cantsleepnk

Hello Everyone

I have a 2004 RX330 AWD with 33k miles that's on it's second set of 18" Michelins.The original tires were replaced last March at around 22k miles due to wear on the outside edges. I put a new set of Michelins and had the car aligned at the Lexus dealer right afterwards. I've been out of town for the last few weeks and the wife calls and tells me that the left front has a line on the outside edge that has more wear than the rest. Has anyone else experienced abnormal tire wear on an AWD or FWD car? The first time it happened I thought maybe the car was out of alignment from the factory but this is getting to be too much. An alignment every 12K miles? What should I do ? What should the specs on the alignment be ?

BTW I check my tire pressure regularly and keep mine at 32 psi cold and I can definitly say it's not a tire pressure issue. Tires have been rotated and balanced every 5k miles.Even the original set.

Thanks in advance for your response.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

There as been a topic on this here in the RX330 forum before where some members have experienced early/abnormal tire wear. I myself; however, have not experienced any such on my wifes 2004 FWD RX330 with the stock 17" Michelin tires. I went up to about 40K miles with those tires before I swapped them for 20" rims and tires. At that time the wear pattern appeared normal and I probably had another 5-10K miles of life in them. We now have about 6K miles on the 20" tires and so far I have not noticed any abnormal wear pattern.

LexNatural

I have an '04 RX330 AWD and my tires are also due for replacement for the same reason you state. I only have 15,000 miles on it.
The dealer has rotated and aligned the tires/wheels three times. He states that the RX is a heavy car and will not get good mileage. My friend has an '04 FWD and she is getting good wear. Maybe it is a problem with the AWD model.

rxdriver

I'm wearing out the original set of 18" Goodyear Eagles pretty quick. They're soft tires, so they're designed for better ride and dry traction rather then mileage. Nonetheless, after only 27K miles they've become pretty bad snow tires.

There is nothing unusual about the wear - no signs of inflation or alignment problems. They're just soft tires.

lexuslover

i dont' think it's AWD. i have had an 04 AWD since March 03 and i am on the original set of 18" oem michelins with about 48k, and tread looks pretty good and even. i don't intend to switch them for a while... i have never done an alignment since i bought it, and the tires are rotated and pressure checked at each 5k service interval. i don't do anything in between services but drive!

maybe we can post pics and compare so we can see where the tread differs...

Lexmex

Would be interesting next time you go in for alignment to see the difference in your camber, caster and convergences.