Byescott

I looked at a 2006 today with 26k miles on it. The car was nice all around. When I took it for a test drive there was a slight shimmy at 60 mph. The owner said he had front shocks replaced. He had work order ticket from local Lexus dealer. He has also recently replaced wheels and tires to correct the issue. Still there. I told him I would take the car if he fixed the shimmy. He agreed to do so. Any thoughts out there what the cause might be?
Thanks,
Scott

Wilson2000

This sounds like a tire/wheel issue. Some wheels and tires just don't balance well. The owner should rotate the tires front to back, one side at a time to see if he can isolate which one of the tires/wheels is the issue, or to eliminate the tires/wheels as the culprit. Once it is determined which tire/wheel is the problem, it should be replaced under warranty, assuming they are still under warranty. There are Road Force Balancing machines that can correct for imperfections in tires and wheels, sometimes instructing the tech to break the bead and rotate the tire on the wheel a prescribed amount. I would prefer them to check for out-of-spec run-out on the wheels and tires, or determine if a tire or wheel is requiring more balancing weight than it should. By replacing the part responsible, rather than masking it with tricks-of-the-trade, it solves the issue long term.

digitatc

That's not a problem it's a feature for our car, to make sure we don't drive it too slow. Once you go above 70mph, no more shake/shimmy.

kidding a side, do what Wilson2000 mentions above first. If it all checked out and the problem is still there, then inspect the front bushings especially those LCA#2 bushings.

Harold57

When you say that there is a shimmy, where are you feeling it? Is the steering wheel wiggling back and forth or is it just vibration from the front end?

It can be related to the tires. Some tires flat spot and it tends to show up as vibrations in the 50 to 60mph range. After driving it for a few minutes and the tires warm up, that vibration would go away.

Byescott

Harold the shimmy is evident as a shaking of the steering wheel, you can actually feel the wheel shake. I drove the car 15 miles and it did not go away.

GmanSC

Do the search on this subject. Someone had this issue. As I remember, it had something to do with the concentric ring.

Wilson2000

Good call Gman!

ByeScott: The ring being referred to is also known as a hub centric ring. It keeps (non-OEM) wheels centered on the hub. They are made of hard plastic and can be easily distorted, bent, broken, mis-aligned. To check them, assuming they are being utilized, pull each wheel and ensure the plastic ring that sits in the center of the wheel is in place and not distorted in any way. Or, perhaps the hub centric rings were called for and not installed?

Personally, I would not consider a 60 mph shimmy as a deal breaker on an otherwise good deal. With some diligent troubleshooting, you should be able to isolate and resolve this problem for not too-much $.

iolmaster

iTrader: (1)

I must be missing something. Where does it say "it" has hub centric rings. I'm not saying "it" doesn't, but where does it say "it" does?

Lorn

I had this issue as well on my 2012 RX. The Lexus dealer said the clutch petal was slow to come on and that they would need to replace the transmission.

It normally happened when the car was going up an incline.

GmanSC

Here is your answer, post #13 for second thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...my-shimmy.html


https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc4...l#post10487513

DshngDaryl

Byescott, do you know if the car was ever in an accident? Possibly in the front?

OBP

depending on how bad the shimmy is, I might actually just let it be. I am a 12 years owner of my 2005.4 sets of tires, two sets of wheels one OEM and one after market. I have often had a shimmy at 60 mph and it goes away at 70 and at 50. So I try not to drive at 60. So many SC430 owners have had this issue that I just accept it as part of ownership. This Sc430 shimmy is different than the flat spot vibration which goes away after the tires are warmed up. I have that too on my BF Goodrich tires but it never lasts long. This 60 mph shimmy is just the price of ownership for us Sc430 drivers.

GmanSC

Hmm, I’ve never noticed that the shimmy existed at 60mph. May be because I don’t drive at 60mph. I drive 45-50mph in city streets and 70+ on the freeways. Have to try 60mph next.

Byescott

No accident. I spoke with dealer that did last 46 point inspection and they said it was clean. The car fax for what it is worth is clean as well.

Byescott

Gman thank you for this. I read the post and it could definitely be the issue. I have ask the owner to have this checked.