All four of my tires are wearing on the inside more than the outer edge.
I only have 9000 miles on the car and I believe the dealer rotated the tires at the 5000 mile oil change and inspection.

Is this normal?

It is an AWD 2004 RX330.

 

No its not. Your tires should wear evenly.

Check your tire pressure when your tires are cold (hasn't been driven for a while).

If its not your tire pressure its most likely your alignment.

 

Go to your Lexus service department and have them check the alignment. Alignment is usually warrantied up to 20k from the factory. Check with your advisor for the details.

 

It would be a pleasent surprize if the dealer covers the alignment

It seems the alignment (toe-in, caster and camber) any combination is off. Although RX can have 4 wheel alignment-adjustment, usually the fronts being off cause the wear and during rotation the abnorminally worn tires get moved to the back and the other set is then subjected to the improper wear... resulting in all 4 being worn abnormally.

Over/under inflation will cause center symetric wear ... low pressure will cause both the inner and outer edge to be worn, while over inflation will cause the center to be worn more than the edge.


Caution: There is always an allowed tolerance for the adjustments and quite a few times dealership would say "it is within allowable range and the wear is acceptable". They would/should provide you with the print out.

Salim

 

Visible wear at such low mileage would seem to indicate an alignment problem. If the wear is confined to the inside edge of the tire it would indicate a camber error, if that wear is uneven, creating a series of "cups" on the inside of the tire, it would seem to indicate a toe-out condition. If your dealer says all is within spec, get a second opinion from a reputable tire store, preferably one equipped to do a 4-wheel alignment.

If the second opinion indicates a problem, you may well have TWO issues: a faulty alignment and a faulty dealer. Good luck!

For more information, see: http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

 

It could also be a toe in problem. Too much toe in could wear the inner tire much faster than negative camber. Either way though it is an alignment problem. I find the Michelin tires on the RX330 are very hard and take forever to wear down. I'm not used to tires that last 40K+ miles. At my rate I'll get about 50K miles on my original set. There is no way you should even see any visable wear at 5K miles. I think my car had about 15K miles before I started to see obvious wear. Oh, by the way mine are evenly worn accross.

 

Toe In = / - \ wears the inside of the tires.

Toe Out = \ - / wears the outside of the tires.

Low Air pressure wears both the inside and outside.

To much pressure wears the middle of the tries out.

Just some thoughts.

 

You have toe in/out backwards. If you are looking from overhead on your drawings and up is the front of the car.
If your drawings are from the frame level looking forward then that is camber and your wear indicators would be correct.

 

Take it to your Lexus dealer and have alignment done. Don't let them BS you about tire pressure or whatever.

My RX300 was shipped with whacky alignment. The dealer reluctantly fixed it. So far it still track straight with even tire wear.

 

If I want to purposely run negative camber to have TOE-IN, can I tell my alignment shop to set up my wheels in a negative way so they can actually create as much toe-in as possible?

I want to go through tires every month.

 

Camber and toe are two different things.

I'm sure you can find other ways to smoke the tires. Such as disabling the VSC.

 

explain more please.

when lowering your car, camber is affected and goes into the negatives... creating toe-in

but i want to create more toe-in, and i can get my alignment setup negatively to create more toe in, correct?

 

This website explains toe, camber, and caster with pictures.

http://www.ozebiz.com.au/racetech/theory/align.html

 

can i get my alignment setup negatively to create more toe in/negative camber

to clear my aftermarket wheels, i need to have this setup.. (below)