A few surprises come service time!

[GSLV6]

Hello all.  Been a while since I last posted as been flat out with other things but now I have a bit more time, expect me back in circulation 

I thought that I'd pass on a few things observed from my 20K service (actually carried out at 18K under my service agreement).

 

The first shock was that on a 450RX F-Sport having covered just 18K miles from new, I was told that a new steering rack was needed as a "precautionary measure"....this is an electro-mechanical device with integral electric motors built in apparently....cost£1200! (part),  Mine was replaced during the service.  Apparently there have been numerous instances involving late model (2010 onwards?) 450RX's where the rack has started to make a knocking sound, which if left, can lead to failure of the part.  Lexus were unable to say why or what the cause was, but most are being replaced under warranty.  If you haven't already had yours checked, possibly wise to do so at your next service or MOT.

Secondly, there seems to have been an issue with my original fitment Dunlop 270 Sport SP tyres.  the sidewalls are cracking with the base of the tread pattern in particular very badly crazed.  Left as they stand, even though there's a few thousand miles left in them, there's a risk of tread separation at the edges, so as it's close to holiday time (= big miles) I am going to bite the bullet and replace all 4 tyres.

Has anyone any strong recommendations?  I need to order these Monday morning latest.  I was going to go with Avon ZX7s unless someone has a better suggestion for a low noise decent all year round tyre which won't perish within 3 years of new!

[sorcerer]

You'll not be disappointed with the Avons -here's the text from a previous posting I made in these forums back in November:

I've just put 4 Avon ZX7s (235/55 R18 100V) on my RX300 and ordered them from http://www.tyreshopper.co.uk for £386 then used a Tyreshopper discount code to get 5% off, making it £366 and also got 3.15% cashback by going through http://www.topcashback.co.uk making the final, fully-fitted price £354. They were fitted at a local branch of National Tyres who, if I had bought the tyres directly from them, would have charged £421.

I'm VERY impressed with the tyres. They're 'A' rated for wet conditions and they certainly deserve it as the car is so sure-footed now, in both wet and dry conditions - I can highly recommend them.

[GSLV6]

Great to know John, and what a great price!  I'm currently looking at deals a little more expensive than that but as I need them fitted this coming week, I may just have to pay more and get them on.  Compare with something like Cross-Climates, they seem remarkable VFM, besides having good feedback on performance.

[rayaans]

19 minutes ago, GSLV6 said:

Hello all.  Been a while since I last posted as been flat out with other things but now I have a bit more time, expect me back in circulation 

I thought that I'd pass on a few things observed from my 20K service (actually carried out at 18K under my service agreement).

 

The first shock was that on a 450RX F-Sport having covered just 18K miles from new, I was told that a new steering rack was needed as a "precautionary measure"....this is an electro-mechanical device with integral electric motors built in apparently....cost£1200! (part),  Mine was replaced during the service.  Apparently there have been numerous instances involving late model (2010 onwards?) 450RX's where the rack has started to make a knocking sound, which if left, can lead to failure of the part.  Lexus were unable to say why or what the cause was, but most are being replaced under warranty.  If you haven't already had yours checked, possibly wise to do so at your next service or MOT.

Secondly, there seems to have been an issue with my original fitment Dunlop 270 Sport SP tyres.  the sidewalls are cracking with the base of the tread pattern in particular very badly crazed.  Left as they stand, even though there's a few thousand miles left in them, there's a risk of tread separation at the edges, so as it's close to holiday time (= big miles) I am going to bite the bullet and replace all 4 tyres.

Has anyone any strong recommendations?  I need to order these Monday morning latest.  I was going to go with Avon ZX7s unless someone has a better suggestion for a low noise decent all year round tyre which won't perish within 3 years of new!

Had michelin latitude tour HP on mine but heard they're hard to get hold of now - still had 4mm after 20k miles as well.

The Michelin Latitude Sport 3's are good as well though.

Not really heard of any of those issues to be honest - I got through my SP Sport 270 tyres in 26k miles/3 years anyway. The steering rack thing is a new one but hey, atleast it was done under warranty.

No such issues with my previous RX - in fact, I didn't have any.

[steveledzep]

Thanks for the heads up Paul.  Mine's due in for service in October, I'll get the steering bits checked then.

[GSLV6]

No worries Steve, better safe than sorry!  They didn't specify whether this was a general thing nation-wide and as no recalls have been issued, it may not have been.  However, of 10 Rx's in for service in recent months, 3 had to be done, all under 20K miles from what I gather.

On the tyre front, mine have 4mm of tread left after 18,800 miles, so I would probably have changed them prior to winter anyway.

Just shopped around and found the best deal for the Avons as £485 fitted, including VAT at my nearest National Tyre centre.  At £121.25 per corner, that's pretty good really.

[steveledzep]

10 minutes ago, GSLV6 said:

Just shopped around and found the best deal for the Avons as £485 fitted, including VAT at my nearest National Tyre centre.  At £121.25 per corner, that's pretty good really.

Can't fault that.

[rayaans]

54 minutes ago, GSLV6 said:

No worries Steve, better safe than sorry!  They didn't specify whether this was a general thing nation-wide and as no recalls have been issued, it may not have been.  However, of 10 Rx's in for service in recent months, 3 had to be done, all under 20K miles from what I gather.

On the tyre front, mine have 4mm of tread left after 18,800 miles, so I would probably have changed them prior to winter anyway.

Just shopped around and found the best deal for the Avons as £485 fitted, including VAT at my nearest National Tyre centre.  At £121.25 per corner, that's pretty good really.

Just make sure you peer over them. They dont have the best reputation - a lot of scratched wheels showing up on forums like detailingworld but depends on how much you care really. 

Which dealer has been telling you of this steering issue? 

[sorcerer]

1 hour ago, GSLV6 said:

Great to know John, and what a great price!  I'm currently looking at deals a little more expensive than that but as I need them fitted this coming week, I may just have to pay more and get them on.

I ordered mine online on a Tuesday afternoon I think it was, and they were fitted at my local National Tyres the next morning so you shouldn't have a problem with timings.

[GSLV6]

29 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Just make sure you peer over them. They dont have the best reputation - a lot of scratched wheels showing up on forums like detailingworld but depends on how much you care really. 

Which dealer has been telling you of this steering issue? 

My local dealer who fitted the new rack under warranty...Listers Lexus.  I tend to trust them as they have been excellent in the three years I've been using them.

[rayaans]

1 hour ago, GSLV6 said:

My local dealer who fitted the new rack under warranty...Listers Lexus.  I tend to trust them as they have been excellent in the three years I've been using them.

I'll have to ask around about this issue.

It's not unknown for dealers to flag up issues which are not really issues and doing them under warranty. They get paid by Lexus UK for doing so. 

There was actually 1 incident I'm aware of where warranty work was advised to a customer and the part wasn't changed at all. They kept the car for a few days. Got caught as the customer had marked the part so knew about it!

[GSLV6]

That's pretty shocking.  I'd be interested to hear back when you've asked around...

[Silversalmon]

I have personal experience, I bought my 2010 RX450 SEi in December and the car rattled terribly from a number of areas. Glasgow Lexus were as superb as ever and sorted most of them out. I was told however I need a new steering column. Covered under warranty. I spotted on the US site that 2010 did throw up some similar issues so perhaps there is a known problem. I was told it was a £3K fix, that was what made me buy the additional 2 years warranty. Only problem is occasionally the radio turns off and spits out a CD. Not enough of  a problem to  report it at the moment but i will mention it at next December's service.

Still loving the car and now averaging 35 mpg.

[Silversalmon]

There is a TSB about this problem. Just found it.

l-sb-0026-11-10-11-rx350-steering-column-rattle-noise (1).pdf

[GSLV6]

That's a steering column issues though and I think they said that it specifically was a steering rack issue (could be wrong though), plus my car's a late 2014 model so not covered under that TB.  It's replaced now and I intend on taking out the extended warranty when mine runs out at the end of this year, so won't worry too much.

[rayaans]

5 hours ago, Silversalmon said:

I have personal experience, I bought my 2010 RX450 SEi in December and the car rattled terribly from a number of areas. Glasgow Lexus were as superb as ever and sorted most of them out. I was told however I need a new steering column. Covered under warranty. I spotted on the US site that 2010 did throw up some similar issues so perhaps there is a known problem. I was told it was a £3K fix, that was what made me buy the additional 2 years warranty. Only problem is occasionally the radio turns off and spits out a CD. Not enough of  a problem to  report it at the moment but i will mention it at next December's service.

Still loving the car and now averaging 35 mpg.

 

5 hours ago, Silversalmon said:

There is a TSB about this problem. Just found it.

l-sb-0026-11-10-11-rx350-steering-column-rattle-noise (1).pdf

 

4 hours ago, GSLV6 said:

That's a steering column issues though and I think they said that it specifically was a steering rack issue (could be wrong though), plus my car's a late 2014 model so not covered under that TB.  It's replaced now and I intend on taking out the extended warranty when mine runs out at the end of this year, so won't worry too much.

Yes, the TSB is mainly for US cars and it is a separate issue. 

I believe it was only for the RX350 and not for the 450h which would suggest there may be some differences in the steering assembly (but I doubt it?)

Knocking in the steering seems like something the owner would notice though which makes it all a bit unusual.

[GSLV6]

Yes, the last point isn't lost on me. I've never heard any knocking on the steering and am pretty sure I'd have noticed, but there could be a difference with the car on the ramps and no other noise present like the engine running.  However, the ignition would have to be set to "ready" to check this as the steering is electro-mechanical so they couldn't tell by just using the ol' wiggle test!  There's no way it could have been a bearing or joint at that mileage.

It puts me in mind of Lexus changing all the hydraulic tappets on my GS300 (£3K bill, engine out job) and afterwards, the spanner telling me out of ear-shot that the knocking from cold was more likely to have been a noisy fuel pump cam, which are noisy until warmed up.  To be fair, when the changes were made then, the cold knocking wasn't as bad as it previously had been (but still there) so it could well have been a dodgy tappet.  If I ever found out otherwise, there'd have been hell to pay.

[GSLV6]

Shopped around and decided to give the business to my local tyre fitter rather than give profits to national tyre centres.  The price was the same at £127 per corner for the ZX7s but with no discount which I could have got via tyreshopper.  I don't mind as the local guy always takes care of the wheels and is a pleasure to deal with.  Ordered this morning and will be in this afternoon.  

[GSLV6]

I thought that I'd share a few observations picked up whilst the car was having its boots changed but also about the tyre choice itself.

 

First, I took the liberty of checking the underside of the vehicle, and bearing in mind that this is only a 2 1/2 year old RX, this is what I found:

Corrosion:  surface rust starting on rear subframe, rear suspension arms and notably some more serious corrosion starting to eat into the top of the damper mounting bosses and the housings for the suspension bushings.  These really need wire brushing and liberally coating with ACF50.

Rear fuel pipe filler: I located the pipe which is visible from the bottom of the arch liner.  The rust issue will be limited to the point from here up to the tank entry.  No rust at all...it looks new.  It would be a good idea to clean off and liberally coat in ACF50 anyway.

Front suspension arms:  very light surface rust spots...nothing to be concerned with;  the rest of the suspension mountings look fine.

Tyres:  OE Dunlop Sport 270s removed.  The compound had hardened with just a few years on them.  We compared them against new Dunlops in the shop.  BIG difference in how the compound felt.  Lots of crazed cracks along the outside base of the tread which was starting to lift in a few places.  This is most likely due to the vehicle not being garaged and subsequent exposure to direct sunlight as UV degrades the tyres over time.  I was surprised at the number of small sharp gravel bits actually embedded into the tyre, not just in between the tread!.  Tyre wear was nice and even although one tyre of the four had worn inexplicably about 1mm more all round!

New tyres:  Avon ZX7s...these appear to use a softer compound, A rated for wet weather grip and C rated for fuel economy.  Despite being rated at 70dB, 1dB higher than the Dunlops, they definitely sounded quieter.  Handling wise, they inspire more confidence, exhibiting higher grip levels and they also notably turn in better and have slightly more feedback from the road, such as it is with the electro-mechanical steering.

Overall, pleased with them but the jury's out until I see what mileage they put up.  They probably wont outlast the Dunlops but maybe that's a good thing! (grip and wet weather performance being more important).