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Execessive Tyre Ware


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I have noticed that the front tyres have excessive ware on the inner black of rubber.

Noticed from other topics that this is a problem to some and not to others. If it is then read on.

Went to Kwick Fit first to see if they offer laser alignment. They do and charge £30.00. But when mentioned its for an IS200 they said its a known problem and that they could not change the camber settings, its a dealer thing.

Went to the dealer (Lexus Stockport) talked to Lee the service manager and he said that they know of the problem of sorts. I explained that I don't mind paying for new rubber on each corner but I do mind when only the inner walls are worn.

So has agreed to book the car in for a geometry test???? and he will also talk to Lexus CC to see what they say. He also mentioned that if the car had done 12k then he may have been able to do something, but he feels that there is little hope when it's done 14K. (new in Dec 03)

Made sure that they were not going to change me for the test.

Funny how they only tell you this when you have done above their hidden knowledge.

Anyway, its booked in for the 1st Sep, will let you know what happens. I'm sure that there are others in the same boat. Not happy with having to pay out for new tyres when there is still 70% life in the rest of the tread.

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Bollocks! If they do it right, you've got no excessive inner tyre wear (unless you knock it out of alignment, but I'm assuming you're careful with your lovely IS :) ).

FYI, if they are using Hunter equipment, you'd better take the specs from the knowledgebase with you as their camber data for the IS are wrong (at least they were a year ago.

Success!

RX-Men-8

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Yep! I got the excessive wear on the front's inside at @14k.

Took the car to Lexus Nottingham, who said that if there was a fault with the car it would be sorted free of charge. Low and behold the tracking was out, they stung me big style for the job. £140 :ohmy: as I recall, got a bit of discount for LOC membership when I got up off the floor. Strangely they never had a print out of the initial geometry check. They did a crap job aswell, and I had to take it back another day so they could do it properly :angry: .

I think the geometry is set up wrong during manufacture or something. I told Lexus that too. Part of the reason I got all that free work done.

It is a big problem and Lexus UK should face up to it.

I shall now climb down off my soap box, and shut up!!

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never had this problem myself and covered nearly 20k on my last set of khumo tyres. a mate of mine with a golf had terrible probs with this not so long ago, front tyres completely bald on the inside after just 2-3k miles, had several laser alignments at vw and race specialists, camber settings changed and nothing made a difference. then his sub chassis was adjusted at a vw dealer and hey presto no more excessive tyre wear, not sure if this is applicable to the IS or not :unsure:

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With my old IS at its last service before I changed it it need 2 new front tyres because of excessive wear on the inside. It also ended up getting new ball joints and callipers. After a couple of weeks it started pulling to the right and I had geometry test done at Lexus Stockport.

That fixed the problem and was right as rain. Only thing was it was over £100!! :o

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I had a set of 4 SP9000s fitted 4K ago, and noticed last week that the outside edges were worn excessively in a 'sawtooth' pattern indicating incorrect toe in. When I first purchased the car at Easter, the tyres fitted at the time were badly worn on the insides so I got Lexus Plymouth to do a 4 wheel align, and they gave me the print out to shown the new settings. Last week, after noticing the wear on the new set I took the IS to ATS in Ivybridge and they said the tracking was miles out (+3 and -4 or some thing) so the started adjusting things, and relieved me of 30 quid for their 'efforts'. The next day when driving on a long straight road I noticed the steering wheel was about 30 degrees off centre when going in a straight line, so I took it to Guppa P which are a good tyre specialist in Plymouth. They then showed me their results, with the front toe settings at -4 for the left and + 2.5 for the right. The backs were also out at 1.9 for the left and 0.9 for the right (ATS hadn't altered these). The drive feels better now Guppa P have had a go, and their machine looks far more sophisticated than the one at ATS, but I'm not sure who to trust. Lexus adjust it and the opposite side of the tyre starts to wear, ATS have a go and totally f :tsktsk: k it up, and the specialists at Guppa P look like they have done a good job but I can only really tell if my expensive rubber starts to shred again in another couple of thousand miles (or not). Hoping to get a IS300 Nav but if the tyres need changing this often I'll never have the dosh!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Might see you there ASH. Am taking my IS200 LE (12.7k miles new in Jan 04) to Lee at Lexus Stockport. Lee was very helpful and fitted my IS in immediately.

Very glad I have seen this thread. I have discovered that there is excessive wear on the inside of the front tyres. Have done all the driving myself and have never banged or potholed the wheels.

I hope that it will be corrected as I don't mind buying tyres when they should be replaced...............but not early.

Are the factory settings not checked prior to delivery?

Other than this the car is brilliant.

Have printed the settings from the KBase to compare.

Captain Ted Striker

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Result :D , Car went in yesterday. Lee looked after me and the car. Lee then called me about 2.30ish and said that it had been sorted. Picked it up at 4pm.

Went through the readings and explained what the setting should have been and what they were before the reset.

Its all sorted now. Job well done and a big thanks to Lee for being so helpful and being one step ahead. (asked about the alloys being replaced, he mentioned that they had been ordered so when the car goes in for the 20K service, the alloys are going to be replaced.

Not ever experienced such a helpful dealership before. Big thanks to Lexus Stockport for a top job. Others could learn from Lexus – its how it should be.

(No they didn’t pay me to say that) ;)

:D :D :D :D

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OK, so having read all of the above I am no further forward

Just bought two new tyres fo0r the front, cause the inside endge of both were bald.

Got the tracking checked and told it was only out a degree or so, whatever that means.

Can anyone provide a solution to this - what do I need to get done

Ian at Lexus Edinburgh, can you help??

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This has always been a hotly debated subject.

As dealers, the best we can do is set the car up the way is supposed to be done. We use a special ramp and lasers to do this. Anything other than right equipment and information may end with entirely the wrong results.

This set up ensures the car will handle and perform the way the engineers designed it to.

Just call John if you want to book it in.

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I find it strange that some IS owners have no problems and others do. The problem being the same (inner tread ware). When I got my results the settings were completely out. It’s all been reset to the manufactures settings now. Only have a few 1000 miles left of the front tyres before having to replace them due to the inner tread ware. From what I understand and correct me if I'm wrong, but the camber and toe needs to be set correctly as it’s this that will cause the ware more then anything else.

Mind you, I can't complain about it that much. Knowing I have a Lexus (one of the best car's i think) my mate has a VW, he's had the front suspension and turbo replaced all under 10k miles. Slowly converting him.

:rolleyes:

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OK, so having read all of the above I am no further forward

Just bought two new tyres fo0r the front, cause the inside endge of both were bald.

Got the tracking checked and told it was only out a degree or so, whatever that means.

Can anyone provide a solution to this - what do I need to get done

Ian at Lexus Edinburgh, can you help??

well where to start? wheel alignment is the last thing ever to be tested, DONT be mislead, go to the site wheel-inmotion.co.uk if that does not cover your problem email me as i built it?

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I would ask all for your views.

I have my 40K service on Monday 13th at Lexus Hull and had the problem with excessive wear on the front alloys between tyre changes at 10K and 33K. Yes, got 23K on Michelin Sports.

Had an issue with pulling and on that change at 33K found the tracking out by 4 points'??

The tracking was adjusted but on further examination, the alloys had to be rebalanced. This was reason given for pulling and not tracking!

IS200 Sport still pulls to kerb but changed alloys and tyres at 39K last week and problem seems to have gone ???? Rears onto front and vice versa.

I am requesting at the 40K service for Lexus to straighten the steering wheel which is off centre with correct centre pointing to 1 o'clock.

Reading your notes , it seems I possibly have a further problem but will request a camber check/alignment check although I had been assured by previous tracking company that the problem had been sorted. (This was done at 33,143 on 16th July 2004).

Read notes on all pages here - any pointers :huh:

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OMG!!!!

Having read this I just check my car - the inside of the front offside is completely bald!!!

The car has only done 7000 miles......all the other tyres are a-okay.

Do you think I have a chance for claiming consequental damage from the dealer / warranty?

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a very important point for people to consider - when u are getting the alignment etc done, please keep in mind that this should be done on EVEN worn tyres, doing adjustments on unevenly worn or "cone" shaped tyres is a waste of time.

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Cheers Colin,

Agree with what you said. However, the car went back in the new wheels (all 5) to be fitted in April and I asked them to check the tracking / suspension as I thought there might be a slight pull. They said no problems.

So, they supplied a car 10 months ago, which they then checked 5 months later, and in the space of 7000 miles (and been 'checked' twice) it has stripped the inside tread block off the front off-side tyre...... hmmmm, I will not be a very happy bunny if I have to fork out 140 notes for a new RE040.

Iain

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a very important point for people to consider - when u are getting the alignment etc done, please keep in mind that this should be done on EVEN worn tyres, doing adjustments on unevenly worn or "cone" shaped tyres is a waste of time.

As an instructor in geometry this point did come up so I tested it, there was no difference in the readings, so my theory stands, the angle will exist regardless of the tyre wear, true there will be extra strain on the suspension but this dynamic, as is the conicle effect of camber?

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