Wim Questions.

[k33rjd]

where else should you take a lexus to but a lexus garage??? .

Where else would you take your Lexus for a geometry setup but to a company who specialises in setting geometry on cars and specifically did a lot of research on IS200 geometry ?

with this i agree

[DJ Wozza]

any full wheel alignment machine will identify that a part is worn/bent

I understand what you are saying, however very few machines will actually identify which part(s) are bent

(as sometimes not just one part is affected). The machine used by WIM will show you the part at fault

(or parts) highlighted in a photograph, the technology is amazing and is state of the art.

its down to the technician to check before carrying out the wheel alignment.

Your average spotty oik at a fast fit centre couldn't care less TBH, although I would admit a Lexus/Toyota

technician would be more commited to getting things correct.

The fact remains IS200's are still suffering this chronic problem with inner front tyre wear, my own car

bought some 30 months ago (Lexus Approved Used) almost completely destroyed a set of front tyres

within 1200 miles from picking it up. It had nothing to do with driving style.....

Lexus replaced the tyres free of charge & spent 3 hours with the car doing a "full wheel alignment".

Within 6 months or so the wear was back, so despite their (Lexus) best efforts, the car wasn't correct.

After a visit to WIM and a full geometry set up, that problem in my case (and several hundred other cases)

has been irradicated. Proof of the pudding is in the eating nothing snotty about it at all.....

[Mr Mole]

. and im more then aware of how to carry out a wheel alignment on any car thank you.

Yes you say this but have you done any geometry set ups on a Lexus ??

Tony has done hundreds and every owner that has been there is more than happy with the results.

Our view is that only WIM is good enough for our cars, or at least Tony's settings.

Why put your car to get set up at a Lexus garage when they will not do it to Tony's settings ??

Which have BEEN proven to work !!!!!

[k33rjd]

dj wozza - i would have still took it to the lexus dealership in question if you were not happy, its their job to be there for you, although i am glad you are happy with the car and that its sorted. i do understand that there are more technologically advanced geometry machines avialable and that they offer a 'easy to use and pointer system' to identify worn parts. these are great and can help loads. :mat:

again im with WIM and im happy to see they have pleased so many. only thing i will say is just dont think that because you cant get to WIM, your wheel alignment wont be done properly.but if you get it done somewhere (make sure you get a printout of the results) and have excessive tyre wear afterwards then dont be afraid to query it with the garage in question. it could be the person who carried out the alignment whos in the wrong.

[k33rjd]

Yes you say this but have you done any geometry set ups on a Lexus ??

hahahaaha you make me laugh.

[k33rjd]

ive done one or two lets say. :D

[Steviewevie]

So do you work for Lexus, k33rjd ? Genuine question, you seem to be pointing people towards going to Lexus (I'd rather go to a cheaper independent specialist, personally).

[Mr Mole]

ive done one or two lets say. :D

Maybe so but have you done them right

[Mr Mole]

So do you work for Lexus, k33rjd ? Genuine question, you seem to be pointing people towards going to Lexus (I'd rather go to a cheaper independent specialist, personally).

That have been proven to know what they are doing.

[Steviewevie]

So do you work for Lexus, k33rjd ? Genuine question, you seem to be pointing people towards going to Lexus (I'd rather go to a cheaper independent specialist, personally).

That have been proven to know what they are doing.

I was really talking about general work on my car. For something specialised like geometry, I'd rather go to WIM even if they cost *more* than Lexus, since the "know what they are doing" seems to be a rather elusive quality in this area.

[k33rjd]

i may (have) workd for them , i have can confidently say that of the wheel alignments carried out by myself, and my team we rarely had any comebacks of poor wear. those that did were delt with in the proper maner.

either way i do always think that the main dealer should know best (on any brand, apart from renault!!!) but i do also achnowledge that there are companies out there (WIM for instance) that can provide a similar if not better service in their specialised area.

[Yeldarb]

bet Tony wishes he didn't have 40K worth of geo equipment when all he needed was a £200 "laser wheel alignment tool" the fast fitters use. K33rjd, even I understand the differance between a Lexus dealer who must use "Lexus" settings regardless and a true expert like WIM who identified and solved the issue affected by many owners.

Guess who will be double checking the Geo on my car in 2ish weeks............ I'll help you it aint a lexus dealer, they would probably quote for the correct engine to be put back back in. :o

[Mr Mole]

Sorry but you are NOT WIM.

So you will not be good enough for us !!

This might sound a bit harsh, but that is how it is for us.

If we go to WIM we know that the job will be done right the first time.

[Steviewevie]

I'm booked into WIM for Monday morning. Already had the geo setup done, but in a very stupid bit of inattentive driving I whacked a kerb at around 50mph. Maybe it's pyschological but it feels like I have put the geo out by doing that. So should be all sorted by Monday afternoon.

[Tony-Bones]

Hi K33rjd

Maybe you need to see things from my side of the fence and hopefully this might correlate to your experiences with the Lexus IS200/300/sc.

This club contacted wim five or so years ago in an attempt to explain the historic rapid inner front tyre wear.

The reason as you may or may not know is the camber/ castor relationship on the corner. I found the scrub radius migration was incorrect allowing the outer wheel to lean to far negative.

The only way to reduce this migration is to reduce the castor but on the IS200/300/sc this angle is fixed, which in it's self is interesting since there's three global positions for this... Asian, European and GB, although all the control arms are the same?

I wrote a procedure that would "indirectly" adjust the castor position, reducing the migration maintaining a scrub radius within the steer axis, in truth it was an easy fix.

Further research was needed to ensure the suspensions articulation during bump and weight transition was maintained and it was... from this i can only assume there was a major "error" between the IS design and production.

In order to stop owners traveling hundreds of miles to us in desperation to dissolve their complaint i released the data and procedure to this clubs "knowledge base".

Having removed the inner wear the only common patten of wear was under-inflation so i moved the OEM pressure from 33psi to 35psi.

As i am sure you know "within reason" the Geometry calibration positions and tyre pressure's offered by the manufacture are "suggestions" not law, since there are to many variables.

wim was asked to look outside of the box to solve this problem and we did, i'm not interested in belittling Lexus but it is what it is.

[k33rjd]

thumbs up to you for spending the time into finding out a solution to this problem. its good to see someone taking time and doing a proper job.

i agree that there are some design flaws witht the IS's setup for geometry. thats why the new IS has a different design which is more efficent and can be adjusted more accurately.

and i agree that the higher tyre pressure makes a difference.

but can i just point out one thing- youve noted that the vehilces effected are mainly up to 03 plates. this is correct and it even effects 04 plates. after this time there isnt many issues with those produced on or after may 6th 2004. why? because lexus have looked into the fault and have corrected it.

all lexus dealerships were notified of new steering angles for the IS models, they were also notified of a design flaw where the Camber bolt would be effected by weld splatter and can become loose, causing the inner tyre wear. if your aware of this then great ;) carry on pleasing customers, if not please check for it and adjust to suit.

good work WIM

[Yeldarb]

but can i just point out one thing- youve noted that the vehilces effected are mainly up to 03 plates. this is correct and it even effects 04 plates. after this time there isnt many issues with those produced on or after may 6th 2004. why? because lexus have looked into the fault and have corrected it.

good work WIM

Mine is an 05 and used to EAT from tyres. Infact I have the receipts for all the tyre changes over the last 3 years and 90000 miles and there are 15 sets of tyres................... All at roughly 5 to 7K intervals, all at LEXUS dealers as the car was a fleet vehicle for a motor finance company. Maybe the lexus dealer liked the extra income and as the driver was not paying there was no benefit for any of them to investigate further. I have put 2K on my new Contis and there is no adverse wear on them.

Proof is always in the eating.

[k33rjd]

chassis numbers - jtdes192200123793 for the IS200

--jtdbd192200091957 IS300

if your chassis number is before these then you vehicle (even though an 05 plate) was made in/before 2004. if its after these chassis numbers then i would say to talk to your lexus dealership as there obviously something a-miss somewhere. if you were paying for the tyres then i would definately have had them look into it.

[DJ Wozza]

Lexus GB had this problem pointed out to them and they ignored it, and to my knowledge still do.

[Steviewevie]

Wasn't there a LOC member who took it up officially with Lexus GB, writing lots of letters and so forth ? And then he disappeared from the forums, leading other LOC members to assume that perhaps he'd been bought off ?

[kam05]

Wasn't there a LOC member who took it up officially with Lexus GB, writing lots of letters and so forth ? And then he disappeared from the forums, leading other LOC members to assume that perhaps he'd been bought off ?

Yeah, I think his name was im24601. Like you said, he wrote loads of letters to Lexus GB and he also took legal advice as well. He hasn't been on LOC for a while, so everyone has assumed he has been bought off.

Remember him well, he got everyone thinking that he was going to get compensation out of LGB for himself and all IS drivers who suffered inside tyre wear.

[DJ Wozza]

That seemed quite likely Stevie, he completely disappeared, no reply to emails, PM's etc.

[Yeldarb]

previous owner must have been a chav though as the auto changer was filled with dance music so maybe he drove like a prat also!!

[Steviewevie]

I'm booked into WIM for Monday morning. Already had the geo setup done, but in a very stupid bit of inattentive driving I whacked a kerb at around 50mph. Maybe it's pyschological but it feels like I have put the geo out by doing that. So should be all sorted by Monday afternoon.

Had my trip to WIM earlier. Tony had a look and sure enough my geo was slightly out. One thing that I hadn't thought of is that the increased stiffness of my new ARBs seemed to have changed things slightly (particularly at the rear, if I remember correctly).

Tony worked his usual magic and it felt superb again on the drive home ! :D

[Yeldarb]

Magic :P :P :P