New Buyer of Lexus Rc300H F Sport

Danny Boi · December 8, 2021

Hi Guys,

Ive just brought my first lexus RC300h F Sport and just joined this Club. I hope everyone is well.

Just wanted to know experiences from anyone about the lexus RC300h pros and Cons.. what to look out for

My First issue is that i have noticed that the rear tyres somewhat seem to be eaten on the inner Edges and also when on full lock right the wheel tyre seems to jump and not smooth.

Any one had these issues?

Many Thanks

NemesisUK · December 8, 2021

Welcome to the club!

I have experienced both those things you mentioned. Rear tyre wear on the inner edges is normal for this model, as reported by my service technician. Also the tyre skip is common on cold mornings and is due to the low profile wide summer tyres. I only experience it when turning on full lock and the tyres are cold.

The only annoying thing I've found on the RC is the way rain water runs off the roof and drips onto the seat when opening the car door after being parked in the rain.

Rabbers · December 8, 2021

Welcome, Danny Boi. If, as I would strongly recommend, you go as far back in this Forum as 2016 when the 300h was launched, you’ll find very few objective complaints, meaning that you’ve bought a car that is as reliable as it is nice. I’m sure you’ll enjoy owning it.

Danny Boi · December 9, 2021

23 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

Welcome to the club!

I have experienced both those things you mentioned. Rear tyre wear on the inner edges is normal for this model, as reported by my service technician. Also the tyre skip is common on cold mornings and is due to the low profile wide summer tyres. I only experience it when turning on full lock and the tyres are cold.

The only annoying thing I've found on the RC is the way rain water runs off the roof and drips onto the seat when opening the car door after being parked in the rain.

Hey Nemesis,

Many Thanks, yeah i was considering putting those wind deflectors, i guess its annoying u just keep a microfibre towel in the car and keep wiping off.

I have had the tyres replaced, but i dont think the car has ever been for tracking, im gonna get that checked out and then off to lexus for a full service and hybrid health check. Other then that all seems well with the car i hope your car is also doing good.

Danny Boi · December 9, 2021

19 hours ago, Rabbers said:

Welcome, Danny Boi. If, as I would strongly recommend, you go as far back in this Forum as 2016 when the 300h was launched, you’ll find very few objective complaints, meaning that you’ve bought a car that is as reliable as it is nice. I’m sure you’ll enjoy owning it.

Hey Rabbers,

Yeah alot of attention is one of them, The Sports+ is mad crazy it's like a beast you have to tame it... now and again, i went from toyota Hybrid to Lexus, so far the garage has taken it back where i brought it from. The front discs and pads were worn out and they failed to change them and also 3 tyres two of which were worn out on the Inner edges for some reason, Nemesies just mentioned that its a normal thing... there must be a thread on here somewhere for a place to go and get the tyres cheaper through the forum? im still gonna get the tracking done as i dont think its ever had one done before.

Rabbers · December 9, 2021

Rear tyre wear is a problem with the RC (and I personally also experienced it with the IS). You might want to look at a brief thread on this forum, see Rear Tyres Check Recommended, started November 9, 2018, and there have been several others on the subject. When I changed to winter tyres last month, the wear on the rear Summers after approx. 27000km (=17K miles) was bad enough for me to need to the buy new ones when I switch back next March or April, which will be not only expensive but also irritating since the front ones are perfectly OK, and I would customarily want to change the entire set at the same time. As has also been usual in my experience, the wear appeared very suddenly, the tread having been acceptable when I did a normal check about 3000km previously.

I am not in the UK, so I don't know the best place to buy tyres there.

NemesisUK · December 9, 2021

I've had the suspension geometry checked at each service on both my car's and each it has been in specification the rear tyre wear is a 'feature' of these cars.

Danny Boi · December 10, 2021

Hi Nemesis,

Many Thanks, its a shame that lexus if known as a fault must have modified parts. the tyres are very costly here in the UK around £250 per tyre. i will deffo look into the thread to see what has been done about this... or maybe visit my local Lexus service center.

Hope all is well with your car, i noticed i have the same colour lol

wharfhouse · December 10, 2021

On 12/8/2021 at 7:03 AM, Danny Boi said:

Hi Guys,

Ive just brought my first lexus RC300h F Sport and just joined this Club. I hope everyone is well.

Just wanted to know experiences from anyone about the lexus RC300h pros and Cons.. what to look out for

My First issue is that i have noticed that the rear tyres somewhat seem to be eaten on the inner Edges and also when on full lock right the wheel tyre seems to jump and not smooth.

Any one had these issues?

Many Thanks

Most rear wheel drive cars (at least all those I have had over a lifetime) wear the inner edges of the rear tyres and the outer edges of the front tyres slightly due to the their setup. My IS 300h is the same. However, it should not be an extreme amount and generally although the edges have worn more then the centres the tyres last until ready for replacement with about 3mm left at the centres. Front wheel drive in my experience wear the rears and fronts a bit more evenly. If you have a lot of tread left in the centre and the edges are completely shot I would get a full alignment done. As above, my front tyres "skip" on full lock in the cold too. Nothing to worry about.

Danny Boi · December 13, 2021

On 12/10/2021 at 9:40 AM, wharfhouse said:

Most rear wheel drive cars (at least all those I have had over a lifetime) wear the inner edges of the rear tyres and the outer edges of the front tyres slightly due to the their setup. My IS 300h is the same. However, it should not be an extreme amount and generally although the edges have worn more then the centres the tyres last until ready for replacement with about 3mm left at the centres. Front wheel drive in my experience wear the rears and fronts a bit more evenly. If you have a lot of tread left in the centre and the edges are completely shot I would get a full alignment done. As above, my front tyres "skip" on full lock in the cold too. Nothing to worry about.

Hey WharfHouse.

Many Thanks

Yeah ive had the the rear tyres replaced by the dealer i brought it from and the front passenger tyre as well. I will look into getting a Hunter 4 wheel alignment, i have a place near me due to the fact that the steering is electronic and some garages dont know how to center the steering electronically, some would use the steering as striaght and align the wheels.

MNMJ · December 13, 2021

I use Black Circles for tyres. I order online and they deliver them to a nearby fitter. You get to choose which garage and typically I can get them fitted within 48 hours. Through them I found an excellent local MoT type garage who now fit tyres to all our family's cars as well as doing servicing and MoTs for those outside of warranty periods.

Its interesting to hear the wear rate of the hybrids. I got 28,000 miles out of the rears on my F, but I guess the 300H also has plenty of torque?

Linas.P · December 13, 2021

7 minutes ago, MNMJ said:

Its interesting to hear the wear rate of the hybrids. I got 28,000 miles out of the rears on my F, but I guess the 300H also has plenty of torque?

Compared to general NA 2L petrol, yes hybrid definitely has more torque, but at no point would hybrid torque be higher than RC-F.

The only other thing is that I guess RC-F suspension set-up may be slightly more sophisticated, angles little bit better and there would be less issues with uneven wear. Overall, RC isn't particularly bad on tyres, but they are known (same as IS mk2 and mk3) to wear inner edges of tyres little bit more. So it is possible, that one could have 3mm left across the tyre, but inner edge could be worn to threads. But it isn't massive issue overall, when tyre is close to 3mm, it needs to be replaced anyway.

Danny Boi · December 14, 2021

19 hours ago, MNMJ said:

I use Black Circles for tyres. I order online and they deliver them to a nearby fitter. You get to choose which garage and typically I can get them fitted within 48 hours. Through them I found an excellent local MoT type garage who now fit tyres to all our family's cars as well as doing servicing and MoTs for those outside of warranty periods.

Its interesting to hear the wear rate of the hybrids. I got 28,000 miles out of the rears on my F, but I guess the 300H also has plenty of torque?

Hey MNMJ,

yeah the tyres are availbale no doubt, i guess finding the right person to do it correctly as well seeing the alloy wheel is dimond cut some tyre shops dont want to touch it because of there machines. The tourque is no doubt good.. stick it in sports + and watch the beast move. i think fuel as well can make a difference... i normally use tesco momentum same as Shell V-power... then you can feel the car move.

Anyway ive decided to take it to lexus for a full service, they have a offer where u get an additional 12 months warranty for every service... even though no issues with the car... i think the setup can done better so that the rear tyres wear out less.

Danny Boi · December 14, 2021

19 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Compared to general NA 2L petrol, yes hybrid definitely has more torque, but at no point would hybrid torque be higher than RC-F.

The only other thing is that I guess RC-F suspension set-up may be slightly more sophisticated, angles little bit better and there would be less issues with uneven wear. Overall, RC isn't particularly bad on tyres, but they are known (same as IS mk2 and mk3) to wear inner edges of tyres little bit more. So it is possible, that one could have 3mm left across the tyre, but inner edge could be worn to threads. But it isn't massive issue overall, when tyre is close to 3mm, it needs to be replaced anyway.

Hey Linas,

Yeah My tyres were almost bold on the Inner edges... the outer were still like new when you looked at them... no even tread wear... so i'm putting it down to tracking... even with the setup of the suspension which is great cant fault the car in anyway... the front tyres were also doing the same the outer edges were worn and the inner edges was like new... also the car is not going in a straight line... steering feels wolly at cold... i guess its the angle sensor on the steering is out as well...

Linas.P · December 14, 2021

What is the mileage on the car? I agree it looks like tracking issue at first, especially if you are saying fronts have outside wear, but it is slightly strange for them to be so different from rear.

I mean I had slightly more wear on inner edges on my RC (to be honest all Lexus I have ever owned) - just very corner itself and maybe 3mm at most.

I mean I don't want to go into conspiracy theories, but am I right in saying that is how you bought the car? In which case maybe previous owner flipped the front tyres when inside was wearing out? Hence you have outer wear on front, inner wear on rear?

Finally, I would say that alignment should be done on new tyres and it is a bit of waste to do it on old tyres. Because alignment you will be getting now will be to adjust suspension to your unevenly worn tyres and not the other way around. I mean sure I know alignment equipment is attached to hubs, so in theory it should straiten the wheels regardless of how your tyres are looking, but in practice you will be using small nut to counteract tons of force. Unless, you really really want to save those tyres for extra 5000 miles (justifiable considering the cost), I would just wait until they gone and do alignment with new set of tyres.

Danny Boi · December 17, 2021

On 12/14/2021 at 10:18 AM, Linas.P said:

What is the mileage on the car? I agree it looks like tracking issue at first, especially if you are saying fronts have outside wear, but it is slightly strange for them to be so different from rear.

I mean I had slightly more wear on inner edges on my RC (to be honest all Lexus I have ever owned) - just very corner itself and maybe 3mm at most.

I mean I don't want to go into conspiracy theories, but am I right in saying that is how you bought the car? In which case maybe previous owner flipped the front tyres when inside was wearing out? Hence you have outer wear on front, inner wear on rear?

Finally, I would say that alignment should be done on new tyres and it is a bit of waste to do it on old tyres. Because alignment you will be getting now will be to adjust suspension to your unevenly worn tyres and not the other way around. I mean sure I know alignment equipment is attached to hubs, so in theory it should straiten the wheels regardless of how your tyres are looking, but in practice you will be using small nut to counteract tons of force. Unless, you really really want to save those tyres for extra 5000 miles (justifiable considering the cost), I would just wait until they gone and do alignment with new set of tyres.

Hey Linas,

The current Mileage is 54,000... the fronts seem to differ from the rear, i have put it in sports+ and man does it move.. but i noticed that the car is all over the road either it wants to go left or right and the road grip is not 100%. when looking from far the rear wheels/tyres seem to be tilted inwards. so i guess its off to the tracking master... no the front tyres seem to be worn on the inner edges as to the rear.. the garage that i brought it from put a second hand tyre on the warn side and replared the rear with new budget tyres. no clunks or noises just have a funny feeling that the tracking is out and when it was last done.

before this i had a toyota Auris, and that went for a Service/MOT/Tracking each year.

NemesisUK · December 17, 2021

You might find the attached of interest. Check out the suspension geometry section.

It does show the rear wheel do have significantly more negative camber than the fronts. So the inward tilt you see is probably correct.

RC Service Sheet.pdf

Linas.P · December 17, 2021

2 hours ago, Danny Boi said:

Hey Linas,

The current Mileage is 54,000... the fronts seem to differ from the rear, i have put it in sports+ and man does it move.. but i noticed that the car is all over the road either it wants to go left or right and the road grip is not 100%. when looking from far the rear wheels/tyres seem to be tilted inwards. so i guess its off to the tracking master... no the front tyres seem to be worn on the inner edges as to the rear.. the garage that i brought it from put a second hand tyre on the warn side and replared the rear with new budget tyres. no clunks or noises just have a funny feeling that the tracking is out and when it was last done.

before this i had a toyota Auris, and that went for a Service/MOT/Tracking each year.

54k miles are not much... mine one was almost 80k when I sold it without any funny issues, but it was serviced by Lexus each year. Sadly, budget and mismatched used tyres are what garages do. I would go with set of good tyres, don't need to be Michelin Pilot Sport 4s, but any decent brand - Avon, Falken, Uniroyal... or any of those would do. I would personally go with premium tyres because they last longer and in turn actually costs less per mile to run in long term, despite costing maybe £50 more per tyre. So I would choose something between Michelin, Dunlop, Goodyear or maybe Bridgestone. But this is complex topic with many opinions and things to consider, so I would not make specific recommendation for tyres right now.

Your experience of car being all over the road would be related with mismatched/budget tyres (I don't understand how this is acceptable or even legal in UK). That being the case, I would not waste my time getting alignment on these tyres - budget tyres despite being ok for just cursing have this inherently unpredictable handling. On premium tyres you can feel where the grip is and when car is about to start sliding, so if you choose to drive on the limit you can, or if not then you will have extra "safety margin". On budget tyres that is not the case - one minute they grip and feel good, next minute they suddenly lose it unpredictably and are outright dangerous. I can't count how many times premium tyres have saved me.

In summary, I would say - plan for set of new mid-range/premium tyres and do 4-wheel alignment together with tyre replacement. Then you will have tyres in right shape and better alignment. Obviously, you could align on existing tyres, but you still going to have unpredictable grip and it does not sound to me like existing tyres are worth saving.

NemesisUK · December 17, 2021

3 hours ago, Danny Boi said:

i have put it in sports+ and man does it move.. but i noticed that the car is all over the road either it wants to go left or right and the road grip is not 100%

I have found the Sports+ setting is far too hard, the suspension very firm, on UK roads the slightest bump or irregularity will deflect the car.

Charlesh · September 25, 2022

On 12/10/2021 at 9:40 AM, wharfhouse said:

Most rear wheel drive cars (at least all those I have had over a lifetime) wear the inner edges of the rear tyres and the outer edges of the front tyres slightly due to the their setup. My IS 300h is the same. However, it should not be an extreme amount and generally although the edges have worn more then the centres the tyres last until ready for replacement with about 3mm left at the centres. Front wheel drive in my experience wear the rears and fronts a bit more evenly. If you have a lot of tread left in the centre and the edges are completely shot I would get a full alignment done. As above, my front tyres "skip" on full lock in the cold too. Nothing to worry about.

This quite even Triumph TR7. If look in the manusl -p99 - there's a tyre rotation plan. On RWD card with symmetric wheels and tyrrs. Move front to rear on the same side swap the rear to oppodite front corners. This even wear out takes about 1/2 an hour. Should about twice a year. But I do anout a month on a main car.

NemesisUK · September 25, 2022

55 minutes ago, Charlesh said:

This quite even Triumph TR7. If look in the manusl -p99 - there's a tyre rotation plan. On RWD card with symmetric wheels and tyrrs. Move front to rear on the same side swap the rear to oppodite front corners. This even wear out takes about 1/2 an hour. Should about twice a year. But I do anout a month on a main car.

You can't on the RC as the rears are wider than the fronts. The best you can do is swap side to side, as long as the tyres aren't directional

Linas.P · September 25, 2022

2 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

You can't on the RC as the rears are wider than the fronts. The best you can do is swap side to side, as long as the tyres aren't directional

And even that would have little benefit if the issue is the tyres wearing on inside edge.

Maybe re-mounting the tyre would be possible (so that inside is mounted on outside), but most likely not, because most 265/35R19 tyres are directional and have distinct inside and outside design which requires them to be fitted in certain way.

3 hours ago, Charlesh said:

This quite even Triumph TR7. If look in the manusl -p99 - there's a tyre rotation plan. On RWD card with symmetric wheels and tyrrs. Move front to rear on the same side swap the rear to oppodite front corners. This even wear out takes about 1/2 an hour. Should about twice a year. But I do anout a month on a main car.

Lexus only has rotation plan for AWD cars or cars which have square set-up, so tyres could be rotated IS250 AWD or IS250 on 16" wheels, or RX. But they can't be rotated on RC. Even RC350 now has staggered set-up so I even doubt tyre rotation is mentioned in RC manual... and if it is then it is misleading.

NemesisUK · September 25, 2022

15 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Lexus only has rotation plan for AWD cars or cars which have square set-up, so tyres could be rotated IS250 AWD or IS250 on 16" wheels, or RX. But they can't be rotated on RC. Even RC350 now has staggered set-up so I even doubt tyre rotation is mentioned in RC manual... and if it is then it is misleading.

It is mentioned in both the 2016 ans 2019 handbook but it quite clearly differentiates between square and staggered set-ups.

Linas.P · September 25, 2022

55 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

It is mentioned in both the 2016 ans 2019 handbook but it quite clearly differentiates between square and staggered set-ups.

Kind of redundant for UK where we never had cars with square set-up sold here.