lexus gs 450h sport leaning

[MarsdenDean]

 http://youtu.be/WtK5-VJ23ZQ  

 

Here is the video,  The video is very Long (20 mins) and this is for Lexus Bolton to view, in case they say nothing is wrong or the car is being driven too harsh etc.

 

Key points to look at are:

 

 

1:27 til 1:38  Car pulls to left after right hand turn when car is pointing dead ahead.

1:45   Steering wheel is let go and car drives true

2:55  

3:10  Car seams to be driving quite well when the wheel has been let go of

5:05  Camber of road is running off to the left, car pulls right slightly then left, then right

6:50  Throttle is pushed to around 30%, camber of the road runs to the right, car pulls to left 

7:09  Car pulls hard right when wheel is let go of. Yes this does go over a solid white line :-/

7:31 Car pulls right again, camber runs to left

10:30 Car turns right, is put in a straight line and wheel let go to lead it hard right

15:15 Car pulls hard left

15:25 car pulls right

15:50 Car pulls right, camber of road is off to the left

17:47  Car is now leaning onto passenger side

18:11  Car can be seen still leaning onto passenger side

 

 

The car preformed quite well compared to how bad it has driven recently. 

[SMARTLY]

In my opinion the only useful bit of film is at about 18 minutes when it is leaning, that does not look right. The rest IMHO most cars with wide tyres would behave very much the same given your lack of holding the steering wheel at 10 to 2 and insisting on driving with one hand and then removing that hand. I know it's to try and demonstrate something but that is not safe driving, you can drive at 10 to 2 and loosen the grip quite easily, and going round bends with one hand on the wheel won't impress your Lexus dealer either. 

 

Lecture over

 

Have you been over the same course around 16 to 20 minutes again to see if it leans the same?

 

I've owned 4 Lexus cars so know some of the behaviors, but not owned a GS but have driven a few at Lexus events.

[MarsdenDean]

The lean changes. The road has been driven over around 15 times and changes depending on how it has been handling if that makes sense?

 

The problem with the video is most of the time the wheel is off centre, despite the geo being setup approx 6 times. Sometimes its central hence no pull, off centre creates a pull, so when you let go it drifts. If it was wide tyres surly it should stay straight but follow the camber or tramlines in the road not pull like you are turning?

 

The lean is pro ally why its handling so bad

[MarsdenDean]

Alsothe car never had this problem from a day old to 2 years in until lexus started swapping bits

[Tony]

Watched that a few times now........ Almost every time the pull starts it's after you make a steering action, bend, turn. The lean may be natural and i'm feeling this is not the problem. The reason i say this is geometrically the side that has the lean would also gain camber and it's force would not permit a pull in that direction.

 

Looking outside of the box does the car have EPS ( Electronic Power Steering ) if yes then it also has center weighting and a steering angle position sensor.

[MarsdenDean]

Yes it does. The steering angle sensor has been changed along with the steering column which houses a couple of sensors

 

The lexus L's had problems with the wheels not returning to a central position so the wheel would be off centre

[Tony]

I assume then when it's off center the car also pulls in that direction..... Reads a little familiar to your steering position being off-line.

[MarsdenDean]

If the wheel is off center to the right, holding it central will induce a left pull.

 

But I can't remember if it has ever been off center to the left so when you hold it central it pulls right. The off center bit is again some times present, sometimes not

[MarsdenDean]

My rear motor had failed but I don't believe the active stabilizer works with without the button.

 

I would buy coilivers and bin the full system if it was my car, but its my old fellas. His car has gone through 17k atmoment and still counting

[MarsdenDean]

From the lexus tech documents the roll bar only works with sport button and is only fitted to selected cars.

 

Could you forward me as much info lexus have given you as this is proving intresting if yours has a motor fail and is also leaning

[Tony]

I'm not buying the active stabilizer is seized since the complaint has variables. The predicted cost is unreal, what's these things made of "platinum!"..

[MarsdenDean]

That system only made it onto a hand full of cars in the UK I thought.

 

What year and spec is your GS? Our problems started when the rear one was replaced the first time along with a shocker. I highly doubt the motor seizing will cause the car height to change that much . I maybe wrong

[Tony]

What i don't get is the problem started after the repair work was done but Lexus dismiss this birth for the complaint and blame everything else

[parthiban]

These are starting to sound like a real pain, I'd be tempted to p/ex it and let the dealer face the pain! 

[NickT]

Remind me never to buy a lexus.....

[Tony]

Nick............. Don't buy a Lexus

[MarsdenDean]

They have offered it to buy it off him but at market value, which is around 14k trade in.

 

The cars going back one final time before its returned to carilse where the car was purchased new, for hopefully a refund plus costs. Hopefully it won't come down to this and the only reason this 09 sport has an extended warranty is because of the problems

[MarsdenDean]

What problems are you having ant apart from it leaning?

[parthiban]

I wouldn't expect much more than market value to be fair - what I'd be looking to do is either swap into another similar (but better, so perhaps newer) GS for no cost, or potentially into a newer model at a reasonable discount.

 

Use this to get yourself a deal - it doesn't sound like getting it fixed is really going to happen, and I'd be really surprised and impressed if they gave you a full refund of the purchase price if Lexus GB aren't getting involved.

[Tony]

Tram-lining on RFT's is very comment due to the tyres sidewall compliance or lack of it should i say.  

[MarsdenDean]

The car is on good year tyres iirc now, the run flats were binned around 1.5 years ago now because they can also only be repaired once.

 

We will see how lexus deal with it . . . .

 

 

Infact get Glasgow to ring RRG Bolton and see if they have had a problem with any, as Lexus GB should be we aware of the problem with our car

[Tony]

Try dropping the pressure 2psi and see if that helps.

[MarsdenDean]

Tyre pressures have been set by lexus. They have mentioned tyres at least 6 times. 

 

They even wanted me to fit a new set at £800 so they could prove it was tyre related, 2 Sets down the line and the problem is still existent 

[Tony]

Tram-lining can just be the nature of the profile. A small profile sidewall allows more communication between the road and wheel meaning you have to correct for it.

[Rich]

Some posts removed at the request of one of the contributors.