Tyres, Tracking and Handling

[TimS320]

I have a bit of wander on the front of the car. I'm wondering how much is down to any possible tracking errors, mismatched tyres or just the general difference of driving a rear wheel car when I've been used to front wheel drive for 20 years.

I noticed on a run up the motorway and A roads that the steering lacks the general 'self-centering' feel I'm used to.  I had that happen on the family VW Passat when the front bushes wore out and were replaced, a cheap job which made it feel like new. Does the Lexus also suffer from this?

I'm also aware that I have odd tyres on the car. The back end has two Evergreen EU72's on and the front has one Evergreen plus a Bridgestone. Both have a similar tyre tread. All have a good amount of tread, so I'm not going to change them for a while, but I'm not impressed with the amount of noise they generate or the road-holding. Already unstuck the back end exiting (gently) a roundabout at a reasonable speed, that I use every day and my old front wheel drive car could handle easily.

Are these cars prone to tramlining? The front, on the motorway, did just seem to go where it was left and wander with no self- centering feel at all. So tracking, tyres rearwheel drive or all three?

[madasahatter]

No tramling on mine, also an ex front drive man Skoda Vrs which are prone to saw tooth. I run Falken 914s on the rear 245 45 17s.

On the front im running 225 45 17 Bridgestone Potenza S001s, car runs a dream. Road noise is very quiet and grip is exellent, I think the handling is good but

is different to the front drive cars.Think its down to no torque steer, somebody else may have a better or different answer.

[Linas.P]

I would say - before looking to any faults you should replace all 4 tires ASAP (fronts the least). It is surprisingly not legal requirement and you won't fail MOT only because of different brands. That said you might still fail the brake test (and subsequently MOT) because of uneven braking distribution on front axle... and I am almost certain this will be the case. For me it seems mad that somebody would drive the car with odd tires on the same axle (no offense please). In extreme braking situation you will certainly have uneven braking distribution, hence ABS and all other systems (like EPS, EPB) would not work efficiently, you are likely to lose control more easily. Evergreen is obviously cheapest brand available (hence the high noise), not matching front tires obviously reduces road holding, which is already compromised by cheap tires. Now thinking just about tires alone ... if the person who previously owned the car put such cheap tires on the car and even not bothered to change both front tires at the same time (any decent mechanic in any shop would recommend it) how likely the tracking is done on the car? All 4 wheel alignment would have been the cost of the tires... so I can guess - 0% possibility that you car have wheel alignment done (ever) under this person ownership. So:

• Noise is because of cheap tire and odd tires in the front.
• Road holding is bad because of the same reason.
• + it is unlikely that tracking is done, which would again attribute to both points above.

Now when you have all that done (to begin with please just replace front tires... for the sake of lives saved in road accidents) you can start looking in other problems... which I am sure are not the case. Now you need to set your expectations right for Lexus - just to set bottom line - I would start from saying - Lexus IS250 SE-L (2005-2009) steering is far from accurate. I have previously owned IS250 F-Sport (2012+) which had somewhat improved steering, but it really comes to what you are comparing it to. It is comfortable, but in terms of accuracy and feedback somewhat average... if you want accurate steering look for BMW. That said it is not bad, but not the sporty one. Obviously you expect better steering that in Golf or Passat... So innacurate steering might be what you are referring to... or might be something else.

Front wheel alignment is recommended every 6 months or anytime you change tires (if you change rears, then all 4 wheel alignment). All wheel alignment is recommended at least once a year. Rear obviously cannot be done on its own, so anytime you do rear all 4 wheels needs to be aligned. I am saying this, because not everyone knows it and places like Kwikfit or your local tire fitters unlikely to tell you that if you just replacing rear tires... furthermore they probably do not have all necessary equipment to do all 4 wheel alignment on IS250.. so for them is pointless. Fronts on IS250 can be done almost anywhere, but for all 4 wheels I would recommend ATS or Lexus Dealer. Halford claims they can do it, but in fact not all centers can.

I am certain you will enjoy your car if at least minimum standard of maintenance is met.

[TimS320]

Appreciate your comments about tyres, I am considerign getting a matched pair for the front at least, given how cheap they are compared to what i ran on my Golf and Passat. However I need the tracking check first and have it booked in next week in a few days to find out. Then I can start looking at tyre types.

[Linas.P]

That seems reasonable - bare in mind most of the serious garages does alignment check for free. Though, I would recommend doing tracking on the new pair of tires (probably I sound a bit like "mr. obvious"). That said I don't like Evergreen (and majority of "value brands"), but you can keep the rear ones if they still have some thread left (that would help for environment as well). I would not buy ones, but if I found them on my car with reasonable depth and matching pair I would probably keep them in place as well.

[ahmedali44]

If you got f1 autocentre near you they do free tracking check when u buy tyres from them, pricewise they quiet cheap too.

[Linas.P]

ATS does free check ( I believe front axle) regardless you buy anything or not. Obviously, they expect you to do the alignment if they found it being not good.

I do recommend them for alignment, but not for tires -> cheap trick get your tires from blackcircles.com and choose them to be fitted at ATSeuromasters. In this way you will get the tires fitted and wheels aligned by reasonable service, but you save on tires like 20%. 

[rayaans]

It's most lily alignment. Two different tyres on the front shouldn't make a huge difference if any.

Get the alignment checked out, if it's off sort it and then see how it is.

Having said that you'd see other problems if the alignment was off such as shoulder wear etc 

[Linas.P]

Just wanted to add. Increasing tire pressure can firm-up the suspension and make steering more informative, so you might just try this cheap option first (replacing front tire and doing alignment still recommended).

This is probably just my personal preference, but on Lexus "recommended" tire pressure (35F,38R) car is "wobbly" and steering even less informative. So, I usually have it higher (38F,40R).

Unfortunately for me I forgotten to mention this last week for Lexus and they "inflated" tires to recommended pressure.. which means they let-off £1 worth of nitrogen out of my tires and ticked the box. I must appreciate that car is more comfortable in majority of condition in London (where you at best can get up to 30mph if you lucky), but I have tried "outside lane speeds" recently and I though I will crash.. it was wobbly and uninformative at the same time... I had a though for a second, maybe I should stop and check for flat tire.

That said higher tire presume helps with wear as well (at least on my set-up). My tires tend to wear more outside, but now with higher pressure they are nice and evenly worn after 8k miles.

[TimS320]

Took the car in for a tracking check and both front wheels were pointing outwards. No wonder the car felt like it was heading off on its own! Don't know how the previous owner thought this was OK! Anyway, all tracked out correctly and feeling much better about the handling. 40 quid well spent.

[Linas.P]

Previous owner thought that different tires on the front are OK as well... so £40 for tracking seems unbelievable investment.

Great to know you solved it, and we were pointing to right direction...

[TimS320]

Even better for me, the guy in Kwikfit who did it has a 220d, so knew exactly what he was doing.