Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum and I just got my Lexus ES350 2008 from inheritance.

I am having this issue of where when I accelerate past 40mph (sometimes) to 60+ (most of the time) I get a vibration or shake and I feel like its on the driver side. It doesnt shake when i cruise or brake. I have not done an inspection yet but I feel like it might be the tire? or a CV joint from what I read from your forums so far. Please let me know what you guys think.

 

 

I’m leaning towards a wheel/tire or cv axle as well, but obviously start with the cheap fix. Get the tire balanced and go from there

 

I have just gotten back from an alignment and tire balance. According to the shop my front axles were wayyyyyyy off and needed an alignment bad and they threw in tire rotation and balance for free so that was a good 122 bucks I spent. The shaking issue did not appear afterwards so thank god I didnt need to replace the CV axles which I asked and they quoted me for 390 bucks. Thank you guys for your advice I shall be staying around this forum you guys are awesome.

 

A bent axle was the cause of my '07 ES350 DrTaTa have the axle checked. Pepboys told me to change tires which didnt help the situation. After that I took mine to a trusted mechanic because i didnt want to play the trial and error game. They put it on a left and showed me how the axle piece would bow when accelerating.

 

 

The stirring wheel didnt shake. The entire car would shake. My mechanic showed me how the axle would move when accelerating. He replaced it and now it runs smoothly.

 

I've been having this issue with my 09' ES for about 3 months and it has gradually been getting worse, I also noticed that while driving on the highway you can feel the some type of hard jumping/skipping/shaking/vibration (cant really explain how it feels) on the front passenger side directly next to passenger wheel...I replaced the brake rotors and it helped a little but the vibration is still there...So it could be an axle on the front passenger side?

 

what was the fix for your issue?

 

It most likely was the passenger side CV shaft. Ours have similar vibration upon acceleration. Bought a Cardone on amazon for $70 or so, plus replaced the transmission seal with a Napa seal, about $12. The issue with replacing these shafts is that the carrier bearing can seize up. Happens to Camry V6's also. Our car is garaged and it saw little wet and cold weather; hence, the shaft slid right out.

 

Both CV axles needed replacement. However the Indy shop that I had do it was HORRIBLE the car had to be taken back to them 3 times because seals weren’t properly put on and fluids were leaking out of the car NOT to mention my steering wheels alignment was off. When I was driving straight the wheel wasn’t centered, and still isn’t to this day because they couldn’t do that properly, not to mention I bought a tire from them to put on my A6 and it exploded the next day so I returned the tire and they gave me a free replacement and it also blew up, so now I will never do business with this Indy shop AGAIN. I did only pay $500 for the CV axle replacements. I should’ve just went to Firestone and payed the $800....So make sure you find a reputable shop to do the work, so you won’t end up with the headache like me.

 

Thanks. That was my next best diagnosis after looking thought these threads and talking to mechanic friends about the symptoms.

And yes, the Carrier bearing is seized. Fun times. Haven’t worked on it to hard yet, will let pb blaster soak over night and give it some more hits tomorrow night. If that doesn’t seam to budge it might have to go the cutting route to get the bracket out.

 

I have the same issue of vibration only when accelerating firmly from ~40 to 60. Bearings tight, tires OK, alignment OK, brakes OK. I replaced the broken upper motor mount, no change. Lower mounts look OK, and motor top moves about an inch or so back and forward when shifting P-R-N-D. No noise from the outside universals driving in tight circles hard right and hard left, and no movement pushing them up/down. All boots look perfect - some grease on passenger side but could be ATF. The driver side inside universal has some movement, maybe 2mm when I push it up/down. Passenger side a little less play. I attached a video of passenger side inside universal idling with tire off. Is this expected movement of the shaft? Is this a "maybe" or "likely" the cause of the vibration? Thanks

 

That shaft is shot. That's why you have that vibration.

 

Before you commit to the axle, just have a shop check it out. It would be a shame to do all that work for nothing.