lunatic69

Has anyone been experiencing excessive tire wear on their IS300 ? I am at 30k mi and on my third set of tires... My 03 MSM is at the dealership right now getting evaluated for the fourth time. I hope someone can help me out here.

Lexmexico

Could you tell me what size tires, type, tire rating (the letter).

I have friends with Mercedes suffering similar problems with their tires.

lunatic69

OK, here's my story... factory tires Bridgestone RE040 lasted 14k miles with two rotations before the inner edges were worn to the point the car was unsafe to drive( I understand they are soft compound rubber, and I had no problems replacing them). I took the car to discount tire in Raleigh NC and had a set of yokohama AVS ES 100s put on. Immediately after having the tires installed ( same day) I took my IS300 to the dealership and had the car aligned. I noticed my new tires were wearing faster now after the alignment..@ 4300 miles I rotated the tires and noticed that the inner edges of both front tires showed more wear than the rest of the tire. I don't corner hard or drive aggresively, so my first thought was the alignment must we worse now than originally. I took the car back to the dealership to have the alignment checked. They say that the toe was off which was causing the problem. the car was realigned and I was told it was my fault that the toe was off and we will not replace your tires. I got tired of the road noise the tires were making and replaced them with a set of Falken Ziex 512 high performance all season tires. I figured that with a harder compound tire and correct alignment my troubles would be behind me. 3k miles into having the new tires the drivers side front tire began showing scalloping and inner edge wear, again I go back to the dealership to have the alignment checked and requested that some of the negative camber be taken off the car to prevent me from having to buy tires every 10k. The dealership complied and rotated my tires for me. 2800 miles later 14 Mar 04. my car is at this very moment at the dealership for inner edge wear. I guess they are trying to align it or something. For the record this is the fourth time my car is at the dealership for the same discrepancy. ? I think I might have a lemon : egads:

MGS4

there was a discussion regarding this on the GS forum so this might interests you

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...r&pagenumber=1

I'd also share my view. Basically it's not the problem with the camber or the toe (assuming you have a perfect alignment), it's the design of the caster. You can experiment this on your car. Start the engine and turn your wheel all the way to the right. You'll see that the front driver side wheel is slanted inward. In other words, the inner part of the tire will get the most stress when cornering which results more wear.

My car has a perferct alignment and it still has inner tire wear issue (front tires only). But both tires wear evenly. So, this is what I did to solve (or minimize) the problem. I increased the tire pressure to 40 psi. This lifts up the center of tire a little bit so when you're making a turn there's less stress on the inner part. This has been working for me for 2 years.

One last thing I'd like to add. Rotate the tires more often. Exchange front to rear and vice versa regularly. Swap the tires when there's signs of showing more inner wear. Swap means to dismount and remount the tires so that what used to be the inner part of the tire become the outter part.

Lexmexico

MGS4,

On my 99 RX, I put on 235s Michelin CrossTerrains versus the old 225. In Mexico, the tires come with 5 layers of protection versus 3 in the states, $75 more per tire, but they have still lasted at 30K. I used to notice that wear you are talking about even on my vehicle. Both the Toyota dealer here and the guys I bought the tires from confirmed that it was the caster. I remember them showing me when they turned the wheel. Luckily, the 235s have a maximum psi of 44, so I did experiment with going from the normal 30 up to about 32.5 or so, and that did the trick.

parula

Lex, I am not quite sure what the real issue is here but fyi and fwiw I run mine at ~38psi normally, except lower in snow/ice, and tread wear is great in the states anyway. Same on the '99, would have easily gotten 60-70 out of them, imo.

Lexmexico

I have tried running mine at 35 psi, but really, really bumpy given the speed bumps and other bad roads here. 235s have a lower treadlife than the 225s.

parula

Lex, yes I've been in Mexico birding, loved it, beautiful country at least where we were but the roads were rough! Wouldn't run 38psi there myself.

JPI Racing

Is300 have problem with the camber. what is degree is your camber and toe set at?
JPI

B1TEM3

Did you lowered your car? Change to coilover?, strut shocks?

HD-GS4

Oh, God! Yes, we know already... you're in Mexico. Have you ever once posted, where you haven't mentioned "Mexico"???

If you still insist on mentioning this fact every single post, why don't you do yourself a favor, and add a signature that says "I'm from Mexico"??

HarrierAWD

Given that IS300 is usually driven hard and matched with sports tires, it doesn't surprise me that the tires could wear out fast. Lexus also warns those who get the sports tires for SC430, which may not last over 20k miles.

It appears that you like to corner hard. Take it easy for a while, see if the tire wear situation improves.

HarrierAWD

I am still on stock Goodyear. I found 32 psi front and 30 psi rear gives the best balance in handling and ride comfort. Virtually no tire wear after 32k miles - 9/32" front and 8/32" rear.

VVT-i

BlackSC4, please keep it in the topic and if you don't have any good suggestion, then don't.
I think Lexmexico put ' here in Mexico' on some of his posts, because the difference in geographic between U.S and Mexico. The road conditions, the weathers and the terrians are differences.