Quick Advice Needed

[smw]

Hi everyone I am a Moderator over on TOC but I need some quick advice on my wifes Lexus.

It's 18 months old, 54 plate, manual IS200 SE and has done 19 700 miles.

Both front tyres (Bridgestone) have worn heavily on the inside, rest of tread and rears are fine. Wife drives it very gently daily and I push it a bit at weekends.

It's going in to Lexus Hatfield tomorrow for 20 000 mile service. Are they likely to correct the fault causing the tyre scrub (which I guess is camber adjustment) under warranty or will it be chargeable ? Anyone care to ball park a figure for the work ?

I have sourced new tyres outside of Lexus network but obviously want to get the root cause fixed first.

Cheers for your help

[nicnac]

Hi

because of the slight tow in on the front of the IS200 this is common to this model.

My 2004 Se was wearing the insides evenly at 15000 miles.I put them on the back and vice versa.this way you get better milage on the set of four.

although worn balljoints can causethis ...it happens on the car due to the suspension setup.

[Parthiban]

Its not a warranty issue, so you'll have to pay for the geometry check. Not sure about Hatfield, but Woodford wanted something like £200 just to get the car on the ramp, and extra for adjustments. I'd recommend taking the car to Tony at STS Watford (wheelsinmotion on here) cos you'll save yourself some money and as he knows everything about geometry, it'll be much more likely to get cured :winky:

[Lexus Jim]

DO NOT use a Lexus dealer for the geometry. they will do it wrong or half a job. thats what they did on mine. It was only £90 tho, not £200. see wheelsinmotion web site and use a recomended geo specalist

[nicnac]

Its all very well curing the wear on the inside by adjustment. but not at the expense of the handling.people forget that some cars are set up with a certain amount of toe in and will over a period wear more on the toe side .If he has got over 20000 out of a set of bridgestone potenza 040s i suggest there is nothing abnormal about this wear and he should rotate back to front earlier or now...if its not too late.the potenzas 040 are only good for about 25000 to 30000 anyway.

I can get any car to wear evenly for there full life but at the expense of the manufacturers proper settings

[lexicon]

If it's set up right the handling will be fine, the wear will be fine - this idea that it's "normal" to scrub the shoulders off in a few thousand miles so that it will "handle" is a load of old cobblers.

I had my geo done at Drury Lane and not only does it wear evenly, but it handles better than before too.

[nicnac]

@lexicon

I suggest you read my post carefully before calling what is said aload o cobblers.I dont suppose you have ever done an allignment yourself on anything or looked into the different angles ...tow in etc that each individual model is designed to have.

I have over the years since the seventies.

[smw]

Update:

As predicted not a warranty item. Dealer geometry quoted at £175 plus £302 for 2 new Bridgestone on front. Declined both. Have sourced tyres to be fitted locally on Friday, I will end up with my new Bridgestone spare on the front matched with a new fitted Bridgestone E040 on the same axle then downgrading a bit to 2 new Pirelli P7 on rear with the best of my current part worn 3mm Bridges to become the spare (set up sound OK?).

Then I'm off to STS Watford for the adjustments.

Lex service was OK (got a courtesy RX) and they sort of cleaned my car. Got me stamp in the book and nothing else needed bar the tyres and alignment so overall quite a cheap first year in the Lex. Oh and they changed the gearknob FOC as the old one was scratched and tarnished.

Thanks for the replies here - much appreciated.