Dropped my car off for my 40k mile service, 2 days before hitting the road for a 4th of July getaway. Luckily for me, I didn't postpone the appointment until after the trip (like I wanted to). While waiting for my car, the service adviser came over to me saying the tech wanted to show me something...this, I've learned is usually not good. Turns out the drivers side rear tire had a slight issue (see picture attached), while the passenger rear had "abnormal inner edge wear". Being 2 days before the holiday, the service manager couldn't afford to let me have a loaner for several days, while I was away on vacation. With the car unsafe to drive, I was essentially forced to get 2 new tires through the dealership. The timing of this couldn't have been worse because if I had a few days, I would have purchased a set of 4 of a different brand. I've been very unhappy with these tires (Bridgestone Turanza) since I purchased my car back at the end of October '17. The tires were new at the time and to date, I have put on almost exactly 20k miles. My commute to work is a 110 mile round trip with 98% of that being mostly straight highway (I-84 for anyone in NY or CT). Anyway, sorry, just felt like venting.

 

Yikes! Definitely a close call on the tires, but at least you were kept safe over the holiday travels. I'm surprised the dealer didn't offer you the Michelin MXM4's as an option? Maybe you can take the car back and get credit for the tires to go towards these instead?

I agree, The Bridgestone's suck - my 2013 came with those tires and I only kept them for ~6k miles before replacing with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3's. I had a 145 mile daily commute and Bridgestone tires are not commute-worthy, in my opinion.

 

Mine came with the MXM4's but I'm not a big fan of them. I bought a set of Pilot Sport A/S 3+ from @TonyIS on these forums about a month and a half ago. Have yet to install them yet, mine still have a lot of tread on them. They refuse to degrade lol.

 

Take them to Discount and get credit on them toward a new set. I've been pretty happy with Micheline Pilot Sports and Conti Extreme Contact DWS series tires. Have had two sets of each so far and lean a bit more toward the Contis or quietness. Both are super nice tires. Don't know if the dealer has a 30 day satisfaction guarantee with their tires, but well worth asking.

Never met a set of Bridgstones that hasn't caused me issues. Everyone I know has had issues with them and Firestones.

 

To me, that looks like separation due to carcass failure. I'd call that a defective tire. I see some inside wear but nothing to account for that much damage with so much apparent tread still on the rest of the tire.

 

 

Bridgestone is probably the second best quality tire after Michelin. I have 35K miles on my 2015 GS F-sport Potenza's & I like them enough to possibly replace soon with Bridgestone over the usual Michelin. I have worked at 3 different Tire stores that sold both.

As for the actual cause, both the IS350 & GS350 I bought new, wore at least 1 tire severely on the inside edge due to misalignment. The 2007 IS had both front tires overly towed out enough to be showing steel belts @ 18k miles.
I believe the Lexus factory alignment during manufacturing needs better quality control.

 

True! No tire should wear out on the edge that quickly. Correcting the root cause is paramount to long life on the next set of tires. I've caught flack for installing rear SPC camber arms to correct my perceived excessive negative camber that causes excessive inner rear tire wear but it is clear the factory did something wrong twice, once by having lousy geometry and second by not having a factory method to correct it.

 

I had a very similar tear with one of the Bridgestone tires on my last GS years ago, however it happened after I slammed into a pothole on the interstate going 70 mph and with a slight curve. I never really gave it much thought (didn't even think about it with me earlier post) until this thread and views about the tread separating. Not that any tire is designed to take a pothole head on at highway speeds, but have to wonder if this tire just isn't well designed for rougher roads in the northern/colder states.

 

Such a difference in service. I also had my vehicle in at the dealership for it's routine maintenance with a loaner right before the holiday and when my service writer called to say it was ready he said, "Come on by today or after the holiday, no big deal!"

 

I agree with this, if it was really a wear issue the tread would be ground off on that side of the tire, and it clearly isn't!

-Mike