Lexus Health Check reveals some exhaust issues and corrosion

[McShmoopy]

Hi everyone, I recently dropped my IS250 F Sport off at Lexus Nottingham for an air bag recall and I had a very pleasant experience. They lent me a CT200h for the day, polished my car, gave me half a tank of fuel and also did a free vehicle health check. 

They provided a video and breakdown of some of the issues on the vehicle, the main issue I'm noticing is the exhaust and the corroded brake pipes. When I did purchase the vehicle I was assured flagged the advisories up on the MOT but was assured it was  addressed but it seems that isn't the case. 

I believe there was a previous forum member who had a similar issue with the corroded brake pipes and wanted to get some advice from felllow forum members on how best to address these issues. I believe they went to an independent garage and had them do the work as Lexus would naturally charge an absurd amount to get all these works done.

There is a Toyota / Lexus specialist not too far from me in Nottingham so I'm considering taking it to them to get the works done. I am also considering new tyres probably Dunlop Sport MAXX RT2 as I believe Linas recommended them for comfort and economy. 

If anyone can provide any advice it'd be greatly appreciated. 

[Linas.P]

I tend to ask Lexus not to wash my car, maybe some dealerships are better then other, but I found that complimentary wash (not polish) causes more issues then it solves. Last time I forgotten to ask and they applied glaze on the car and forgotten to polish the grill - took me 3 hours with tooth brush to scrape it from all crevices once it dried on properly.  

Regarding their health check - first thing - I would get second opinion, ideally from local garage where you could actually see it for yourself.

Regarding their findings - I think you could ignore the exhaust system for now ( it seems they wanted to scare you and try to get you into new car). Corroded brake lines - that would be concerning if it is true, so again just check somewhere else and make sure they are actually in bad shape. Somehow it doesn't make sense as my old car was 193k miles and it didn't have any major issue with corrosion, except on small hole just before rear silencer... So I cannot see how much newer and probably lower mile F-Sport could have so many issues with corrosion. 

Regarding tyres - I do recommend RT2, I had good personal experience with them. That said it is just one of many opinions - I would as well consider Goodyear Asymmetric 5. I have not used them myself, but Dunlop is owned by Goodyear (so it is same company basically) and Asymmetric 5 is newer than RT2... I assume overall RT2 is somewhere in between Asymmetric 3 and 5. I would look and see which one has better deal available on the day and pick the cheaper. Michelin and Continental are good tyres as well, but sadly they tend to be much more expensive, for not really much more value.

 

[McShmoopy]

2 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

I tend to ask Lexus not to wash my car, maybe some dealerships are better when other, but I found that complimentary was (not polish) causes more issues then it solves. Last time I forgotten to do it and they applied glaze on the car and forgotten to polish the grill - took me 3 hours with tooth brush to scrape it from all crevices once it dried on properly.  

Regarding their health check - first thing - I would get second opinion, ideally from local garage where you could actually see it for yourself.

Regarding their findings - I think you could ignore the exhaust system for now ( it seems they wanted to scare you and try to get you into new car). Corroded brake lines - that would be concerning if it is true, so again just check somewhere else and make sure they are actually in bad shapes. Somehow it doesn't make sense as my old car was 193k miles and it didn't have any major issue with corrosion, except on small hole just before rear silencer... So I cannot see how much newer and probably lower mile F-Sport could have so many issues with corrosion. 

Regarding tyres - I do recommend RT2, I had good personal experience with them. That said it is just one of many opinions - I would as well consider Goodyear Asymmetric 5. I have not used them myself, but Dunlop is owned by Goodyear (so it is same company basically) and Asymmetric 5 is newer than RT2... I assume overall RT2 is somewhere in between Asymmetric 3 and 5. I would look and see which one has better deal available on the on the days and pick the cheaper. Michelin and Continental are good tyres as well, but sadly they tend to be much more expensive, for not really much more value.

 

Cheers for the insight Linus, yes my car only had one previous owner and is sitting around 135k miles so I suspect it may have been alot of motorway driving. They did include a video as well showing all the issues but I suppose its harder to establish unless you can see it yourself so I will probably take this to a garage to get a second opinion. 

Right now I am predominantly working from home so Im not doing many miles on my car but as the MOT is due in September I'd like to make sure when we go back to work (Probably june time) the car is ready for those daily commutes. 

I did notice some fariyl cheap Continental ECO Contact 6's with a discount code so if the price is right I may consider those also! 

[is200 Newbie]

Get a second opinion. My first is250 went in for the airbag and fuel seal recall. Came back after their health check with a requirement to have 2 brake callipers replaced - they were fine as i had not long greased and checked them. Just after business so do get a second opinion. Definitely get your brake lines double checked - i have owned 2 is250's (2007 and 2006), not had any issue or mention of any problems with brake lines. Cant say i have heard a lot of members mentioning they have either, depends on where its driven i suppose, but definitely a second opinion required.

 

Let us know how you get on..

[McShmoopy]

2 minutes ago, is200 Newbie said:

Get a second opinion. My first is250 went in for the airbag and fuel seal recall. Came back after their health check with a requirement to have 2 brake callipers replaced - they were fine as i had not long greased and checked them. Just after business so do get a second opinion. Definitely get your brake lines double checked - i have owned 2 is250's (2007 and 2006), not had any issue or mention of any problems with brake lines. Cant say i have heard a lot of members mentioning they have either, depends on where its driven i suppose, but definitely a second opinion required.

 

Let us know how you get on..

I certainly shall do, Im off work this week as I'll be doing some DIY so I may need the car but I'll give the specialist garage a ring and get them to check out the car. Cheers for the input. 

[Linas.P]

19 minutes ago, McShmoopy said:

I did notice some fariyl cheap Continental ECO Contact 6's with a discount code so if the price is right I may consider those also! 

Corrosion would indicate low local miles, especially on the exhaust. Motorway cars tends to get warmer and just dry off the condensation, so less likely to be rusted. If you think you car was mostly driven on motorway I would doubt the health check results even more,

Conti Premium Contact or Sport Contact would be ~ RT/Asymmetric 5 (what is considered UHP summer tyre). EcoContact are level below, so not exactly like for like tyres.

[McShmoopy]

20 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Corrosion would indicate low local miles, especially on the exhaust. Motorway cars tends to get warmer and just dry off the condensation, so less likely to be rusted. If you think you car was mostly driven on motorway I would doubt the health check results even more,

Conti Premium Contact or Sport Contact would be ~ RT/Asymmetric 5 (what is considered UHP summer tyre). EcoContact are level below, so not exactly like for like tyres.

Certainly quite odd but I'll definitely have it looked into, if its of any help here is the video they provided me showing all the recorded issues. 

 

[Linas.P]

Yeah... not sure how they diagnosed corroded brake lines, certainly not something you could see in this video. Your exhaust as expected looks completely normal - small hole in mid pipe near where shield was welded on (welds are common place of failure). But overall exhaust is in great shape - advising £2800 replacement for that one small hole is quite cheeky. I would say any exhaust place could weld it without even taking it off the car for £50 and you won't have issues for another 3-5 years (after which you probably going to have slightly bigger hole around the same area)

Front bushings are little bit worn admittedly, but nothing for immediate concern, yes replacement would be advisory in future when you have more time - probably going solid poly-bushings would be good upgrade at the same time (really tidies-up front end). May help with tyre wear as well. 

Front tyre inner edges worn - so you definitely need to do alignment when you going to replace tyres, but the tyres themselves are fine ~5mm and are certainly healthy around 75% of thread. The way he measured the tyres is incorrect - should have done at very least 3 checks across each tyre and averaged, but the correct way is to rotate the tyre and take measurements 3 times on 3-4 different locations. 

Rear brakes looked like little bit crusty, especially discs from inside, so probably consider new discs when you do pads next time (they are very cheap... like £20-30). 

So overall looks like tidy car, from whatever little can be seen. Little bit of weld on Exhaust £50, Rear disks £20-30, Tyres are good for another 10k miles at very least (strange that one rear tyre was 3mm, when rest around 5), do 4 wheel alignment when changing tyres. Front bushings would be nice to have at best, if I am not mistaken aftermarket ones are £40 each and same for work, so £120 total.

Definitely get second opinion on brake lines, but that is not something I could see in this video. At least that is my opinion anyways. 

[is200 Newbie]

A spot of weld will sort out the leak where the guard is tacked to it. Best check under the guard also, why the tech didn't i don't know? There's a lot of soot around a point where the leak could feed into or there could be another leak not just the one he spotted. Also, a weak spot in the exhaust not checked (only visually) is where the pipes enter the boxes and also just before and after the centre resonator - weak spots in the exhaust that's best to see if there is any undue corrosion  as could cause damage to underside / bumper if they fail. 

Also, as Linas pointed out, rear discs look like they could do with replacing. Easy job but also look at the callipers to make sure the pins are greased.

[ColinBarber]

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

The way he measured the tyres is incorrect

 

1 hour ago, is200 Newbie said:

Best check under the guard also, why the tech didn't i don't know?

The quick customer video is there just to show some of their findings and follows a standard format - it isn't a recording of their entire inspection. The visual inspection sheet that the techs need to fill out have three measurements for each tyre of example but it would become a tedious video if we had to watch all three reading to be taken.

[Linas.P]

I just pointed out that the way it is shown on video is not the way to do it. What he did of camera I obviously don't know. I hope they do proper thread check and not what was shown. To be honest I have no reason to doubt the knowledge of Lexus tech and they they know how to do it properly, but whenever they do it is another question.

I would point out that they quoted quite extensive job for brake lines, but that was not shown in the video. We can give tech benefit of doubt and just assume he forgotten to show. 

Quoting £2800 exhaust because of tiny hole on one hand funny, in other hand I guess that is what Lexus service manual calls for. So I cannot criticise them too much for it, but neither I would expect anyone to take their advise on this part. 

[McShmoopy]

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Yeah... not sure how they diagnosed corroded brake lines, certainly not something you could see in this video. Your exhaust as expected looks completely normal - small hole in mid pipe near where shield was welded on (welds are common place of failure). But overall exhaust is in great shape - advising £2800 replacement for that one small hole is quite cheeky. I would say any exhaust place could weld it without even taking it off the car for £50 and you won't have issues for another 3-5 years (after which you probably going to have slightly bigger hole around the same area)

Front bushings are little bit worn admittedly, but nothing for immediate concern, yes replacement would be advisory in future when you have more time - probably going solid poly-bushings would be good upgrade at the same time (really tidies-up front end). May help with tyre wear as well. 

Front tyre inner edges worn - so you definitely need to do alignment when you going to replace tyres, but the tyres themselves are fine ~5mm and are certainly healthy around 75% of thread. The way he measured the tyres is incorrect - should have done at very least 3 checks across each tyre and averaged, but the correct way is to rotate the tyre and take measurements 3 times on 3-4 different locations. 

Rear brakes looked like little bit crusty, especially discs from inside, so probably consider new discs when you do pads next time (they are very cheap... like £20-30). 

So overall looks like tidy car, from whatever little can be seen. Little bit of weld on Exhaust £50, Rear disks £20-30, Tyres are good for another 10k miles at very least (strange that one rear tyre was 3mm, when rest around 5), do 4 wheel alignment when changing tyres. Front bushings would be nice to have at best, if I am not mistaken aftermarket ones are £40 each and same for work, so £120 total.

Definitely get second opinion on brake lines, but that is not something I could see in this video. At least that is my opinion anyways. 

Thanks for the very thorough response! It’s reassuring to hear it’s not as drastic as Lexus made out. Definitely will be happy to change rear disc pads and the bushings when necessary as well as getting the exhaust welded. I will however get the brake lines inspected for good measure as I don’t want to leave that to chance. 

[McShmoopy]

2 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

I assume they do proper thread check and now what was shown. To be honest I have no reason to doubt the knowledge of Lexus tech and they they know how to do it properly. Whenever they do that is another matter. 

I would point out that they quoted quite extensive job for brake-lines, but that was not shown in the video. We can give tech benefit of doubt and just assume he forgotten to show. 

Quoting £2800 exhaust because of tiny hole on one hand funny, in other hand I guess that is what Lexus service manual calls for. So I cannot criticise them too much for it, but neither I would expect anyone to take their advise on this part. 

Yes I was quite shocked they were wanting to charge that much considering I got the car for £4800 delivered! Rest assured I’ll be heading to an independent garage to get that work, overpricing aside I did atleast enjoy the experience of dealing with Lexus nottingham. 

[Linas.P]

Certainly... from what he mentioned brake lines are the only serious thing. Obviously, video is little bit grainy and I pointed out only what I can see, I am sure when you take it to another mechanic you can check every point from the list Lexus pointed out and confirm whenever their judgement is right or not.

I think taking car for Lexus inspection is a good thing, but I never used them except of standard service work. They hourly rate is very high.

[McShmoopy]

1 hour ago, is200 Newbie said:

A spot of weld will sort out the leak where the guard is tacked to it. Best check under the guard also, why the tech didn't i don't know? There's a lot of soot around a point where the leak could feed into or there could be another leak not just the one he spotted. Also, a weak spot in the exhaust not checked (only visually) is where the pipes enter the boxes and also just before and after the centre resonator - weak spots in the exhaust that's best to see if there is any undue corrosion  as could cause damage to underside / bumper if they fail. 

Also, as Linas pointed out, rear discs look like they could do with replacing. Easy job but also look at the callipers to make sure the pins are greased.

Cheers for the advice I’ll take that on board and it may be worth having an exhaust specialist also take a look to prevent any further leakage 👍🏼

[McShmoopy]

36 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

 

The quick customer video is there just to show some of their findings and follows a standard format - it isn't a recording of their entire inspection. The visual inspection sheet that the techs need to fill out have three measurements for each tyre of example but it would become a tedious video if we had to watch all three reading to be taken.

Yeah I suppose it’s just a nice addition to provide to the customer, by no means an exhaustive check but it was a nice touch to be shown instead of told.

[Phil xxkr]

10 hours ago, Linas.P said:

I tend to ask Lexus not to wash my car, maybe some dealerships are better then other, but I found that complimentary wash (not polish) causes more issues then it solves. Last time I forgotten to ask and they applied glaze on the car and forgotten to polish the grill - took me 3 hours with tooth brush to scrape it from all crevices once it dried on properly.  

Regarding their health check - first thing - I would get second opinion, ideally from local garage where you could actually see it for yourself.

Regarding their findings - I think you could ignore the exhaust system for now ( it seems they wanted to scare you and try to get you into new car). Corroded brake lines - that would be concerning if it is true, so again just check somewhere else and make sure they are actually in bad shape. Somehow it doesn't make sense as my old car was 193k miles and it didn't have any major issue with corrosion, except on small hole just before rear silencer... So I cannot see how much newer and probably lower mile F-Sport could have so many issues with corrosion. 

Regarding tyres - I do recommend RT2, I had good personal experience with them. That said it is just one of many opinions - I would as well consider Goodyear Asymmetric 5. I have not used them myself, but Dunlop is owned by Goodyear (so it is same company basically) and Asymmetric 5 is newer than RT2... I assume overall RT2 is somewhere in between Asymmetric 3 and 5. I would look and see which one has better deal available on the day and pick the cheaper. Michelin and Continental are good tyres as well, but sadly they tend to be much more expensive, for not really much more value.

 

Hi, see my recent post re Goodyear asymmetrics, cheers Phil 

[Grumps]

Regarding the wear on the iner edge of your tyres, this is probably due to speed humps, the ones you straggle. We had this on my wifes car. Plenty of tread depth, but the inner edge badly worn. Had it tracked and nothing wrong with it. Research showed that this was a common problem caused by speed humps.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answer/66969/do-speed-humps-cause-tyre-damage-

There were about 8 speed humps on her way into work every day, so theory was right.

[Linas.P]

I had the same thing on most of my cars, but it not as excessive. Which leads me to believe alignment needs to be checked. The standard bushings on IS250 as well causes tow-out under braking and bushing being fairly worn on OP's car could contribute to that as well. In short I don't think the wear on the tyres are from the humps alone, but they are contributing factor.

Overall, speedhumps are really really bad... for everything... I don't even want to get started on this, but it is enough to say they cause more deaths than they prevent and on top of that damages the cars, causes more pollution and are in all possible ways negative thing. It really seems like in 21st century we could have better solution than basically creating potholes on the road.

[McShmoopy]

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

I had the same thing on most of my cars, but it not as excessive. Which leads me to believe alignment needs to be checked. The standard bushings on IS250 as well causes tow-out under braking and bushing being fairly worn on OP's car could contribute to that as well. In short I don't think the wear on the tyres are from the humps alone, but they are contributing factor.

Overall, speedhumps are really really bad... for everything... I don't even want to get started on this, but it is enough to say they cause more deaths than they prevent and on top of that damages the cars, causes more pollution and are in all possible ways negative thing. It really seems like in 21st century we could have better solution than basically creating potholes on the road.

This seems like the most reasonable explanation, and honestly I fully agree about how terrible road bumps are. I live on a new build estate and I have several road bumps on my way out of the estate and at my workplace so have to contend with them on a daily basis. 🙄

[Linas.P]

I don't mind them on supermarket car parks and maybe in residential parking where speed limits is 5-10MPH, but what is amazing in UK that they put them on main streets with 30MPH speed limit... that is just criminal.

[Ala Larj]

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

 It really seems like in 21st century we could have better solution than basically creating potholes on the road.

Where I live the potholes are so bad that it negates the need for speed bumps to slow traffic down!

[Linas.P]

And probably it is better that way - at least no tax money was wasted on it.

It just hurts me to see streets being fixed, you drive for few days on butter smooth tarmac and 2 weeks later I can see bas**** cutting that road up to install speed jumps. Why they fix it just to ruin it straight away?!