4 Wheel Alignment Required

[Mark D]

Hi all,

Just back from my first service on my IS, the car is 6 months and 9827miles old.

It has been recomended that I have 4 wheel alignment done.

Should the car need this after such a short period? I suspect that it may be somthing to do with the car leaving Japan on 17's and having 18's fitted by Lexus GB.

Any thoughts/advice?

Thanks,

Mark

[ColinBarber]

Do the tyres have signs of uneven wear?

[Mark D]

yes Colin, the tread depths are as follows:

____ inner/middle/outer

FL ____3_____4____ 4

FR____3 ____4_____5

RL____2____1.6____3

RR ___3_____2_____3

FYI the tyres are PZero Rosso's 225/40/18

[ColinBarber]

The common inside wear on the fronts. Probably worth getting it done. I wouldn't pay dealer prices though.

[Mark D]

I was thinking I shouldn't have to pay at all. The wheels have recieved no knocks.

Is it common for such a young car to require tweaking?

[mooranger]

That seems quite fast wear - down to 3mm or less in under 10k miles. Are PZero's soft compound? Mine had high wear on the front tyre inside edges - camber was slightly out according to the lexus alignment print. Just fitted new set of SP9000s at 400 quid - would hope they last longer than a year.

[Hawk Man]

I had new tyres fitted when I bought my Lex (it had done 12k at that point) and 7,500 miles later the insides had excessive wear to the extenst that they were illegal.

Lexus Bromley did the 4 wheel alingnment for me this week for free, so I would push you local dealer for the same.

[doobs]

I too have more wear on the inside edge & to a slightly lesser extent on the outside edge of my front tyres - rears appear ok - I am not exactly sure what a 4 wheel alignment is though - is it a 4 wheel version of tracking ? or is it someting completely different to tracking ?? - I am only used to hearing about the term tracking when talking about possible excessive tyre wear - I have a six month old IS200SE

Can someone explain this a bit more to me?

[ColinBarber]

Tracking is just checking the toe-in. There are also caster and camber adjustments that are required to fully align the wheel.

Tracking normally costs about £10. A full wheel alignment using laser measuring equipment can cost £50-100.

Inside wear is normally caused by incorrect camber and therefore just getting the tracking checked will probably not fix the problem.

If you have wear on the inside and outside then your tyre pressures are too low.

This explains things:

http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

The IS200 has a little negative camber, which improves handling, so a small amount of wear on the inside is expected.

[doobs]

Tracking is just checking the toe-in. There are also caster and camber adjustments that are required to fully align the wheel.

Tracking normally costs about £10. A full wheel alignment using laser measuring equipment can cost £50-100.

Inside wear is normally caused by incorrect camber and therefore just getting the tracking checked will probably not fix the problem.

If you have wear on the inside and outside then your tyre pressures are too low.

This explains things:

http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

The IS200 has a little negative camber, which improves handling, so a small amount of wear on the inside is expected.

Thanks Colin

[LennyLexus]

Mark if you drive like you did in your video, i'm not surprised soz not funny as I myself had the same problem (dodgy geometry).

If you do a search on Wheel alignment you shoud it find, but basically the end result was Lexus ******* redone the geometry and gave me 1 new Continental sport tyre........

[IS300]

OKAY, before I start, my wheels are never kerbed, i avoid pot-holes and they spend most of there time on the motorway.

Now.............

I had an IS200 Sport from new and i traded it in after 20 months with 37k miles on it, it was still on the original tyres and ALL tryes had worn down perfectly even :) I traded this car in for a NEW IS300 and within 7 months and 10k miles later the inner edges to the front tyres are now illegal, the remaining part of the tyres still show 6mm. The whole handling of the car feels shagged , it bumps steers, tram-lines and just about ever bump is transmitted through the cabin !

It seriously needed a 4 wheel laser alignment, but felt Lexus should pay, But... hey ! they wouldnt :tsktsk: As i suspected, the fronts were toeing out, but just about every angle on all 4 wheels were out!

This has been corrected with the alignment now but one of my CASTER angles is outside the tollerance figures and it can't be adjusted, i guess it won't affect tyre wear, but surely this can't be right for the cars handling?

I'm dissapointed with a car that cost me £30k, Lexus can't sort out tyre wear! :tsktsk:

The ride does feel improved now but i still get a 'tugging' from the steering wheel at speeds below 40mph, it feels like there is no straight line stability at all !!!

Anyone else get this on a NEW car?????????????

[necromax]

Mark, looks like you're overinflating your rear tyres, I don't think its alignment. Overinflation would explain why they are more worn in the middle, not the edges. There's no physical way that alignment could wear the middle of the tyre like that.

The fronts are a different matter, which could illustrate a minor alignment problem.