angus

iTrader: (4)

OK guys, it appears that there is a great possibility that the lower caster arm bushings are the culprit.

This bushing is a very well known point of failure in the 2GS and was even upgraded by Lexus twice in that generation, each time they made the bushing more stout.

I have found that ROCA makes a lower caster arm bushing for the 2006 - up GS and can only think that the problem must be this bushing - so under braking the front wheels will toe out badly and cause the inside edge to wear badly - I mean why the heck else would an aftermarket company sell these?

http://www.roca-usa.com/product.php?...roducts_id=113
Really it seems as if it can be the only answer as everything else is good (shocks, balljoints etc.)

For now I have added toe in to my alignment, the tires are actually very slightly scrubbing on the outside - but the wear inside has been slowed down.

I am going to order those ROCA bushings because they are cheap and look like an easy job - I will report back.

angus

iTrader: (4)

I want to point out that the alignment has to be very significantly out of spec to see wear this aggressive -

I've been aligning cars since 1992 and I have used many different racks, also used string, chalk, measuring tapes and just by "eye" and I have not encountered a problem like this without a solution - that means something is definitely wrong and I think it must be these bushings.

I set up cars sometimes just by eyeing the toe and then correcting it a little so the car will track straight and have had excellent results (no, I'm not suggesting everyone try this, unless you have 20+ years experience doing it) but what I mean is that cars have to be out of spec big time to have the tire wear like we are seeing here - the fact that the suspension "looks" in-spec when sitting still (i.e. on an alignment rack) tells me that something is moving a great deal when the car is actually in operation.

angus

iTrader: (4)

We really should have a count of how many people have the tire wear issue, there are 2 06 GS430's in my house that have the issue and I hope it's resolved with the caster arm bushings.

rustyd

I have 06 GS 300 with 59K on it and its wearing the inside of the front tires. Didn't show up when they did the last oil change 6K miles ago.

PhantomV

well, so far for me the FIGS front LCA's have really eliminated my slight pulling to the left and so far my front tires aren't seeing significant wear as before without them. i only have had the LCA's in since about summer but so far i would say a must needed buy for those with over 50k on there chassis.

dadoody

iTrader: (1)

Very normal. No way to fix it, but I can get 35 to 40k miles off a set, so I haven't cared that much; however, the road noise of them near the end of their life span is very loud and annoying.

angus

iTrader: (4)

As an update, I installed new caster arm bushings last year and the problem is gone - my new tires (less than 5K) were worn to about 2/32" at the very inside edge when I changed the bushings and have not worn any more since.

Also, the shudder when reversing is almost completely gone - I don't think I mentioned this but it was surely due to the bushings.

DON'T LET anyone tell you it is normal - tires wearing like that is unacceptable on any car.

designo

iTrader: (6)

This should not be happening if you are all running on OEM suspensions.

angus

iTrader: (4)

Not even on a properly lowered car.