Purchased the car Aug 2017. Mileage 15,100. I got a flat and discovered that all four tires had an alignment problem that the tires we toeing out and that we wearing thin on the inside of the tire. Brought it to the dealer and they told me all the cars of this type of suspension had this problem and they can’t (or won’t) correct it. Cars included Audi, Acura, etc. I’m don’t know if they are telling me the truth or not. Will call corporate tomorrow. Anyone else have this problem?
Many, many, many cars have this problem. Especially ones that are designed to handle well, like yours
It isn’t toe. Toe can be adjusted. Camber angle is the problem. Camber is the angle the tire is set to from straight up and down. Negative camber is the tire tilted in at the top and that’s what you have and that’s the condition that wears the inside of the tire first.
The camber is set so the car handles well. For people who just toodle around town or do lots of highway miles, the camber will wear out the inside of the tires early. There are fixes for this. Find a local shop that specializes in suspensions and alignment. Tell them your complaint and I’m sure they can fix you up. It will cost you anywhere from a couple hundred to maybe as much as $500 for the special parts needed to do this adjustment.
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This problem is most visible when the tires are nearly worn out, with them bald on one side, a little bit of tread on the other. How much tread is left on the ‘good’ side of the tires?
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Hello to both respondents. Thank you for your quick responses. Mustangman, I think your dead on and correct with you assessment. This is exactly what’s wrong with the car, nobody else was able to explain it as accurately as you. After the dealer visit I thought is was a problem they were unwilling to correct. Your description was right on, I’m 74 and the car is used for local driving. It’s a great car, fun to drive. I call it my luxury Porsche. It’s clear I probably need to fix the suspension, and/or I could buy better tires. The Bridgestone tires are not wearing well at all, even the nonwear portion of the tire. Should I buy something like Michelins? Again, thank you for the your responses and to the website. Very helpful.
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Changing tires will only help a little if at all. You could buy tires with a higher treadwear rating… usually a 3 digit number molded on the tire. 400 treadwear tires will last longer than 300 tw tires. There are Michelin models that have very low numbers as well as high treadwear numbers. Same for Bridgestone.
Higher treadwear tires won’t fix the wear problem, just last longer overall. To fix the problem requires fixing the alignment. Again, find a good alignment specialty shop in your area.
Going to a site like TireRack.com will allow to to see and compare ratings for wet and dry traction, ride, noise, wear, ect. You don’t have to buy from them but the ratings are helpful.
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The Lexus IS cars (2006 and up) are known for inside tire edge wear, it is caused by the Ackerman angle in the front suspension. When making sharp turns in parking lots the front tires scuff the pavement and the result is rapid wear on the inside edge.
The wear varies from driver to driver on these cars, some people get 50,000 miles out of a set of tires, others chew though the front tires in 20,000 miles, all depends on the type of use. Most Lexus cars have 0.5 to 0.75 negative camber, that is not what is causing accelerated wear on the front tires.
I have seen tires worn down to the belts on the inside edge and still have 6/32" of tread in each tire grove.
The dealer is NOT going to fix the problem. That’s because LEXUS specifies too much camber.
You need to take the car to an independent alignment place and ask them to dial out as much camber as possible - even if it means the car is not in spec. (Again, the spec is wrong for good tire wear!) This may take a camber plate, an eccentric bolt, or something similar (Extra cost!!) to accomplish.
Ask ahead of time. and if they don’t agree, take the car somewhere else!
You are going to lose some of that great handling, but you’ll get more even tire wear!
Oh, and get the printouts!
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Yep… I would have to agree with @Mustangman (its almost getting annoying how accurate his responses are but I’m sure you wont complain) and also @CapriRacer
Sometimes additional parts are needed in order to gain the ability to dial out too much camber, sometimes not. Hopefully not in your case. If it is readily adjustable…simply dial it out a bit. The difference in tire wear will be immediate and you probably will not notice any change in the handling at all.
Excellent advice here… Less camber will solve this issue.
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If poor Ackerman is a contributor, that, unfortunately cannot be fixed with an alignment. That is a geometry problem within the suspension and steering design.
So Ackerman wears out the front tires and excessive rear camber wears out the rear tires. Rotate and repeat!
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.5 degree of negative camber will make very little difference in tire wear, less than 1/32" difference in tread depth across the tire at the end of the life of the tire.
Perhaps he has too much negative and he is toed out?