Hello all,

I'm new here and hoping someone can help me out. I bought a 1999 RX300 AWD back in September. It had a minor vibration in the steering wheel on the highway, but I bought it anyway because the dealer was a friend of ours and he sold it to me for peanuts. Anyways, it had a brand new set of Firestone tires on it when I bought it. The steering wheel vibration got progressively worse. Almost to the point of being undriveable above 60mph. I assumed it just needed a tire balance, so I went and had the tires road force balanced and it made absolutely no difference. The shop told me all the tires appeared "out of round", so I went out and bought a brand new set of tires and had the car aligned. Again, absolutely no change. The vibration is still just as bad. No one can seem to figure out what's wrong with it.

Can anyone offer any advice? I'm almost to the point of trading the car in.

I was wondering if bad ball joints might could cause this?

 

did you get an alignment with the new tires? bad inner and outer rod ends could transfer tire deflection up through the steering wheel causing your symptoms. Due to the age of your car, bad ball joints will show themselves more during turns than going straight.

 

Did any one check out the suspension and steering?

What are/were the wear pattern on the front wheels?

Salim