At highway speeds I have some steering wheel vibration and can let go of the steering wheel and it will move back and forth on its own. This happens on fairly new smooth pavement as well. Does anyone experience this as well or is it a problem with my car. I wouldn't expect a car of this caliber to do this. It's very annoying, especially when driving at extended times. Some say it's the wider low-profile tires that track grooves in road, especially tires with wide treadblocks I have heard. Considering that most sports cars would have wide tires as well and are geared for handling I wouldn't think this would be the case since this would deter the handling characteristics.. I have had this problem with the EL42's, replacement EL42's and LS-Z's. Suppose to get RoadForce balance next week. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Steering wheel vibration could mean that one or more of your tires are out of balance. Get that checked ASAP (I see you're getting it RoadForced, but make sure the dealer is paying for that). If it moves back and forth on its own, it could be due to the way the tire treads are, but that usually happens with summer tires where the grooves follow the road. On my summer tires that definitely happens - there is a propensity for the tires to follow deep cut grooves in the road.

Get the balance, and see if that fixes the problem with the tires steering the car.

 

Well, when I had at dealer a few weeks back for seat memory, since they had a Hunter RF, I told them about the vibration and movement problem.
They just checked/re balanced the front two tires. One was off a little they said. Then the roadforced them, they were 20 and 25 lbs of force. The machine was new and they didn't have a clue. Didn't rotat tire on wheel for better force reading. I told them that on the Hunter site, it says 15 lbs is too much for some sensitive vehicles, and it should be below 15.(another poster said when getting new Falkens his RF readings were less than 10 on front, 12-13 on back) The service advisor said I may need new tires and remounted front tires and didn't check back ones. I told them I already had Acura replacements, then now LS-Z's from BS. They called and said no more tires for now. Useless!
Anyway, a friend's dad works at a toyota dealership and is suppose to RoadForce it for me soon. Hopefully this will help.

 

What is roadforce?

 

here is Hunter website about the RoadForce gsp9700 balancing machine--
www.gsp9700.com

 

what speed range do you drive on? what RPM? Besides the shimmy on your steering wheel, does your car follow the road crown to move back and forth?

 

The shimmy happens at highway speeds anywhere from 60mph and up. Not sure rpm, when you mention road crown- is that the slope usually in the left inside lane when car may seem to pull to left? I can be in center lane which is normally flat and have the shimmy happen, will be slightly vibrating at the same time moving back and forth. The road surface can be smooth at the same time as well.

 

You know the vibration at the range of 1200-1800's RPM, which is around 50-63 MPH. I think you're not talking about this resonance of exhaust.

Since you have the such good tires like LS-Z, in warmer weather, your 04TL is supposed to run smoother and better. Maybe your car really needs the hunter system to give you a hands.

Let us know what's going on... Thanks.