Just got an 08 TL a month ago, just 19k miles. Had the OEM Bridgestones and could not get rid of vibration. They sucked anyway, so I switched to the Conti DWS. They were balanced with a hunter roadforce machine.

Much better, but still a vibration. Took it back. These guys are very conscientious and worked on the wheels for almost an hour and a half. It is MUCH better now.

So, here is the interesting comment. One problem they had was getting the wheels to mount to the machine without wiggling. They finally worked around that.

He said that the wheels, when mounted on the hubs, had a little play at the mating surfaces and where, among the 360 degrees, they were mounted would make a difference. He said he almost always has trouble getting TLs just right regardless of tire, wheel, anything else and the result is a car that is almost impossible to get balanced properly. He said virtually any off balance will be magnified by this situation.

Is this more of a wheel side or hub side problem, would you think?

Can anyone speak to this observation?

 

The TL's suspension design amplifies vibrations for some reason but as far as your wheels not mating to the hub properly I can somewhat believe it because it's easy to warp rotors by not tightening the lug nuts in the proper order.

As far as it being a common issue, the rotors warping and causing that can happen on any car but it shouldn't be producing such a bad vibration.

Are you getting it in the steering wheel or feeling it in your seat? Both? It might be worth it to check and see if you have a bent wheel