Guys, I’m losing my mind chasing a problem and I need your help.

I get a very annoying vibration through the gas pedal, the driver’s floor board, and the steering wheel whenever I exceed 60mph. Also you can visibility see the vibration in my passenger’s head rest, if the seat is empty.

The problem began a few years ago and had been very difficult to narrow down. I’ve thrown a plethora of parts at the front end, trying to rule out potential issues. Some were recommended by mechanics, others seemed like a potential problem. None of it helped.

MY: 1998
Current mileage: 278,000 miles

Here is the part list of the last two-three years:
1. Lower control arms - Aftermarket TRC (August 2016)
2. Front brakes (rotors, pads, calipers) - Centric Premium Rotors, Akebono Pads, Cardone Ultra calipers (September 2018)
3. Both front CV axles - Cardone (Driver Sep 2018; Passenger October 2016)
4. Engine mounts - All Genuine Toyota/Lexus (October 2016)
5. Rims - used Toyota Avalon 16" (September 2018)
6. New tires - new Michelin Premier A/S (Sept 2018)
7. Wheel balance - Done with New Tires (Sept 2018)
8. Wheel alignment - No pulling since last alignment (Nov 2016; 245,643 miles)
9. Struts - genuine Toyota/Lexus (April 2014)
10. Sway Bar Links - Moog (July 2017)
11. Wheels Bearings - Koyo (Oct 2018)

Original Equipment:
1. Steering Components (inner/outer tie rods, steering rack, steering column/intermediate shaft)
2. Ball Joints
3. Subframe mounts
4. Wheel Hubs
5. Studs/Lug Nuts
6. Transaxle

Checked for free play
1. Tie rod ends appear to have no play
2. Ball joints look good (no grease missing) and appear to have no play


I’m looking for a mechanic/specialsit who has expertise in this field and won’t simply suggest a wheel balance or new tires/wheels. Please help!

If you know anyone reputable around Northern NJ (30 mile radius), I am willing to make the drive.

Small Update (11/24/18): it's most likely an internal transaxle problem (possibly the differential). Need further diagnostic work to confirm.

Final Update (1/28/21): The used Avalon wheels turned out to be bent. Which I didn’t think was possible with 16” rubber. I had two of them straightened and the wheels rebalanced in January 2019. It got better but would still shake if I rotated the tires front to back.

Visited a new mechanic Summer 2020 and had him test everything with a Roadforce Balancer. He found two wheels to have way more road force than the other two. Fixed the balance and moved those two wheels to the back. Issue almost entirely went away to a point that I’m happy and it drives normally again! I only notice a tiny shake at around 50mph, once I’m past that speed it smoothes out and is perfect till as high as 80mph (I don’t risk going higher than that).

Today’s mileage: 298,000 and counting...

They don’t exist on the ES300. It uses MacPherson Struts with strut bearings and Lower Control Arms with ball joints.

I should have clarified, the wheels have been swapped and replaced multiple times. The new tires are on a set of used rims I’ve never used before, from a Toyota Avalon 16”.

Given your description + past actions, I would almost be willing to bet money on bearings.

play alone in them isn’t definitive. Feel the coils while spinning the wheel. If they have never been changed, go ahead and do it given the mileage (north of 250k, right?), location, climate.

I made sure to clean those a few times with a wire wheel, a steel brush, and some sand paper. Applied anti seize to the whole mating surface before putting the new rotors on.

It really is very frustrating. Just when I feel like I found the culprit, the problem persists.

1. It’s been so long I don’t remember anymore. It began around the summer of 2016 after I switched over to my summer wheels, which were GS300 17” with Hankook tires. I don’t remember any major potholes, but who knows at this point.

2. Not really. I’ve noticed that the vibration can sometimes go away temporarily. For example, recently when my new tires were put on, the vibration wasn’t as pronounced. I only felt it slightly through the floor and gas pedal, not as much through the wheel.

After I swapped out the rotors and the driver side CV axle, the vibration became much more pronounced and violent. Maybe it has something to do with how much torque is applied to the lug nuts? I use 85ft lbs with a torque wrench. The shop used an air gun and way more torque than that.

3. Yes it becomes more violent as I speed up from 60mph to about 85mph. After that it sort of harmonically balances itself out.

4. Dropping it into Neutral or Turning off Over Drive(Lower gear) does not change it. I even tried shutting off the engine in Neutral. No change.

5. Tires are brand new so hard to tell. The old ones didn’t show any abnormalities to my eyes. Felt smooth to the touch. The last two mechanics persisted that they could see something uneven or that the belts have shifted inside. I think they were mistaken, cuz it feels the same with new tires.

I’m at 275k miles. Never been changed. What if I don’t feel any roughness through the coils? Is there another way to check them for issues?

Did you lift the front and test the coil, and do you have sensitive enough hands in general to do so?

The symptoms, history, etc. all point to that. Very strongly. This is exactly what it can look like, even diminishing a while with rebalanced or new tires. As I said, I would put money on it, and I never gamble - at all.

I’m gonna give the bearings check a shot in the next two days. I visited the same shop that did my tires, this morning. They inspected the wheels and found that the left front tire was a bit out of round so they moved it to the passenger rear.

More importantly the technician demonstrated that my new driver side CV axle has a lot of free play where it engages to the transaxle. It appears to either be a manufacturing defect or the C clip is not holding the axle inside the transaxle. He was able to pull it out by hand about a half inch. I’m gonna poke around a bit more once it stops raining and see if I can fix that or if I need another axle.

After all all of that, the vibration is still the same, so I don’t think the front to rear tire swap had anything to do with it. Could very well be a bad CV axle.

Dealt with this in my old Odyssey and kind of in its replacement. almost certain it’s motor mounts. Shutting off the car won’t necessarily stop that because the trans is still moving inside