Just took my car in for some odd noises at high speed and also when braking. They said it was the tires and that the stock tires dont last long.

I remember the sticker on the window of the car when I bought it stating that they dont last much longer than 15k. Turns out its true.

The lady on the phone kept blaming the way the suspension is on the IS and ES.

So, is it the stock performance tires that dont last long? Or, is the suspension such that no matter what tire I put on there they will not last long?

 

It’s because of the tires, not because of the suspension.
The OEM tires are noisy and they tend to wear out very fast. I replaced my Michelin all season tires with the Michelin Primacy 4+ as soon as I got the car.

 

I agree with ESH, replace with Michelin and enjoy again

 

I've used Michelin Defenders for the last 40k miles and they still have 7/32nd's on them. So it doesn't appear to be an intrinsic problem with the car.

 

My car's tires are round and I think they are Michelin. I keep meaning to check.

But they are very quiet and smooth so far, only 1100 miles. No complaints.

 

Yeah, the round ones are the best. I was going to go with square but decided against it.

 

Thanks for the comments. I am relieved to know that I can get a new set of tires that will last longer. I drive a Sh#$ ton.

After talking with the dealership more, they said the ES tends to have some camber that causes this wear on the inner tire. I didnt buy it totaly but she said she would align it. I asked then if the excessive tire wear is due to factory camber issues, would Lexus not cover new tires. She said she would have to get back to me.

Ill check back when I get more info.

 

With that caliber of service "help/advice" if there's another Lexus dealership/service department within convenience distance in the future I would avoid the Lexus service department that you're presently dealing with.

And, if there isn't a convenient alternative Lexus dealership/service department, avoid if possible dealing with the specific service advisor(s) that are feeding you that line of BS. (Even in reasonably good Lexus service departments there can be a range of service advisors - from god awful BS artists upselling unneeded work and with no expertise at all to the truly excellent ones who avoid the BSing and upselling, are honest enough to tell you they don't know when they don't know, and keep you informed of the status and progress in addressing your service item/issue.)

 

LOL, yea it’s because of the suspension. Why, because it moves up and down? The BS peddlers at car dealerships are still at it, I see, even after all of these years. Oh, well, I guess it’s because it works.

Did you save that window sticker that said the tires maxed out at 15K? I’ve never heard of such a thing. From previous threads it does appear that the factory uses a variety of tires apparently Bridgestone or Michelin, in different variants. My ’22 ES350 UL came with Michelins for hybrids. But they are doing well (I don’t drive it that much) but Michelins seem the way to go, especially for quietness. Of course, they need to be rotated and properly inflated. Tires are covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, and looking at the Michelin site it seems that the average is around 35K (some a lot higher depending on the version). So, somebody is selling you a bill of goods, IMO.

 

IS has that issue - never heard of it on the ES.

 

Update: Went and picked up the car. They wanted to charge me $190 for the alignment. I, politely, argued that with the service guy. He was cool and got it covered. He did mention the mfg only warranties the alignment for the first 10k. They wont cover the tires. He confided in me that they are not the best tires. He also confided in me that any tire they recommend is not the best. Best to get tires elsewhere. I appreciated the honesty.

side note: I can confirm the sticker on the window when I bought it stating that the tires may only last for 15k. I dont remember the exact verbiage. But, my wife pointed it out.

Back to the matter at hand. The alignment had a lot of adjustments to be made. Front right, front left, back rear, and something related to steering were out of spec. I gotta say, I didnt notice... the car drove great. Anyhow, they got everything in spec except the camber on the rear right. Its at a -2.1 I think the spec was something like .7 to 1.7 or 1.9. They said the rear camber cannot be adjusted on the IS and the ES.

is a -2.1 going to cause much wear beyond normal?

 

Conan's note about not being able to recall the exact wording on the window sticker is a reminder to us all to keep the window sticker in your file folder. I think today all dealers routinely take it off and give it to the purchaser; maybe some only do that on request, but, if nothing else, it comes in very handy when selling the car.

 

Here is an example sticker. I could not find anything about tires lasting only 15k.

 

Have the adjustments made a difference in the way the car handles, shakes or shimmies?

Rereading the OP I see the only complaint is some noises? Have those changed since the alignment?

 

It helped a little. They said its all related to the excessive tire wear. The alignment was done simply as a troubleshooting step to determine why the tires have excessive wear. Alignment issues confirmed... They said the excessive noise wont go away till I replace them.

As for the sticker - it was not on "The Sticker".. it was a small clear rectangle sticker on the two rear windows. If you go into a lexus dealer to the showroom models, you will see some of them have that sticker. I was just there and verified others had it.