sadiqtt

What's up fellow CL members!? I've been a silent observer of CL for quite sometime and finally became a a member a few days. I'm now the proud owner of a '98 GS400 Blk/Blk. The car is fantastic, it's a one owner car with all scheduled maintance/services up to date w/ records, excellent shape inside out. I hope to enjoy this car for many years to come.

Now I wanted to ask you guys a couple of questions about the car.(note I've searched for all related threads, and did my homework but I still have questions).

1st- The car pulls a bit to the right. I asked the previous owner about this and he said it started pulling after he got the ball joints replaced at the Lexus dealership. As soon as he noticed the car pulling he took it back but the dealer told him the alignment is okay, it's just something to do with the tire rotation. I don't believe the tires are to blame, so do you think it has something to do w/ the ball joint replacement? Any suggestions as what could be the problem?

2nd- The infamous front suspension clunk/noise when hitting a bump. I noticed the noise/feeling comes from the driver's side front suspension. It only happens when load is placed on that part of the suspension by means of turning sharply towards the right or hitting a big bump. Is the car pulling to the right and the front driver's side suspenision noise related? Possible swaybar tightening is needed? Any suggestions on what to do?

I'm sorry about the long post, but I love my car and I love the fact that there is such an awesome resource for information about my GS right here on CL. Makes owning and maintaining my Lexus a whole lot easier. Thanks for the help!

Sadiq

rominl

iTrader: (4)

welcome to clublexus, and congrats on your new car you are going to love it!

1) it's hard to say, could be as bad as bent arms, no one knows. but it cuold be tires too and stuff. for example my gs400, i put on tires new and one of them are defective and had to be replaced. so if one of the tires are defective or if it has some weird wear, the car could pull

2) dunno much about it coz' i didn't have stock suspension for long, i will leave this to others

congrats again, sadiq

PHML

iTrader: (33)

Welcome and Congrats!!

1. Get a 4-wheel computerized alignment done.

2. Could be the outter tie rods. Have that checked.

Pete

GUNRU-GS4

Congrats and welcome on the GS400. Your gonna love it.

maintrain

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to CL!

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

Welcome to CL... Its hard to pin point the situation.. I mean when it comes to this sort of thing none of us want to throw money around to try to fix the problem.... Depending on the mileage of the car it could be a number of things....caster arms, ball joints( bad) cracked bushing etc..

Tire wear could be a possibility.. Once the tire wears a certain way its pretty hard to correct it back to normal.. Maybe another computer balance is an option ie..( Hunter) and alignment... Hope this helps and Congrats on the new car purchase,...

Tony

LEXUS_KID

iTrader: (4)

WELCOME

exvelocity

take it to alignment shop,and before you do, make sure tires are same size and properly inflated,99.9% it's alignment issue if tires are at proper pressure and same size ,
Oh, and congrats,I have 98 GS400 too

STONER

Welcome to CL. The clunking sounds symptomatic of bad ball joints but you said the owner had them replaced. I recommend a test drive with the service advisor at your local dealership.

GWELEX

Welcome to CL and congrats on the purchase. Here's one other thing you can check for the pulling sympton, right front brake. To my knowledge Lexus doesn't have brake issues, but I did own one car where the caliper didn't fully release causing a brake drag and thus a pulling. The clunking is going to be a tough one to diagnois. The history from Lexus on my car, showed the front struts were replaced under warranty due to a "clunking sound" . Good Luck and let us know what the culprits are.

chuckb

congrats on the GS4!

clunk could be loose sway bar or worn upper strut mounts. pull could be many things but like others said, have align done or at least checked first.

Dx3

iTrader: (13)

Your sn is confusing?? You planning on twin turbo or is that just part of the name??

Welcome.

Jonny

sadiqtt

Hahah, no twinturbo plans for the GS400. It was my name on Twinturbo.net. I used a own a 1992 300ZX twinturbo. I absolutely adored the car, it was a beautiful machine. It was Stage III which consisted of just intake,exhuast, & ECU(boost jets to 15psi). With just those mods the car laid down 349rwhp and 384rwtrq. One of the strogest stage III's around.
Here are some pics of my former baby. I sold because at this point in my life I need a daily driver hence the GS4 but couldn't afford to keep both.