DaveAMass

I bought my wife a Lexus GS350 last year. It has run very well. Recently it started to make a shaking/thumping sound on the highway. Also, she gets a clicking sound when making a hard left or hard right turn (a U turn, for example).

I just brought it to the dealer today for the 30,000 mile service. They are telling me her left front tire is worn down unevenly. They suggest replacing at least the front two, if not all four. I think you are supposed to do that for an AWD car, right? Two at a time? They said the tread is low on all the tires. At 33,000 miles? Really? I know I can measure it myself. They said that is the thumping and that the clicking is due to brakes needing to be replaced.

We bought this car at 13,000 miles and my wife mainly drives highway. I'm just not buying it. It's bad enough to pay $600 for 30,000 mile service, but then to tell me $1300 for tires and alignment and $500 for brakes, well, that's just insane. I'm not dropping $2k on repairs. Not happening.

Can I go to a local mechanic? I have a guy that does work on my old car and he specializes in brakes and tires. My only reason for concern is if it impacts the warranty of the vehicle at all. I did try searching as I'm sure it has been covered but I guess I'm just not putting in the right words to search for.

Thanks for any help.

Boomin

No your good, have your mechanic friend verify what they said.

dchar

You can definitely take it to any shop you want for brakes and tire replacements without affecting warranty. Just keep record of it. When I needed new front pads at 30K miles service, I ordered OEM pads and took it to a local shop to install because dealer quoted $500+. Only spent about $80 on parts and $100 for labor. I needed new tires around 25K miles, which is kinda normal for these types of tires (Bridgestone Potenza) if you drive aggressively (switched to Michelins PSS for quiter ride, better handling, longer tread life). Since you didn't buy new, the tires might have been a little worn when you purchased the car too (especially if not certified pre-owned). Alignment might be a good idea, especially if tires were worn unevenly.

HKT

The (service consulter) is getting a commission from what you spent on your service,
You can figured out the rest.

jjscsix

30,000 for tires and brakes is certainly not unreasonable, but on the other hand you should verify if that is really the problem or not. I'm not understanding how brakes cause a thumping sound. But describing a sound is very subjective. There are two components of brakes that go bad. The pads are worn down or the rotors are "warped" (often a misused term btw). If its the rotors you will get a constant vibration only when you apply the brakes, but not when you are not applying brakes. Brake pads are simple to diagnose. Jack the car up, pull the wheel off and look at the pads. Post a picture on the forum if you are not sure.

The tires are also simple. Buy a cheap thread depth gauge at any auto parts store and check the depth on all of the groves. If you are at 1/8" or less they need replacing.

SW17LS

I replaced my tires at 35,000 miles. You can replace two tires on an AWD vehicle, I personally would always replace all 4 unless the original tires are pretty new. I'm at 38,600 miles and I'm on the original tires but I fully expect my mechanic to say it needs brakes at 40k, I can tell by the feel. People are saying "well the guy gets paid a commission blah blah blah" well, he told you that two tires would be okay...which reduces his commission...the service consultants don't diagnose issues, they just relay what the tech tells them needs to be done.

Its 100% possible that worn and cupped tires could create your vibration. Even if the tires aren't worn out, if they are irregularly worn that could be an issue. Have the tires been rotated every 5k miles? Properly inflated? You could try road force balancing them, etc, but the question is do you want to do these things and spend this money to try and make tires that are at the end of their lifespan ride smoothly for 5k more miles or do you just replace them?

You certainly should have work like tires and brakes done somewhere other than the Lexus dealer. You're paying a huge premium there. Doesn't mean the dealer was trying to screw you though...they're just expensive. Tires though, oddly enough they are usually not terrible. Assuming the tires they want to put on are the OEM Michelins, $1,200 is actually a pretty good price for them mounted and balanced. Personally I would find a set of the Toyo Versado Noir I had put on about 5k miles ago to replace the Michelins and they are excellent, or a set of Pirelli Cinturato P7 Plus. My tires were about $700 installed, the Cinturatos would have been about $850.

faifai83

Have you measured the depth of your tires using a tire gauge?

onexcite

Wow $1300 for the tires?? I could buy 2 may be 3 set with that cash installed.

And I'm not paying $500 for the front brakes, even they replaced the rotors.

$600 for 30K service is just a waste of money.

faifai83

What is the size, manufacturer and model of these tires?

onexcite

I got the Michelin Primacy MXM4 235/40/19 from Discount Tire out the door for $624 with $100 rebate. So after rebate $524.

faifai83

Fantastic deal!

onexcite

Well folk, if you do your homework, you'll save lot of money on car and maintenance.

jkeller

True. But I'm at the point in my life where A. I have the money to let the dealer do all the maintenance and B. After doing all my own car maintenance up till recently, I no longer want to do it. There are some good things about getting older.

HKT

Older or too old?

onexcite

Good point!

Most GS owners are car enthusiast and enjoy working on their car as well not because they couldn't afford to pay for service.