redray

Sorry if you have read this on another forum, I bought a 350 in November last, and from the first time I drove into my garage I noticed that the steering on maximum either left or right feels as though the inside wheel is trying to turn in a tighter circle than it should, and that the tire is being “forced off the rim”, the outside of the tread is starting to “feather” also. When I am on a flat surface and drive slowly and turn the steering to the max there is no self centering and you can in fact take your hands off the wheel and the steering will just stay in that position. The car has been into Larry Miller in Salt Lake about five times and the tech guy and the service manager only now acknowledge that it doesn’t feel good but they say the steering is 100% as per spec data and there is no adjustment to solve this. I have only just moved to the US from England where I had a car audio company for thirty years, so besides owning I have driven most European and Japanese cars. I have never felt this on any road car, hot hatch, sports car or sports saloon , only on a couple of “rally cars for the road”, a Lancia Intergrale and a Ford Focus RS where the steering has been corrupted by drive going through the front wheels. When I bought the Lexus I ordered some 19” BBS wheels but I can only imagine how much worse it would become with them on and the lowered suspension I was hoping to fit. Sorry for the rant but I hope somebody can help or advise or know somebody else who as had this problem. Thanks Ray

ba-b4

This is not a problem, this is a bonus. Fact is this car is a FREAK when it comes to turning circle. It turns tighter than anything I've ever driven including cars way smaller. Most people here are proud of the ability to do this in the IS. Maybe what you need to do if you think there's a problem with your car is to test drive another IS at the dealership to see if it is the same. If it is then don't worry about it. Turning to full lock and driving that way constantly on a daily basis isn't recommended on any car and on this car where it allows you to turn even more than most of course your tires will complain. If you don't like it then turn it to 80% of full lock then it'll be like you have it on full lock on another model of car. You need to rename this thread from "aweful steering" to "DAYMNNN AWESOME STEERING" lol

redray

I thought maybe somebody would give me some help and not advice on how to drive, of course I don't "turn to full lock and drive that way constantly on a daily basis". I drove a new 350 at the dealers and it was 90% better than mine the tech agreed but said there no adjustment. I am 100% sure that my car as faulty steering, I am also sure that if your car drove like mine you wouldn't accept it,even if it turned on a penny, I also get a loud click from the suspension as well but according to your logic I shouldn't be turning to the max.

ba-b4

Well if it's making noise when you turn it to the max and you suspect somethings wrong.. maybe you SHOULDN'T be turning it to the max? It's like if you know your knees are hurting if you run and decide to run more to see how much you can make it hurt. If service agree there's a problem but say they just can't fix it that's bs. I think if they refuse to look into it further you can file a complaint to lexus corporate because something is clearly misaligned. Just saying there's no adjustment when something is clearly wrong is just them being lazy. If you have another Lexus dealership near you then go bring it to them instead. Goodluck

redray

I would imagine that even if you have bad knees sometimes you gotta run, I should have said the clicking is only occasionally. The only other dealer in Utah is also Larry Miller, I have spoke to Lexus service, I left my details they said they would call back within a few days, after about a week I rang back and they promised to call back as they are "looking into the problem" a few days later they called back and asked me for my details again because they had the wrong ones ? , eventually I had to call them again and the person who retook my details wouldn't come on the phone but passed on a message that "the dealer has told her that the car is within the manufacturers tolerances" and there is nothing that can be done. I thought at the time thats a funny way to be told to **** Off. Honesty its not good, like I said in my first post I have driven or owned most cars and this is bad, when I was with the tech and he was driving I could feel and hear the inside tyre being "dragged" off the rim. What's also really frustrating is that I could have have chosen anything (within reason) , one of my business partners chose a ML63 and another a CLS63 and they are enjoying this saying I should admit to my mistake and just get rid of it, but I love the car and this is so frustrating and I just want it to work.

Giggity

There is a ton of caster at full lock, sorry to say you are just going to have to live with it. This car does not have the greatest steering feel, and your coing from some where that has far better choices in cars than the crap we have to settle for in the U.S.

ba-b4

^ I don't think that's his problem. He says he drove the other cars on the lot along with a tech and they admitted there's something wrong with his car but don't know how to fix it or dont want to bother to investigate it. If so this is a case of bad service at the dealership not with the car model itself.

Redray: All brands have issues with their cars including Mercedes. Mercedes has way more issues than Lexus actually. If you can't your dealership to fix it then you really need to call and write to corporate to get it handled. There's also a lemon law that if you cant get it repaired by x amount of tries then they will have to buy back your car for the full amount.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

I've not had this issue, however, I would take the car to an independent shop and have the alignment measured. Then I would compare the measurements to Lexus standards. I would not go to the dealership for another lip service opportunity.

The ISx50 has an electronic steering rack. It is possible there is an issue with this. It is also possible there is an issue with the tyres. There is also the outside chance the steering rack was installed incorrectly at the factory or a bushing locating the steering rack is damaged or was installed improperly. Since you've been back five times for the same complaint, you really need to escalate the issue to Lexus Corporate and insist they fix the issue or buy the car back. You've been through enough problems by now to easily justify either a brand new vehicle or compensation from Lexus.