So I feel like this is more of vent than anything but anyways, it all started yesterday when I noticed one of my tires had the TPMS light pop up. I went to the gas station on my way home and put some air in it and everything was good. This morning I get in my car and its the same tire but now at 7 psi so I'm like **** I have a leaking tire. I bring it to costco to see if they can do a quick tire repair instead I find out my alignments been screwed up and it has worn down all 4 of my tires on the inside. I saw it for myself and its been worn down on them pretty bad. I'm in the process of getting the Michelin Pilot Sports by tomorrow and will need to get an alignment.

The thing that pisses me off is that my lexus dealership didn't catch this when I brought it in last month for an oil change and they did their so called "inspection." Maybe they don't check for alignment issues but wouldn't they have noticed the uneven wear on my tires??? Also my IS350 is all stock and isn't dropped or anything. Anyone know why my alignment would've been messed up?

 

That's hella strange. Quite honestly though everyone complains about the stock ER33 turanzas and how bad the wear rate is. Some people have gotten as low as 10k miles off of them. I'm not sure what kind of driving these guys do, maybe track every weekend? But my turanzas lasted me 26k miles before I replaced them with DWS for the snowy/winter like conditions over four months ago. My tires look evenly worn and still have about 65-70% tread left. Not sure how some people's tires or alignment is acting up that bad. Did you hit one too many pot holes or dips?

 

Well I bought the car used and it already had 19k miles and now its at 30k but I didn't expect the tires to wear out like the way they did. I brought it in to the dealership today and they told me they don't check for alignment issues unless you request to get an alignment done. Ended up getting the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ tires and an alignment to get everything fixed. Will definitely be more cautious of pot holes but to this day I don't remember ever hitting a pothole serious enough to mess up my alignment.

The service guy said since the IS sits pretty low on stock, it might just naturally happen that the alignment gets messed up from normal driving. Does that sound even plausible? I don't know, I'm not a mechanic and definitely not a car expert...

 

I guess it all depends on the type of roads and their condition but I got my tires aligned at 7k because of a trip to NY and the roads were terrible but that was the only time. Did it as a precaution. So far at 24k miles on stock tires everything has looked fine. I manually check treadware every so often for signs of alignment issues.

 

Many factors are at play, driving style--how often do you push the car, especially into corners? Road types, potholes, etc. all play a factor. I've hit at least two potholes severely, one that bent/curved my rim ever so slightly, hard to tell by my wife until me being very attention to detail pointed it out and then she saw it. But in your particular case, I want to say it was beyond potholes, I want to say more than likely the previous owner lowered the car. Most like springs like rsr downs or even more the super downs will give you bad camber and bad wear like that. You can check by jacking up your car, look around the springs are they dirty in some areas and others not, like someone touched them or wiped off some dirt in some parts of the spring? If you see parts touched than more than likely the previous owner lowered the car then put it back to stock when they sold it. If the spring looks completely dirty and there's no sign of disturbance than its just a really big alignment anomaly.

 

The roads in Washington are pretty crappy so maybe it is plausible that the alignment got screwed up from that. Potholes and uneven roads everywhere with weird bumps here and there.

Although I wasn't expecting to get the Michelin A/S 3+ until my next oil change which would've been at 40k since the stock turanza's still had enough tread life to last till then. But now I have the Michelin A/S 3+ installed on them and just got back from driving on them. Boy, they sure do make a difference while driving. The car just handles great when cornering and it really makes the car feel firmly planted onto the road. They told me my rear wheels alignment was off real bad while the rest were only slightly off so I guess now to be extra cautious driving over any bumps/potholes.

 

Excellent good to hear. Yeah for all seasons your AS3+ and the Conti DWS are the best two tires among the pack.

 

I can attest for being one of those people whose stock Turanzas lasted less than 10k and I also had an alignment issue. I drove my car off the lot with 9 miles on it and at less than 10k miles noticed very uneven tire wear on all four tires, and no I do not take my car to the track nor have potholes where I live.

One day I woke up to 12psi in one of my tires and noticed that the sidewall on that tires was cracked pretty good... Scary... Then the same day noticed that another tire was so worn on the inside, that you could even see the guts of the tire poking through.

Apparently it's common for the 3IS to come from the factory terribly out of alignment...
I have the alignment sheets to prove it, and so does a fellow local 3IS owner. Wtf Lexus?

Good choice on the AS3's, treads should last you more than twice as long as the stock tires.
How do you like how the car looks on XL tires now though? I replaced mine with Pirelli P-Zeros, didn't realize they were XL tires and I hated how beefy they looked on my F-Sport rims so I took them right back off and ordered a set of BFG Comp-2's... Not as quiet but great tread-wear ratings and they fit just like the stock tires (slightly stretched)

 

That is exactly how bad my tires were. Only one was worn down so bad that you could see the guts of the tire.

The new tires are definitely beefy, I noticed as soon as they pulled up my car for pick up. I don't mind. I thought it made her look more aggressive and it doesn't take away from how the rims look.

 

Two months ago I purchased a new 2016 IS-350 with Dunlop 18s on them. The tires have a treadwear of 235 on them, the car also has a tire monitoring system for each tire. The factory says 36 PSI cold. So I watch and added 2 Lbs. for the change in weather here in Florida. My tires, I am concerned that I am going to have to buy tires like everyone else way before normal tires on standard family cars. I hears so much about Alignment and taking your IS to Lexus for a Alignment. I was also told that Lexus Guarantees the Alignment for a year? Do any other IS owners have these tire issues, and if so any recommendations? What would be a good tire replacement? My Dunlops have a tire wear number of 235, I also really watch the cornering by not going real tight into curves. Want to enjoy the ride but dont want to buy tires every 10-15000 miles. Any thoughts on how to get the best out of my tires and should I get a Alignment now when the car is only two months old? I hear the Toe-in is wrong from the factory, could this be right? Thanks....

 

I am running into the same issue with my 2014 IS350. I bought the car new in July 2013. It now has 27k miles. The front stock ER33 turanzas are worn out excessively on the inside. They are at the end of their tread life being around 3/32" but inside edges are almost down to the wires. I am getting Conti DWS 06.

I saw some discussions for the IS2 and ISF regarding original factory toe-in values causing inside edge tire wear. Seems the car comes from factory right at the limit of maximum toe-in while still being within the acceptable range. Recommendations from old discussions was try to get close to zero toe.

 

I just got off of the phone with my Lexus Service Manager and had a talk about the problems I hear of IS owners and their tires wearing out prematurely. I have a appointment next week and Lexus is going to put my IS 350 on their Alignment machine and get it exactly to factory recommendations and provide me with a print out of such. It will be interesting, for last week I spoke with a Lexus Technician and he told me that many Techs get the Alignment to a "acceptable range" of within several thousandths of a inch, and leave it at that. He said the Alignment Tech should then TWEEK It In to EXACT Toe-in. So we shall see. I dont mind buying tires but from some of the stories I am hearing and reading about I figured I would have Lexus check it while its new, then I might have a idea as to tire mileage wear. I drive mostly Floridas Interstate system so no potholes. I will post after the Lexus Alignment is done as to, "IF" the Factory Alignment was not set exact and by how much. I have Dunlop 18s on mine with a tread wear number of 235. At least I will have done all I could on my end and find out just how long they will last after Alignment is done. Anybody suggest any specific tires for longer wear for the IS-350? Thanks.....