IS200 front tyre wear problem light at the end of the tunnel

[u904]

To all IS200 owners I post my reply to my question of excessive tyre wear I have had on my Lexus which I bought at 1 year old from my main Lexus dealer it had 5k miles when I bought it, it's now done 65k miles

I have to replace a set of front tyres every 6k miles.

Dear David

Thank you for your  further email  regarding your Lexus IS 200.  I appreciate you are a careful driver.

The inner edge wear is the way the suspension is designed and there is no way of altering it I'm afraid. the correct suspension set up will minimise the wear and maximise the lifespan of your tyres.

Kind regards

Jenny Shipley
Lexus Customer Relations Case Manager
Toyota (GB) PLC - Lexus Division
Distributor of vehicles, parts and accessories for the UK

 

to my knowledge this has never been admitted by Lexus before

 

i have spent a fortune over the years replacing suspension parts, I even got the WIM settings adjusted once but sadly it didn't work for me, or the garage up here didn't do it correctly.

My cars at factory settings, and I've just spent another £1k on new front suspension and another set of tyres.

But after seeing an advert on Facebook I got in touch with Lexus and that was the reply.

I'm now seriously annoyed, because for all the 11 years I've had this car I've been told by Lexus it's the wrong tyres or other rubbish.

I've asked for my £17.5k money back, as this wasn't mentioned by the salesman at Lexus when I bought the car.

 

[Si_is200]

6k replacing tyres is a costly exercise! But it is all to do with the geometry set up, I've yet to do it on my new one but my old is had no problems at all with excessive tyre eating, is you're inner wear even on both tyres I'm guessing so? Sounds like you have serious negative camber on the front, and this can be adjusted regardless of what he dealer say. Hope you get it resolved and let us know what happens

[DT_Racing]

Not usually my area but in searching the forum I came across this thread and thought I would add a comment just in case it could help you. I appreciate the cars are different but appear to be an issue across much of the Lexus range. I have traced my own issue of inner edge tyre wear to a combination of geometry and bushing design .Mainly the issue falls to the lower suspension wishbone rear bush that under braking deflects signficantly and creates a very dynamic tow out situation scrubbing the inside edge. Luckily for us IS250/300/ISF owners there is an uprated item (none lexus) that can replace the bushing and completely removes this issue subject to correct Lexus alignment. Wondered if this was also the issue you are facing... Hope you find a resolution to you're problem.

[Linas.P]

15 hours ago, u904 said:

I've asked for my £17.5k money back, as this wasn't mentioned by the salesman at Lexus when I bought the car.

This is serious claim to say the least. I would say it would be landmark if you can successfully pursue the damages and would open the doors for others in similar position.

Best luck and let us know how it goes.

[rayaans]

Im afraid to say, I dont think youll get anywhere with your claim.

Jenny Shipley at Lexus UK is bang on the money with her response - its part of the suspension design. Its designed with a slight negative camber which results in inner wear. It happens on BMW as well as some of their cars have aggressive negative camber.

You can adjust it so much which will ensure you change tyres at more miles than 6k but the tyres will always wear out due to inner wear rather than full tyre wear.

 

[Linas.P]

I think his point is different. He was pushed around for 11 years stating different reasons and wasting money on new tires, suspension parts, repairs etc. If Lexus would have stated the real reason for excessive wear he would have changed the car (maybe), or just accepted the fact instead of looking for the problem in wrong place and wasting money.

I agree the case would be super hard to pursue and you would need strong legal team to win.

 

[u904]

Thanks for the replies.

Jenny from Lexus contacted me today and has completely turned around her email, basically now stating that it's down to tyre choice and poor wheel geometry set up, I have the laser alignment print outs which confirm Lexus factory set up and all of my receipts for various named brands of tyre, so I have now escalated this saga for another pencil neck from Lexus to respond at a higher level.

i'll post up the email response when I get a moment.

certainly poor aftercare from Lexus

and they are chasing me to buy a new car from them too.

it was their initial contact that got me asking this searching question.

does anyone know where I could go to in West of Scotland to have my settings confirmed, I've been using McCnechy's in Glasgow for my laser set up until now, just to get a second opinion and confirmation that my car is all set up properly.

cheers

 

[IKHbike]

I know this is an old conversation,I've just been looking for my own use and according to the repair manual you can adjust toe and camber in graduated degrees on front and rear!.