Wonder if anyone has had a similar problem. I had a new set of wheels fitted recently (by Lexus under warrenty)as the originals had pitted (sound familiar). When refitting the tyres they (Lexus)found I had scrubbed out the front tyres which were now illegal. (Bridgestones)The car had only done 10000 miles, and has not been driven hard ( the rears still had 5mms!!)
I was told by Lexus that there was nothing wrong with the car and this was normal wear rate!! When I got the car back the steering wheel was no longer straight which I queried and was again told nothing had been done to the tracking, and it must have been like that when it went in. I have to say I was a little annoyed!!!! 2 weeks before I had had a new shock absorber fitted to the front under warrenty. Anybody have any views?
Currently Lexus tell me nothing is wrong but I should moniter the front tyres for wear, but they maintain nothing was done to the stearing when the shock and wheels were changed, They say I might have hit the front (NO WAY) and or the steering wheel was like that!! At this rate I will have an additional £300 tyre bill every 10 months!!

I'd suggest taking to car to a quality tyre shop and get them to check our the tracking

Exactly what I thought, but the guys at Guildford used an Independent for the tyres, and I think I remember they came recommended by other Club Member. I guess the fact that the steering wheel was moved suggests they did something. I just dont understand what was going on as I didnt expect a dodgy shock absorber to affect the tyres.

I had problems with the wheel alignment. Having a new set of tyres (of a different make) on the front seemed like it might have been some of the cause - the steering wheel went off centre and swapping them to the back made it go off-centre the other way....
http://www.teamlexus.co.uk/forums/viewthread.php?tid=1517

In the end I got a new set of tyres so that they all matched and lexus sorted out the wheel alignment to perfection. (I went to a tyre company earlier but they used different settings and my dealer said these were not the correct spec so be wary of going elsewhere too!) I suspected a faulty tyre or a slightly off-perfect, but still in spec range, wheel alignment caused my problem. Make sure the dealer gets the wheel alignment dead centre of the spec range!

hi blue thunder,

I had mine done in Southampton the other week without any problems...

My car was bought at Guildford but I was not impressed with their service at all - if you can, give Southampton a try - they seem much more helpful there.

I've now done 14,500 miles on my original set of Dunlop SP9000s and there is still 4/5mm worth of tread lurking on them.

Sorry I can't be more help - I'm more of a driver than a mechanic

rob

I've done nearly 23000 miles on my original set of Dunlop SP 9000's - still a little life in them yet but was expecting 20,000 at max. I've heard that the Bridgestones don't last as long.

I'm going to get Dunlop next time as well (ATS are doing 25% off if you buy 4 !)

(Incidently, just got my alloys replaced this morning - very nice indeed - wouldn't of found out about this if it hadn't been for this group - and yes I have submitted my app. form for Gold AND sent off my subscription !:smilegrin:)

Thanks for the thoughts. They did put the old rears on the front and fitted the new tyres to the rear (Michelin Pilots). I wonder from what you have said if that was the cause. Certainly in the last 1500 miles there has been little wear on the fronts so I will just have to watch. At the moment I am envious of all you guys getting 20000+ miles
Interesting to see another owner "worried" about the service at Guildford. They rate C- at the moment, I am sure they can do better. I have a choice of Reading or Southampton for the next service and have heard good things about both.

Join "Gold" and find out to save money!!!!!

Can I save money on a new set of tyres now I am a Gold member? :bounce:

Yes you can mate... :tumble: I have u2u'd you with the link...

Talking about tyres, mine lasted 22,000 miles before the backones went. I had Michelin pro-sports but I have changed them for the Dunlops as they are harder compound. The fronts still have some tread left... :yes:

I managed to get 30,000 miles/1.5 years out of my original front set (replaced this week by my Guildford dealer), most of the tread was still 4mm and legal apart from the inside of both tyres was below legal limit .., almost as if the tracking was out.

Will be watching for that on my new set.

PS
Guildford dealer replaced these Dunlop9000 tyres at £130 each ... that's not a bad price right ?

Funny you should be chatting about this 'cos I was thinking about asking before I went on holiday. (2 weeks driving an automatic Ford Focus on the wrong side of the road. Yuck.)
Yeah I have exactly this problem. The car (second hand IS200 sport) had scrubbed the insides of the front tires away. Just as if the tracking was out. I asked the dealer to look at it on its service and was told that it was fine and IS200s were heavy on the front tyres. No idea how many miles the tyres had done. I wouldn't mind too much but they were so noisy. Druming noises on the motorway. They are on the back now and it's much better.
Has anybody had a set of front's wear out properly? Completely flat across the tread?

I'd guess it'd make sense to assume that changing dampers would alter the angle at which the tyre stands??? - if the car is lower, you'd expect it to pull in the top of the wheels by a tiny amount??

My original Bridgestone RE040 tyres lasted only 8000 miles on the front!!! Each one had been ripped out on the inside. The tracking was tested by three independent tyre company's and all was correct. I took up the problem with Lexus dealer. They claimed it was my driving style as it was not a problem with anyone else!! hard driving should only scrub the outside of fronts!!!

Perhaps we all have the same driving style...:sniff: I drive like a nu... progressively.

This seems to be a standard Lexus paragraph!! I too was told it was because of the way I drove it but I have been very gentle so far with the car ( sad I know!!) I was told it was something to do with my car having toes on the front wheels (should I buy it socks for the winter?)!! It has been set up in such a way as to [I quote]"promote the feel and handling characteristics of the car". I was told that if the settings were changed to a more conservertive set up, I wouldnt enjoy driving it. It does seem the Bridgestones are soft, and it is interesting that the majority of your postings suggest alternative replacement tyres rather that the original Bridgestones.
This is clearly the price we pay to be different, its a burden but we were destined to carry it otherwise we would all have Beemers (Am I allowed to say that here!! I will go and wash my mouth out immediatly)

When I popped into Hadleigh Lexus the other day I asked how long I could expect the tires to last - they said about 15-20K, and that the front would wear the insides hardest - it's a feature of the suspension geometry - presumably there's a degree or two of toe out to support the power steering, enough to cause the uneven pattern:wow:

Thanks for the welcome. It's good to join you all.
I think I've seen and been told enough to believe that odd tyre wear on the front is a "feature". Sad though. The hard question is how big a feature is it? People are quoting anything between 8 and 30K miles. Problem is that tyre life depends partly on how hard the compound is.
I don't believe that stuff about driving style. My tyres are feathered not chewed to bits by hard cornering. If I remember rightly feathering indicates too much toe adjustment and I think you can tell if it's toe in or out depending on if it's the inside or the outside of the tyre that cops it. Does that ring a bell with anybody? I'm willing to believe that it's rubbish so don't take me too seriously.
Since the car is a push along (RWD) I think that there should be a shade of toe in but probably not much. Anybody have the figures?
I also remember seeing something in the handbook about odd tyre wear on cars with the fatter tyres. (SE and Sport.) I'll try and look it up. How are people with the skinny tyres doing?
Night night.
PS I'm not so happy about those tyres being on the back now. It let go in the wet again today and I was being perfectly sensible. Don't like getting bitten like that. (The missus wasn't too impressed either.) Avon ZZ1s. Are they a bit hard?

Avon zz1's are VERY hard compound... i used to have 17's on my pug with avons and falkens - both hard compound. Dunlops are medium as are the michelins and then you have soft like yokos etc.... I agree with compounds making a difference to wear, i have certainly noticed it - handling is of course impacted too. :yes:

Like Blue Thunder, I had my alloys replaced and found within 6K miles that front inside tread had completely disappeared - I was running Bridgestone RE040's at the time.

I am sure in my case, that the "new alloys" have been made heavier than the old ones as it immediately affected the steering. Since noticing this and Lexus suggesting to try tracking - I have replaced tyres, had wheel balancing / 4 wheel tracking done. The Toyo Proxes at 35psi seem to be lasting tho'

james

all i will suggest is get your tracking looked at,i have to get mine done at a maximum of every 6 months......at the last time my rear toe and castor was found to be way out causing the end to fel light through corners(the rear was steering aswell) and both fron toe was out considerably..................

now on my car i notice it really easy cos of the wheel sizes and the fact im always looking for tyre wear........225/40/18 front 255/35/18 rear.........

mat

Hello SuperchargedIS200.
Are you saying that your settings are shifting all the time? If so that's a bit of a shame. What chance do we have of keeping the wheels all pointing in the same direction?

no im not saying there shifting all the time.....well not on standered rims,mine do tend to wander slowly over time....however ive rectified this with the chassis braces that are now fitted

Hey James,
Here's a strange thing: I just got back from driving in France ALSO for 2 weeks in a Ford Focus! - Glad to be back and driving my IS200

Anyway, yeah, my Dunlop9000's did 30K on my IS200 which I was impressed with.
But 25K of that is possibly just Motorway driving since I do 50 miles per day on the M25.
I do very little A-Roads and very small amounts of fast cornering.

But it does go to show what these tyres can do with motorway mileage.

I'm going to keep an eye on my fronts for a while and see how they last. If they start looking chewed up I'll get it laser tweeked like Supercharged was suggesting. I'm not sure what the last owners driving pattern was. No idea what the car was used for. I do very few miles (I take the train to London) so it'll be ages before I find out.
Not wanting to talk Fords but how did you like the Focus? After all the good things I'd heard in the press I was quite disappointed with it. *** it was slow! And the back suspension squeeked too. (Seem to remember my dads Escort was like that.....) Happy to be in my car again!

I have the same problem with my car the front tyres are wearing out on the outside edge at an alarming rate. I also had my tracking checked at Guilford and they said that there is nothing wrong.

Hello Grim, In answer to your question I do drive the car hard. and yes wear is on both sides. However it is worse on the off side of the car:(

TIP

If you are fortunate (as i was) to purchase a brand new car, take the car to a reputable 4 wheel laser alinement centre once the car has about 4000 miles off the tyres and a nice even tread pattern, they will issue you with a very detailed report, so... in the future if ever you have shocks replaced or whatever, and you start to get poor tread wear, you can get the car 'set-up' to your original report as when it was okay.

Elite in Dagenham are brilliant at it :tumble:

Just an idea i thought i would share

This all seems quite familiar - my SE came with SP9000's - and I got 20k out of the rears. The fronts are at 4mm just now, but are starting to show signs of feathering - esp on the outsides ( but then again, I do like to drive it hard on A-roads )

On a slightly seperate thread, we have a lot of 200S models in our car fleet, and there were cases of people only getting 6-8k from their Bridgestone rears .... it was happening so often that our HSE manager put out a safety alert to all Lexus drivers to regularly check their tyres for wear!!

Anyone got any thoughts on SP9000 vs Pilots? I quite fancy a shot of the Michelin next time :?:

My IS200 S came with Yokohamas - I don't know how long they last - I keep on getting punctures...

I bought my is200 from the Manchester Dealers 2 weeks ago. I didn't do the full detailed check of everything as it has a 12 month warranty so I figured if anything was wrong I could take back...probably not the best approach.

When I was parked on full lock the other day I noticed both inside front tyres were severly worn, nearly bald. It went back to the garage and they recommended a 'something' check ( I can't remeber what they called it). So I've got to take it back this week. They didn't mention anything about replacing the tyres (although they might not yet be illegal as it passed an MOT before I received it) but I will try for new ones when it goes back.

I would think they were talking about a tracking check??

I've done 22K on my original RE040's and just swapped them front to back to even up the wear a bit - the fronts had about 5mm left but the inside shoulders are well scrubbed.

Before I got the car, a friendly Kwik Fit manager said they get A LOT of IS200s with this problem/feature.

is200uk - how do you rate the Proxes? I was thinking of these next. I like your avatar BTW - I've never used my cup-holders