kswagner

Let me explain - when I place my car in drive and idle either backwards and forwards out of a dead stop, I notice a wobble in the car. It is not severe but definitely noticable enough to feel. This wobble feels like a bent rim would feel while rolling. I did have two rims which were bent but replace all 4 with different 17" painted OEMs so I am pretty sure it is not a bent rim. Also, I have had all 4 rims balanced twice now and the technicians have said nothing about any rims being bent or hard to balance. I have replaced all four rotors with new brembo blanks so thats not it either. It seems really noticable coming out of a dead stop and not putting your foot on the gas pedal. Just idle along and there is the wobble. My valet key hanging from my ignition swings side to side when doing this. If the car was not wobbling, the key should just hand straight down.

I know I need to take it in but just want to arm myself with some technical info before I do so I know if the mechanic is snowing me or not. Does anyone know what this might be?? Axle bent, worn ball joint(s), tie rod, etc.
Car is a 98 GS400 with 119K on it. I can descibe the wobble in more detail if that would help...

KSW

chuckb

bad alignment can cause that.

GWELEX

I had a similar issue once on a GM vehicle. It turned out one of the new Goodyears were out of round, almost egg shaped. Hard to notice by eye, but you could see it on the spin balancer when turned slowly by hand.

kswagner

I dont think it is the tires b/c I have put on a completely different set of wheels and tires in an effort to trouble shoot with the same result. I leaning towards getting an alignment....

toyotech84

Ive noticed at work alot that the tires will cause a wobble in steering wheel. it can be seen when you spin the tire, be it on a tire balance machine or jack up the driving wheel (in toyota its FWD) and put in drive and you can see the belts in the center of the tire not straight, which means that the belts in the tire have shifted and need to be replaced. IF not then put it on an alignment machine.