I have 140,000 miles on this car. It runs good but I noticed a couple of things:
In certain conditions, the wheels skid and a yellow light in the right bottom corner comes on. It goes off fast though.
Making a hard turn, there is a sound coming from the front of the car. Is like metal rubbing on metal.
When driving it seems the car is not stable. My mechanic says it doesn't need an alignment.

My wife, who drives the car most of the time is getting worry.
Any ideas?

 

Maybe you are driving too fast and the vsc is engaging and preventing you from spinning out. Try driving more safely.

other than that, more info would be required.. are your tires bald? is your car lowered?

 

If your wheels are skidding, you're either taking off too quickly, your tires are junk, or your tires are low on tread. Never had a problem with that on my Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3+'s except when I let the tread wear down (4/32 or 3/32 iirc). Colder conditions will also affect all-season tires, they'll be more likely to skid when they usually don't at warmer temperatures.

Check your struts for leaks, check CV boots, check sway bar links. Chances are, at 140k, if you've never replaced any suspension components, there's a good possibility of some of them being bad.

 

The tires are Michelin Pilot and still good thread on them. The car is not lowered and I did not change any suspension components on it.

 

Metal to metal under load turns, I would inspect with the wheel off. Maybe a brake pad shim might be rubbing or the dust shield might be touching something as things heat up.

You mention it does not seem stable. Does it seem like it wanders. Does it do it on uneven road condition? Turns? Does the car drive straight when on a flat even highroads? Any excessive abnormal wear on the rear and front tires?

 

 

Metal scraping noise could be the disc brake dust shield.

When you say it feel unstable, do you mean tramlining (i.e., where the car tends to follow ruts in the road)? Do you have the OEM sized wheels and tires?

 

I bought the car used six years ago. I did change the tires since and I think the wheel are OEM. And yes, your description sounds accurate.

 

Hmm...

It could just be due to worn tires. I can't remember when I ran worn tires where the road ruts would tend to be felt more in the wheel. Higher tire pressure might give more road feel as well.

If the tires are near the wear bar line, it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace them. Also, possibility the TPMS sensors too while your there.

 

 

That price seems to be an average price. At least when compared around to a independent shop. It'll be cheaper if you DIY of course.

 

 

This doesn't apply to the IS350/250, but my other cars with dead/ very weak shock absorbers/struts, the tire sometimes feels like it's 'hopping' off the ground under rough roads which leads to stability issues. Wouldn't be a bad time to inspect the shocks to see if they are leaking more so since a lot of the 2IS are getting to that 10 year mark with over 100K miles.

Tire pressure can also affect the feel as well. Higher inflated tires might give you more feedback than say lower inflated tires. I tend to go on the higher side, but follow what the door panel says, which is about 36/38 I believe?

 

 

The longer you leave the problems, the more you'll damage other wheel and suspension components.
You'll mostly sacrifice your safety.