Massive Failure On The Motorway, Car Literally All Over The Road

[Fugu]

Hi All,

I was on the motorway the other day, doing about...70 and all of a sudden the car started pulling in all directions, my first thoughts where a blow out so I jumped on the stopping things and came to a halt on the hard shoulder for a quick inspection.

No flat tyre (3 days old) and no loose nuts. I thought it must have been a massive gust of wind or something but about 5 minutes later it started again. I then noticed when I accelerate it pulls to the left and when I lift off the car dips to the right.

Also if I hit the left lane on the motorway the car jumps violently into the groove and sets off a mini fish tail,

FINAL NOTE: If I am driving in a straight line and i turn slightly in any direction the car will carry on going in the straight and then suddenly "catch" and turn, but by this time I am turning harder...

The callipers are OK, I stripped them today but I am seriously worried.

Does anyone have any ideas where i can start looking?

[lebon]

Hi All,

I was on the motorway the other day, doing about...70 and all of a sudden the car started pulling in all directions, my first thoughts where a blow out so I jumped on the stopping things and came to a halt on the hard shoulder for a quick inspection.

No flat tyre (3 days old) and no loose nuts. I thought it must have been a massive gust of wind or something but about 5 minutes later it started again. I then noticed when I accelerate it pulls to the left and when I lift off the car dips to the right.

Also if I hit the left lane on the motorway the car jumps violently into the groove and sets off a mini fish tail,

FINAL NOTE: If I am driving in a straight line and i turn slightly in any direction the car will carry on going in the straight and then suddenly "catch" and turn, but by this time I am turning harder...

The callipers are OK, I stripped them today but I am seriously worried.

Does anyone have any ideas where i can start looking?

Sounds quite like mine but not as bad, I would look at your tyres when you say 3 days old I assume they are brand new. Also for m my understanding and my personal experience the new tyres takes quite awhile to bed in. Another thing to look at would be the geo . I had a thread on IS250 here on a similar issue also do you know at what speeds this happens, was it only after 60mph or after 70 mph. Hope this helps.

[denbailey101]

Sounds like you were very lucky

I have had a very similar experience before and it was an anti roll bar drop link that had worn so much the ball joint popped out and was left swinging about. Making the old peugeout very unpredicatble and scary.

Check all of the suspension components for failure (bottom ball joints lex favourite).

[Fugu]

Hi there,

Well the car rolling under acceleration happens when I give it some power, if I roll away slowly you cant feel it.

The major issue is the car's behaviour at 60+ it is so bad I had to slow to 30 to get the car moving in a straight line again.

Tyres are brand new, they fine for the first few days and it was in the middle of the return trip that this started happening.

[lebon]

Mine did not roll but everytime I hit above 60 it feels like driving in a crosswind and this was after i had the track rod and steering rack and a brand new wheels .It got better after a few thousand miles of driving.

[steve2006]

I know F1 cars have to get their tyres run in and up to temperature but never heard of road tyres needing several thousand miles on them before they effectively become safe and drivable!

What brand of tyres are we using here?

[lebon]

Dunlop sp maxx and sp 01. Not sure about F1 but mine all 4 were new and it eventually got better definately after atleast 2000 miles.

[Fugu]

To be honest it is so bad i will not be driving car above 30 again until it is sorted, just checked the wheels and there is a lot of play in the wheel, (up + down) and (left + right)

[steve2006]

Does your car have the original Lexus wheels or after market ones? Reason I ask is the wheelnuts are different, Lexus OEM use sleeved nuts that actually fit snug into the holes and after markets normally used tapered sleeve nuts.

Using the incorrect types will cause serious problems, wheel damage and the possibility of the wheels coming off.

What torque do you have on the nuts?

[Fugu]

The wheels are after market ones, however the nuts remain the same, I went to the local garage who tested the wheel balancing and torque - all great.

After doing some research i found loads of post saying the wishbone and drop links required changing?

[steve2006]

I take it this is only affecting one wheel?

Are you sure some one wasn't trying to steal your suspension components when they were disturbed and left it all loose!

[ormi]

if its just the ball joint on the upper arm you can get a pair for £30 on eBay..the whole arm is very expensive

[Fugu]

Thank you for the help guys, to be honest I do not know which wheel(s) are to blame, but im using the motorbike for work and ill have an in-depth look at what could be wrong tomo....

[trackerman]

I know this has been mentioned before,but to make things clear, are you using the original Lexus wheel nuts and are they tapered seat or the "washer" type as on the aero wheels ?,because i'd be very suprised to find a set of aftermarket wheels using Lexus "washer" nuts,the specs for the wheels are the same for 90% of Jap cars,so why use an unusual nut ?,if it is down to the wrong nuts it would tie in to it happening just after the tyres being fitted.

[Parthiban]

If the car is that bad it simply cannot be the tyres, and if there's play in the wheels doesn't sound wise to use the car for the time being.

Sorry don't really know what could be wrong but hope you get it sorted easily. Sounds a lot like the wheels aren't pointing in the right direction though - although what you were saying about accelerating and lifting off was interesting, do you know if you've got power going to both rear wheels?

[Fugu]

Ok people, a quick update for you, the nuts are fine by all accounts, the front wheels have more play than a Bangkok prostitute.

however i wanted to test the theory on the power to the rear wheels.

I turned off the traction control, locked the wheel, stuck the revs up and let it go... however it went... nor did the slip light come on.

hmmmmm the saga continues, booked in on Saturday

[sprinter2012]

Just saw this post on another forum, might be useful?

Had this annoying wobble on the wheel at 60-70 for some time now' date=' tried balancing the wheels, rotating them, tracking and all the other things, until I saw my spigots!!!

Been on the car since I got the new wheels, ****** things were knackered, pushed right into the wheel or actually split and twisted.

Ordered new ones and woo hoo, wobble gone.

Old one, twisted and split

[img']https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ZE5ip51FwmE/TmZJSO92nrI/AAAAAAAAYN8/Lbtl5WGh8AQ/s640/IMG_20110906_170934.jpg

Old ones on the left, should be able to see the difference from the pic, new ones have a much more pronounced lip to them