idream08

Happy Holidays!

Took a trip home and my car rode perfect on my 4 hour trip. I get 5 minutes from home and notice a horrible bounce. I go to gas station and put air in the tires though I didn't notice any of the tires needing it. All shops are closed today, but does anyone know what this could be?

It only bounces (appears the front is bouncing) and the steering wheel shakes from 0 to 60mph, once i get over 60 its pretty smooth sailing.

I did have my tires rotated a week ago, but all has been fine. I hope this isn't one of those small things that could end up costing a few hundred.....

dmight

Is the car also pulling to the left of right? Sounds like a belt separation in one of the front tires. This can be caused by impact, like hitting a chuck hole hard, curb, etc. or just a defective tire. Also check lug nuts for proper torque, tie rod ends, all of front suspension and steering. The bouncing points more to tires. Not a safe situation, get the car to a shop and have the tires checked for roundness and separations. Hope this helped.

idream08

Thanks a lot Dmight! I'll take it to a shop in the morning, I do know some searches i've done not Lexus but people who had similar problems some say axle, some said rotors, some tires, etc...

I didn't notice any pulling but there could be since the steering wheel shakes pretty bad. I just had tires rotated a week ago, the tires moved to the front where on the back since i got the car over 14 months ago. But no problem until today.

BDSL

Since you just got your tire rotation done, you should check the lug nuts. Maybe they are not tight!!

marcoes300

or maybe you lost plomb ?

molina

if you got your tyres rotated did they rebalance the fronts?

dmight

OK, it's been a while. Did you find the problem? And what did it take to fix if you did. Curious, because my son came shortly after your post and described the same problem with his car (Taurus) I went out and drove it and after less than 20 feet just took it to the tire shop and had a complete set of new tires put on. One of the front tires, even though looked very good had a separated belt. I could actually see the bulge in the tire. Car had a set of fairly new, but low cost tires on it. Like someone bought them to say "It has a new set of tires". I put a nice set of mid-range tires on the car for under $400 and the car is smooth as silk again.
FYI my 96 ES300 has Bridgestone tires on it, 50% front/30% rear which I think are a bit too stiff for my taste. I don't drive the Audubon in Europe, or street race, or into all that custom stuff so the really expensive must have tires are a waste to me, but I don't like the cheap "get me by" rags either. LOL!
Anyway, was wondering how all this came out for you.