all 4 tyres. Once I've done this best to get wheel aligned?

If its not the tyres/alignment any other ideas what could be causing it? 

[Texas]

IT is always recommended to have wheel alinement done when fitting new tyres ( especially if you go for all 4) whoever fits the new tyres should balance each and every wheel before fitting to the car before the alinement is carried out.

If this does not solve your shuddering problem ( I suspect it will) then you need to look at other items in the drive train that are revolving and causing this resonating at a certain speed ie driveshafts,propshaft or possibly discs/hubs (unlikely)

paul m.

[Stupot]

11 hours ago, J4AVX said:

Hi All

So far loving my LS400 and im now into my 2nd month of ownership 🙂

First time I took it for a long tide on the Motorway and today noticed the steering wheel shaking between 60-65mph. 

Could wheel misalignment cause this or could it be something more serious?

After 70mph its fine and below 60 all good.

Hoping it something simple to fix!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated !

Regards, Jav

Glad you are enjoying your LS400.... as to the steering wheel shake.... unfortunately, if you do some searching on this forum, you will find that it's a common problem on the LS400 at a certain age/miles. Mine does the same between 60-70mph... but it does not always do it... some days it's barely noticeable, other days steering shake and vibration means I can hear stuff rattling in the glove box!

I've had new tyres balance etc and it has not cured it, in-fact it made it slightly worse. I did not have this problem when I bought the car at 85k miles to when I sold it at 120k miles ... but I now have the same car back at 160k miles and the shake is there! The thing is, that it could be various components causing the shake from tyres, warped brake discs, drive train or worn suspension components... or a subtle combination of them all. If you have a nice LS400 that you plan to keep long term, then it will be worth spending money to slowly find the cause and eliminate the problem.

[Texas]

Well, that's not good news.... Gotta say that as the car has got this fault then there is going to be a root cause, and therefore fixable. But and the big but is hopefully it is only one item that has gone out of its design perameter and is at fault but as above it could be the sum of more than one part and this makes fault finding more difficult ( and expensive). 

Paul m.

[Cotswold Pete]

I would be looking at Upper Control Arms and Drop links as the most likely major contributor, and then possible the transmission mount. 

I reckon my Control Arms have been causing vibration (mild-ish) at around 35-45mph for last couple of years, and they always pass the MOT. 

So next week in for it's MOT and have asked them to look at replacing UCA (possibly) drops links and see if that gets me back the smooth running.

The one thing I have noticed in last 6 months is the vibration is less when tempature is around 4 to 7 degrees, so I assume that  this is because the bushes are sort of the right stiffness to feel okay, but when they warm up then the bushes being warm are a little more pliable and they vibrate a little more readily.

I know the cost of sorting is going to be a little steep, but worth it if I am aiming to keep the care for another 3 to 5 years.  Still will make it the cheapest car I have owned.

The joy of owning older cars😬

[J4AVX]

Thanks for your responses all..appreciated.

I took it to a local tyre place, got all 4 tyres changed (part-worn), i found out that one of the front tyre was badly worn and the other had plenty of thread (assume previous owner replaced one with brand new and left the other)

So, once i got the tyres replaced, took it for a spin and the problem has gone! I've got a long journey to do this weekend so will be able to tell 100% if its cured.

Fingers crossed 🙂 

[Spacewagon52]

If the problem persists I would be looking at warped discs. That cured my slight shake problem, which was intermittent. 

[J4AVX]

On ‎3‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 8:06 PM, Spacewagon52 said:

If the problem persists I would be looking at warped discs. That cured my slight shake problem, which was intermittent. 

Will do - thanks!