Tony-Bones

the P6000 (j) is the one... but make sure you get the (j) model ← whats the J signify ? ← "Jaguar", the particular needs for jaguar required an up rated tyre side wall to counter the associated forces generated by a heavy powerful car, but the P6000 style stayed in keeping with an "executive" tyre, the "j" is ideal for the lex since the extra ply in the tyre side wall denies a lateral force called "slip angle" so cornering and steering responce is increased, more importantly the 6000 does not tram line..

I know what you mean, a universal centre plate with a 18' rubber mat that you cut down to size the wheel, i sold these some years ago and had to discontinue the sales soon after! "why" most modern cars vent the brakes through the front valance and the "wheel", once the mat was fitted the customer suffered brake fade due to the pads over heating, look at the wheel pattern and you can see in most cases the spokes are angled the reason is to capture air and cool the brakes , please be careful... unless things have changed?

Lexus have gone more or less by the book? thats the problem.... that is "all" they can do to be fair, geometry is so flexible it's realm is theoretical, example: if you are on 18" then i assume it's 2254018?, the point of load with the IS set-up is for 205/ 215 mm so any settings suggested by Lexus must be redundent! for sure on paper all reads well at 43' and 38' camber so why the wear? 6/6/0 see my point. theoreticaly i would use the suspension height, tyre size, wheel inset, and driver profile to generate the settings! we are all unique so is the geometry, your car is not by the book only the set-up, i can help but i will need more information..

the P6000 (j) is the one... but make sure you get the (j) model

thanks for that, good thing i'v got a 5ft/ 3ft monitor (lol). seriously though you have had: the geometry test, nsr camber adjustment, osr toe adjustment, and front toe adjustment all at a cost of £50, that sure shows the power of the "gold club card" the "trusted centres" on WIM site at best would charge £97.12 inc vat... and i must add you did get a "full" geometry aswell, my only negative point is the front camber position "lady Lexus" has a killer camber as far as tyre wear is concerned, let me explain: "static" the front camber should be 30'-, the "dynamic" range is based on the suspention arc, so loaded the camber will be at 1 degree- and unloaded at 0 degree both taken from the static 30'-, your camber at 43' and 38' will inevitably be near to the 1 degree mark and conciderd normal, in short the front tyres will wear on the insides ( sorry )

i must know was that £50 for alignment or a full geometry? ← Hmmm, not sure actually, Ive got a print out from the dealer headed ML4600 with a load of settings stating befores and afters. About 20 different settings that mean nothing to me to be honest. ← lets see, does the print show SJI and Castor? with a difference between the "before and after" settings? if YES then £50 for a full geometry with a print out is the "mut's", can you display the print....

well, that's what I thought. I appreciate that the rear camber could be time consuming, but it's only one wheel. They were saying that by adjusting the camber they might affect the alignment, and vice versa, hence I had to pay for the lot. Whilst that *might* be true I'm just not quite convinced - if I'd have asked for alignment only, are they saying that I might leave with worse camber than when I arrived? someone put me straight if I'm wrong, I just don't want to be taken for a mug just because I'm not a mechanic. I'm quite happy to pay for the work if needs be, but the way they dealt with me made me a bit suspicious. ← Hi Lummox, welcome to LOC, being a new member somthing you will read time and time again is "geometry", the IS200 is a lady and has no "tolerance" well very little? please "dont!" just have wheel alignment, get a full geometry with a print out and us all in the forum will team together and help.

Great!! :D Did Paul mention what machine they use by any chance? ← Yes, the portfolio he sent to go on my site reads: Machine:- Balco alignment + full geometry system. the costing now is up front and the knowledge i feel is not in disput. i admire Drurys attitude for customer care since twice Paul has phoned me about Anees geometry, this is most unusual, he could have been subject to being put on the spot, but his questions only related the the geometry settings i suggested for Anees and "why". Drury so far is the only alignment centre i have come across that understands geometry is not by "the book".....

Ok Steve now i understand, "tramlining" is due in most cases to tyre type, geometry cannot tram with a negitive camber, on your geometry report you show a new set of Pirelli tyres, what model are they...

Do you have a copy of the Check sheet you could put up? BTW - Nice to see you back Tony! :D ← Drury at last have set a price structure for LOC that i feel is valide for recommendation £25= test £16.50 per actual adjustment, only thing is that the adjustment fee is not "capped" so you will pay in full for all adjustments. Anees used Drury and asked me to validate their work, which seems spot on but the cost seemingly flexible, "not now", that's good news for us all i think.

To be fair Steve the settings are by the book "neutral", what problems do you have? geometry is unique so we need to know what part of that 100% is missing.

defintely Col - and I am in email contact with Tony Bones about a full geometery check. However Lexus (at least lexus chester and liverpool) do not do full geometery checks - ony relatively simple 4 wheel alignments. Awais - find out from Stockport what it is they are doing for that money mate. if its just a four wheel alignment, you can get it done significantly cheaper than that ← Spoke to Lee @ Stockport, he comfirmed that it is the full geomerty. He mentioned, camber, castor & king pin settings etc are part of the work. Also advised him he might be getting some more inquries on this item. If anyone is thinking of going for a geomerty calibration then mention the forum and he will look after you. ← The more people like Lee the better....

geometricaly the GS is not subject to vibration unless the front tyres have worn uneaven, wheel balance is the criminal in most cases. for the GS the only way to balance the wheel is on a "studed plate" basicaly the wheel needs to be bolted onto the balancer in the same fashion as it is on the car via the stud holes, not the wheel centre!

you say "tracking" was that four wheel or full geometry? if geometry do you have a print out that you can display? ← I am getting the tracking done again next week.. i last had it done 9 months ago. Lost the printout :( ← please mean "geometry" not tracking! if it's tracking then your posts will keep us entertained for a long time....

Hand on heart it's hard to say? MOT in the UK is "pants" 99% opinionated. "worn to excess" "play to excess" and so on.. if i were a tester my oppionion may pass a car but your oppinion may fail it! the only real value of an MOT is the re-sale of the ink from the pen...or maybe a paper hat, one example i had some time ago from the ministry of transport was " if in doubt" let it pass! well i think if in doubt let it fail.. that's the UK for you, anyhoo geometry in the UK is not part of a MOT ( unlike Europe ) so if you feel the tyre wear/ handling is wrong then it's geometry time, thats my oppinion.

Looks real good, the "before" settings would imply front inner tyre wear, and a lose back end on a left turn, "how" does the car feel now...

all cars require the same respect with geometry, some like the IS more than others like the GS, i dont understand how " Rough drive/ pulling to one side/ and good tyre condition" sum up! somthing must be wrong... do you have a geometry report if only to remove geometry from the equation?

you say "tracking" was that four wheel or full geometry? if geometry do you have a print out that you can display?

Just had mine done at Lexus Sheffield. Charged me about £50 with the Gold discount! I also have the GSD3's but not sure whether XL or not. Never knew about this to be honest. Cabt fault the tyres at all though. ← i must know was that £50 for alignment or a full geometry?

Recommendation is the best angle "sorry for the pun" you can get for geometry set-up... but there is an underlying misunderstanding between four wheel alignment and full geometry, you need to be careful which one you have done! i feel the main "deception" is the laser description of measurment.. example: "four wheel laser alignment" reads as if all four wheels will be given total geometrical refference, fact is "four wheel alignment" is two dimentional. a full geometry is globel geometricaly, three dimentional in measurment and conclusive in results, all IS200's must have a "full" geometry, because the car has a very fluid geometry and needs "TLC" and understanding, in addition four wheel alignment will not give you a print out, the IS's geometry is without doubt subject to driver profile so the print can allow for "fine tuning" to suit. best advice is: when booking an alignment "ask" will it measure castor and kpi? only a full geometry can measure these angles.

Hi Abbie, I wouldn't trust National Tyres - they couldn't get one of my wheel nuts off so just balanced the tyre with it on! :tsktsk: Anyway.....thats a different topic. Tracking is very different from Geometry. Tracking is very basic and just makes sure that the steering is not off centre. Geometry is a complete check and adjustment of all the angles on your car and can (as in my case) transform your car if the angles are out. Geometry is ALOT more through and complex. I could try to (poorly explain with my limited knowledge) all the adjustments and things - but its much better to link to the maestros website - Tony: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/anthoney.bones/ He explains everything. Good Luck! ← Thanks for the vote of confidence Anees, i have not had any reply from Drury! maybe we can lay them to rest since once again the "actual" cost per adjustment seems to be a problem as far as display is concerned!!!! shame since things were looking good for them to be a "trusted centre" up North.

no it's not, have another go! i am real keen to see that report....

Agreed - it's nice to feel "special" :D My time was all spent doing work - they started on it straight away and gave me the keys back 3.5 hrs later (just over an hour for the initial check, the rest for adjustments), THEN we spent a few minutes chatting. I have no complaint against DLG, they were helpful and friendly and seemed interested in LOC, and £40/hr labour rate (as it works out) is cheap these days. Maybe they need more familiarity with the car or are just amazingly thorough/careful. ← I dont know what to say! i just feel worried! about that £80 cost = "small adjustment" is of concern.. i can understand a higher cost for the set-up, but the adjustments are simple, so why the £80!! see my point.

How long did this "small adjustment" take ? I know Anees' car took 4 hours all in, but then his is fairly modified. Mine is completely stock, but still took 3 and half hours and, interestingly, my adjustment(s) also cost £80 + VAT. If it's easy to adjust (in minutes) why is it taking so long? (I'm not having a go at anyone - I'm just interested to know) ← The more time spent with a customer in reality is a good thing, assuming it's not £ by the hour! when i do a geometry on an IS the time taken is about two hours, example: Scorpions geometry, IS200 needed a full recovery since he removed the coilovers, the geometry including set-up and print took one hour.. the "chat" we had took another hour, the cost was for the work done, not the time taken. I want "Drury" to be a beacon for you, but please can thay disply actual costs..

Do you have a copy of the Check sheet you could put up? BTW - Nice to see you back Tony! :D ← Thanks? but i never went, just went "quiet" i feel most here in the forum know WIM exists and if you have problems then i am just an e-mail away, i have been watching the forum "remotely" via my hit counter... it's a shame you dont have a hard copy of the geometry? i would love to know what that "small" adjustment at a cost of £80 was! the Lexus is one of the most simple cars to adjust geometrically, each angle can be corrected in minutes, so £80 is one hell of a fee for a "small" adjustment. i am looking forward to the relivent information from Drury that i requested so that i can add them as a "trusted centre" on my site, one of the main areas is "actual" cost per adjustment, i hope this wont act as a barrier..