shortbus19

iTrader: (1)

Ok, so I had my 07 IS250 in for regular service this morning and come to find out I need new front tires. I shoot down to the dealership and they show me....seems the inner treads are worn nearly bald, yet the rest of the tire is fine and looks like it could easily get another 8-10k miles out of them. Keep in mind they are the 18" wheels with the Turanza tires. They try to explain to me it is as a result of the front camber. I call BS on them because the wear is only the other treads and it is a serious sharp cutoff where the tread is fine and where it is not. I know negative camber wear and this is not it. I had a 350Z that was dropped prior to owning the IS and it had some vicious camber as a result of the lowered suspension and even then the wear was more from the center in as opposed to just the outer treads.

To me it seems more of a Toe out issue as having toe out would prematurely wear the inner treads badly. I questioned the tech on it and they tell me ALL IS's wear like this, so it seems to me ALL IS's are either spec'd like this or there is a design flaw. Regardless I was wondering who else had this issue...as I know many of you have. I personally would like to get a list of people here that have experienced this and get it over to Lexus with a letter of complaint.

So, any input here or even your story/experience would be greatly appreciated.

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

you are right..... you get the wear like that because of a car that runs negative camber, but specifically, one that the toe is out of spec on (or even at the high ends of spec)...

Probably not a design flaw, but probably that the fronts run very aggressive toe/camber settings from the factory... Wouldn't be a bad idea to have it aligned, and get before/after readings... the day you drive the car off the lot, wear comes into play, and alignment settings will change...

Complaining to Lexus is just a frivolous complaint IMO... it is not up to the dealer to make sure the car is kept within alignment - it's up to you... a few things provoke people to get alignments - tire wear and pulling or vibration... the reality of it is you should be getting the alignment checked every 6 months to a year...

shortbus19

iTrader: (1)

Mitsu,
My alignment was checked and it is darn near at factory specs...nothing that should cause the wear I see. Also it seems numerous people on here have the same issue. Heck, my Brother has an 06 IS250 and has the same issue as well. Even with the alignment spec'd to factory settings it seems to wear quite oddly. I was just hoping some people would chime in here with their experiences and see if many of you guys have run into the same problem.

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

I'd have to see your alignment specs, but I have seen that type of tire wear when toe is at the upper limits of the spec on both sides...

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

Which is the point exactly: I would guess more than 30 percent of 06-07 ISXXX are delivered brand new with an Extreme problem with inner tread wear. which causes a 35,000 mile tire to wear down the inner tread shoulder to show threads/belts by 20,000 miles.

Nissan had a seemingly simular problem with the 350Z when it was introduced.
Difference being Nissan fixed the problem and retroactively repaired cars & replaced tires free of charge to the inconvienced owners. Why is Lexus not doing this & and how can we convince them to do this??

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

All vehicles should be aligned once purchased... I have not seen a vehicle yet that is perfectly lined up from the factory... We have a Chevy Colorado as a delivery truck... we did tires on it when it only had 20 miles on it. I did an alignment on it at the same time and found camber/caster and toe all out of spec. 20 miles on the truck...

Even if we were to assume that these Lexus' are in spec from the factory and are still wearing tires, then I think you should also agree that if we screw with the stock alignment settings that the cars might not handle as well... If all we cared about was tire wear, then every cars alignment settings would be pretty close to zero toe, zero camber. On all performance cars, aggressive alignment settings are utilized to make the car handle better.

So, You can have your numbed down steering feel car with good tire wear, but I'd stay with my very responsive, well mannered car and deal with some tire wear... Shoulda just bought an ES though if you don't want that snappy responsive handling the IS's are known for...

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

My front tires were showing steel belts at 19,000 miles on the inside edges and had 6/32nds on every other tread block front and rear. I maintain my tires much better than is reasonable to expect from a normal customer and 5,000 of those miles were from a crosscountry freeway trip. I average 30,000 miles on Z-rated tires on several other cars and will get 40,000 on the rear ER33s

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

2WD Normal 18in wheel
front caster 7.32 To 8.82
front camber -1.13 To 0.37
front toe -0.04 To 0.12
rear camber -1.73 To -0.23
rear toe 0.04 To 0.20
sai 10.7

pretty aggressive specs for a sedan IMO... you could of course dial most of that out, but as mentioned, then it won't handle as nicely... it's a tradeoff...

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

Normally on a $40,000 sport sedan responsive handling & tires that wear evenly with minamal maintainence are standard. Then if you would like to tweek alignment beyond factory specs for a specific reason at your own expense you still have that option.

I would think if Lexus wanted to offer outstanding handling they would be smart enough to offer ultra hi-performance tires on the "sport suspension" rather than alignment settings that ensure the tires will not wear evenly

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

Um, no...

Go buy a BMW or Mercedes and you will find tires that wear quite unevenly as well... They too have very aggressive alignment settings and eat through tires in no time...

When it comes time to take a car to the comparison tests, they want to get the best performance out of the box as possible... They don't get the great reviews they do by numbing the steering feel and such...

Talking about 40 thousand dollar sport sedans, lets talk Lancer EVO that you would be LUCKY to get 20k out of the stock tires and stock alignment... My very good friend managed 12k out of his and the fronts were corded on the inside just like the IS's...

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

So now you are saying that it is impossible to get even tread wear in a performance car with stock alignment settings??

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

no, thats not what I said at all... I said that most, if not all sport oriented sedans wear tires out quite quickly and that the 20k that people are getting out of stock tires really isn't all that bad considering what the cars are capable of in stock form... some cars wear tires evenly, but still only get 20k, some obviously wear unevenly, and still get around 20k...

I personally think it's a good compromise... Lets explore the alternative - Lexus could have put a higher mileage, not as good of performing tire and some very conservative alignment settings, and this thread would be about what can we do to the alignment to get the car to handle better...

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

Yes, many IS's have had this problem maybe we should start a poll in the 2nd gen IS thread, I have saved my OE front tires hoping that Lexus will admit this problem & compensate affected owners

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

Um No I maintain a MBZ & BMW & they both wear tires very evenly.

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

You have the two Mercedes and BMW's that wear tires evenly then, or perhaps you have not so sporty models of either, as you did not note model numbers. BMW's are NOTORIOUS for wearing the insides on all 4 and the rears twice as fast as the fronts. Mercedes wear the rears on the inside edge and also wear out the rears twice as fast as the fronts and I've seen some wear fronts quite quickly as well. This really only applies to the sportier models with staggered fitments though.