I have a 2000 gs300. as i was driving to the airport a few days ago, my steering wheel as well as the car started vibrating, pretty bad i would say. so i got off the car and checked the wheels and i found that the left front wheel was much hotter than the other wheels and it also had a weird smell. the weird thing is that it only vibrated at some certain part of the highway (a guy from the gas station told me that it could be the road)...but about a month ago, a cracking noise appeared as i turned my steering wheel to the right (the noise only appeared when i park, not when i was driving)...can anyone tell me what's wrong?!

thanks alot! peace.

 

sounds like your driver side front caliper is frozen/seized putting too much drag on the pad to rotor...in which that smell being BRAKE PAD

 

I'd get an alignment check...maybe the toe is out...thus, hotter tires.

As for the smell...probably from the hot tire? Another reason maybe a the brake pads are worn....need changing....caliper to rotor is not good.

 

chuckli-

please elaborate..."wheel" meaning rim or meaning tire? i was assuming you meant hot rim. if its the tire, PHML makes a good point above

 

I ran in to a very similar issue when I got my car. The e-brake was way sloppy so I adjusted it to spec. Afterwords on the freeway the car started shake hard around 60 mph and then stop when I slowed. By playing with the e-brake at slower speeds I determined it was a warped e-brake drum (inside of rear disc).

Had it machined and the issue has been gone since. It may me possible that you have this same issue or that your e-brake was still partially engaged causing the shoe to contact the drum/rotor.

 

sorry, let me clarify it a bit.
by wheel i mean the rim was a bit hotter. the tire was not hot. i could feel the heat most likely coming from the caliber/or the whole brake...

debonair: when the weather was really cold, the e-brake(red)light would come on as i brake, and when i release it, the light would disappear. it only happened during really cold weather though. do you think it has something to do with my current issue?

 

OH also the vibrating doesn't occur when i'm driving on local roads. but i noticed today that the left front brake area is still very hot, i heard a loud clicking noise when i turned off the engine. do y'all think it's safe for me to drive around? my mechanic won't be available til a week or so...

 

It sounds like you are due for a brake job. The light comeing on is probably due to being a little low on brake fluid because your pads are worn. They need to be cleaned up and have grease applied to the sliders. If your rotor has gotten that overheated, it will probably need to be replaced. As to whether or not you should drive it is up to you, just remember you have a brake problem.

 

Heat sounds like a brake issue as everyone is saying. Cracking or clicking might be related or it could be the lower ball joint, especially if you hear it when turning the wheel. When they check the brakes have them take a look at that too.

 

i have had my lower ball joint replaced already. also when i took it to lexus for the brake problem i had about a year ago, they told me that the brake is automatically locking up on the front wheel, so they fixed that, replaced the the lower ball joints, and i believe they also changed the rotor and front brake disc. and they also told me that my wheel dimension might not fit the car and it could a factor that caused the brake locking up problem. my current tire size is 245/40/18. what should i do?! i'm freakin' out since i have already spent so much money on fixing the front brake problem.

 

oh and when i have the transmission on "D", it barely moves. that's after when i first noticed the cracking noise.

 

i came across a mechanic today and he told me my brake pads are really low. do you guys think that might cause the vibration?