Tracking

[CHRIS200]

has anyone else come across the problem of mis-alignment of the front two wheels. as my car of which i have had for only 3 months has cut out a pair of front tyres on the inside edge. and the dealer reckons that the is200 is prone to it tracking being knocked out i am having a new set of four tyres fitted monday avon zz3's and on tues lexus dealer is setting up the four wheel tracking for me but for free i will have to pay so has anyone else come across this problem

[Bobski]

Pretty common for the 2 fronts to wear on the inside.

Had 2 fronts put on mine last week, £115 Each. The tracking cost an extra £10 on top. (Car feels much better)

If they are going to charge you for tracking then i wouldnt get it done at the dealer, unless the cost is reasonable.

Any local tyre fitter will be able to adjust it for you.

[franmac]

I have the same problem i.e. wearing inside of two front tyres.

Got 4 wheel laser alignment done and was told "they are perfect, no need to adjust anything."

Guy showed me the readout for Lexus IS200 from the computer and it shows camber = 0.5 degree toe out.

Mine is exactly 0.5 degree toe out. This will naturally wear the tyres on the inside.

Now, I was considering having it set to 0.0000 degrees, regardless of what Lexus say,

but don't want to upset the hanling of the car.

Any opinions greatly appreciated.

Eamonn.

[bex]

Whazup? :yack:

Yes same problem, but due to slight run in with a side gutter during road works. Had the car realligned, but still the two front tyres are getting there - Potenzas are expensive....

[Zee007]

I have found a number of threads that may be useful for you relating to wheel alignment:

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

Thread 4

Thread 5

It's amaziung the vast amounts of information available by using the "search" facility.... ;)

[Loz]

I had the same prob on my GS 300 mk2.

got a set of tyres all round in Feb. Last month I had to replace the fronts as they had worn through the belts on the inside front!!! would never have noticed had I not parked with wheels on full lock and got a shock of my life!

had the lazer 4 wheel alignment done and got a new pair on the front. not impressed though... £20 for alignment at local garage...

Good luck with yours mate. Its the first car I have had that that has for no obvious reason, gone spacko on the tracking...

Loz

[kev dood]

I was told that they camber in slightly so to give better handling and grip round corners. (as wheel will then be more level on the road) Dunno if true or not??

[Monster-Mat]

TRACKING SETTINGS

Camber

-0 degrees 21' +/- 30'

right/left error 30' or less

Caster

5 degrees 46' +/- 30'

right/left error 30' or less

Toe-in Total

0 degrees 06' +/- 12'

rack end lenth difference 1.5mm or less

[RX-Men-8]

Hi,

I bought my IS200 second-hand a month ago, and I knew I had pretty much worn out tires, but I can confirm the extra wear at the inside tread of the front wheels. Inside it's almost gone, while at the middle there's about 3mm remaining. No problems with handling & stability, though. It runs as straight as an arrow.

Does incorrect IS200 alignment account for this uneven wear or is this typical as more people seem to have this problem with their IS? Or is the IS prone to getting knocked out of alignment as is stated above?

Thanks,

[flotsam]

There is no correct camber setting per se. The same car should have different camber settings depending on the use of the car and the surface. IF the alignment is the problem then camber is the most probable cause for inner edge wear.

You can measure the camber settings by putting the car on level ground and placing a joiner's square against the wheel to give you the vertical.

Take the distance from the vertical to the top of the wheel rim, ditto to the bottom of the rim and the distance between the top and bottom. Use the arc tan to find the angle.

Considering the number of reports here, it is more likely over-zealous driving as the IS does handle very nicely. More negative camber can be used for this.

The only car that is particularly prone to the tracking being knocked out is driven by a blind man who keeps on hitting the curb. Don't pay anyone any money who tells you otherwise.

Tracking refers ONLY to toe-in toe-out.

Toe out gives the car stability as the wheels are trying to go in different directions. The tyres scrub as they turn and because they are probably designed to cover the wet as well as dry will wear more on the inside.

Also when turning the wheels do not describe the same arc.

As the IS is a rear wheel drive car the front wheels tend to pull away from each other so there is a countering toe-in rather than a toe-out.

Caster is how far forward/back the front wheels point and again aid in stability; re-centering the steering, but too much and the steering will be heavy.

Finally turning and inclination angle have to be considered.

A full alignment check will cost a lot more than a simple tracking check.

[UKPulse]

Not sure about the over-zealous driving bit... even with my rather gentle driving, my previous 200 Auto scrubbed it's front tyres so that the inner edges were smooth as a billiard ball, while the middle/outer surfaces still had 5mm of tread!

Have done 6K miles since March in the new IS, and it is doing exactly the same :( Have a Nissan 200SX which is driven much more enthusiastically, and it's front tyre wear is perfectly even :duh:

[Monster-Mat]

The problem is now well known and it all appers that the original specifications, and settings were set up around the 4 cylinder engine as fitted to the Altezza.

NOT the 6 cylinder engines of the is200 and 300 which also suffers the same wear problems

the is200 is fitted with the same springs as the altezza the 300 however is fitted with slightly uprated ones.

i get my settings checked every 6 months, and every 6 months the settings are out.

the settings i posted in an earlier post are the factory settings for the is200 from Lexus

[Rob]

had a 4 wheel alignment done today

when i got home i had a good look at the setting they used

FRONT:

castor= LH wheel 7degrees 10` RH wheel 7 degrees

camber= -1 degree

toe= 0 degrees

REAR:

camber: - 1 degree 30`

so was not too impressed that they totally disregarded the info i gave them - after a slightly heated conversation they have agreed they will change them if i want.

Apparently the setting they used give the best wear on the tyres???

[Monster-Mat]

totally out..take it back!!

when my car was lowered on eibachs the tracking was always set to factory settings......

and the tyres wore evenly and that was with much wider tyres which would exagerate bad settings

[Rob]

ok, went back today - it wasnt a pretty sight, straight away the guy started to be difficult, first i dont think the guy could even read as he kept looking at VW, audi, bmw etc then when i pointed out toyota he kept looking at the GS300 specs! and said that they were the same :duh:

the boss got involved and the settings on the front were done, lots of big heated discussions in the meantime though. After i had left i realized that the f***********s had not done the rears either! so i am going again on sat morn with the GF as she can speak Swiss to them and get it all sorted out!

ill also be demanding a refund - all this from a so called well respected national group.