2007 Lexus RX 350 front end shimmy

Maintenance/Repairs
,
1

My daughter bought this car used with just over 100,000 miles a couple years back. Great car. Very clean. No apparent issues. Until…

Shortly after buying she discovered intermittent front end shimmy at freeway speeds. It’s a lot like warped rotors, causing steering wheel to vibrate back and forth.

It’s not absolute or consistent. Auto problems worst nightmare. It happens randomly at freeway speeds. It stops after a couple minutes of doing it or slowing down below 45 mph.

I tried tire rotation to be sure it wasn’t balance.

Front end wear and four wheel alignment has been checked professionally.

Dealer replaced front rotors and pads.

An independent shop claimed front axle shafts and replaced them.

It doesn’t fall into the transmission mount issue due to year discovered on internet.

The only thing left, God forbid, is software or hardware issue with electric steering unit. This one is on the internet as resolving issue for some and is very, very pricey. (It seems that this shimmy was broad problem in 2006 & 2007 for models on this chassis from Lexus. There are TSBs. But dealerships seem to want to downplay as does Lexus any widespread issue.)

Bottom line, love the vehicle and had great hope but now out more than $2,000 with no one able to come up with solution. At least not a guaranteed one.

Any ideas?

2

Life is too short to worry about such things and nobody’s pockets are deep enough to fix a manufacturer’s screw up. Trade the car for something else.

3 Likes
3

This sounds like something is worn - similar to the Jeep death rattle problem.

This may require rebuilding the whole front suspension, but first step would be to take it to a front end shop who knows what they are doing…

4

My shimmy was due to a slightly bent rim on my Corolla. Nothing would make the shimmy go away until I discovered the inside of the rim was bent.I replaced the rim and all is good now.

5

I would assume the OP rotated the rims along with the tires.

1 Like
6

I have an almost identical vehicle, the '07 Highlander. I have had to replace all of the brake components multiple times including the calipers (which freeze in place and then warp the rotors). I would verify the calipers are releasing and look for unusual amounts of brake dust on one side of the front rims.

1 Like
7

Could you show me the TSB’s for this. We have a 2007 Lexus ES350 and I’m very up on any recalls or TSB’s. There is no 2006 ES 350. ES-350 first year is 2007. There is however a 2006 ES-330, and this generation Lexus does have a TSB for excessive shimmying. Wife’s car now has over 200k miles and the ride/drive is EXCELLENT.