I have searched the forum and haven't seen this asked before. 2006 RX 330 with about 25,000 miles. Replaced the tires about three months ago at a tire shop and that's when problems started. Two tires on the same side repeatedly went flat and/or soft after driving on the highway. Had the tires checked and tire shop said nothing was wrong. Reinflated and they were fine around town until the next long distance trip. At end of long distance higway trip, again tires were flat and soft on the same side. While out of town, took it to a Toyota dealer who stated nothing was wrong, but possibly saw some corrosion on one of the rims. Ordered a new rim and another new tire, and everything seemed fixed after another long distance trip. Had it to my Lexus dealer after that for normal service and asked them about it. They shrugged, and reset the monitoring sensors. That was a month ago. Just took another long distance trip and the tires were fine the night of arrival but after driving locally the following day the tires were very soft again, same side. This time the sensors (having been just reset last month) indicated the tire pressure was wrong. Toyota dealer out of town will look at them again, but no one seems to be able to explain this odd set of circumstances. Something must be wrong, can anyone think of a possible explanation for this??

More info: tires are all the same brand/model, even after replacing the rim and tire last month.

 

This is perplexing.

Just a note, if you had the tires replaced at the Lexus dealer, then they would have had the turn key responsibilty for the tire pressure issue (hindsight).

There is an issue, whether it is related to your rims (you bought a new rim? WHY? If the rim was an issue, it should have been covered by your warranty) or tires, defines who is responsible.

Things that will affect pressure:

1. Rim.
2. Valve stem.
3. Tire.

Which one is it? Rim is Lexus warranty. Valve stem and tire will be your tire supplier.

 

Thanks, it is perplexing. Bought the first replacement tires at a tire shop, not the Lexus dealer. This is my mother's car, and she was traveling out of town and was convinced it was the rim causing the problem and asked the Toyota dealer out of town to order a new one. I doubt she considered warranty issues as she just wanted to get back home without getting another flat tire. It gave her peace of mind. Or so she thought. The only thing the Lexus dealer did was calibrate the sensors during a routine service visit. They said they can't explain it and neither can the Toyota dealer maitenance people in the out of town (and quite rural) location, where she presently finds herself "stuck" again with flat and soft tires on the same side.

 

...and on the same side! That is insane.

The Lexus dealer should be able to do root cause. Take it in, you have the right to do so, or at least you deserve the attention.

And if the answer is the same (we do not know), talk to the Service Manager. I am sure you will get the right disposition on this case.

I understand your concern and your mom's. You should not go through this. This is so simple it even frustrates me.

Good luck.

 

Do you have a BUTLER TIRE? If you do, take it to them. Maybe they can resolve it. Because they are the EXPERTS for tires.

 

Butler Tire looks to be a Georgia company. She is in NJ.

 

If she's in NJ take it to Tire Barn in North Brunswick,NJ. They specialize in tires and I have gone there on numerous occasions and left with success. They will also repair the rim(s) if that's where the problem lies.

 

It's a simple matter to put tires under water and find the leak. Could be bent rim, bad valve stem (which has the TPMS), or the tire iteslf.

 

First, what you may want to do is to switch wheels between right and left sides. If this phenomenon follows the wheels, you will have to check rims-tires. If it sticks to vehicle side, there is something else here.

 

If the problem still sticks to the same side... that would be very perplexing. I wonder if there isn't some type of inner rim damage from possibly hitting a pot hole on the drivers side of the vehicle that may cause a bead leak possibly.

 

Or, a disgruntled neighbor.

 

If it only happens after being parked outside at home, this could be the cause.
If it only happens after high speed driving it could be a couple of bad valve stems. The Lexus TPMS is very delicate and the units in the tire valve stems could have been damaged by the tire shop during the removal/installation process. There is a special Lexus-only mini torque wrench they are suppose to use for installation, and chances are they didn't have that tool.
If that's the case, good luck getting them to pay for it.

Dave

 

I knew a guy who had this problem years ago. He came to find out that when he was at work apparently a neighbor did not like the fact he was parking in front of his house all day so both tires on the curb side would always lose pressure, then he switched parking locations and the tires never lost pressure. How strange!

 

Are you sure the there are some sort of sensor in the valve stem for the 04? If that is in fact what you were implying? If so, I just learned something new.

 

04's do not have valve stem air pressure sensors. 05's started using the sensors.