Livy

I bought a used GS 300 AWD 3 months ago and just brought it in to Lexus for my first oil chage, to my shock they had some bad news - here is what they said:
One of your tires is badly worn on the inside edge and the cord is beginning to stick out. Two other the other tires have significant inside edge wear. One tire seems ok. Upon inspection to see what was causing the wear, they discovered a fist-sized area of damage to the front subframe. There is also some scrapes to the underside of the front bumper and some minor damage to the plastic engine under-cover. The damage to the subframe is such that the car will never be able to be properly aligned, which means I'll go through tires like crazy. They are recommending replacing the subframe and 3 tires, as well as doing an alignment on the car once the repairs are made.

Any ideas on what caused this - I am suspecting the previous owner hit a rock or something, any thoughts?

The cost for the repair (apart from buying new tires) is about $2K - does that seem reasonable?

Lesson learned - always have an inspection done before buying a used car ....

LeslieRC

Sounds like the tip of the iceberg. Did you purchase from a used car dealer? If so, even though it's been 3 months, I would take it back to them and make a big deal about hidden problems and defects. You never know...

Livy

Yes, I bought it from a used dealer in CA - I live in CO.

I will definately go back to them, although it could be argued that they were not aware of it either.

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

You could take it to a frame and body alignment shop. See if they can pull everything back into spec. They usually have big huge machines just for that purpose. This is assuming that the dealer you bought from won't budge and won't pay you a cent.

link13

Sounds like the previous owner decided to go over some curbs or a center divider. There's a reason a car this new wasn't sold as CPO by Lexus. Unfortunately, you found the reason. You may want to shop around a little on repairs if there are any trustworthy, independent shops in your area. If you bought the car AS IS/NO WARRANTY, you're unfortunately stuck with it at this point.

LeslieRC

I forgot to express my regrets about what you're going through; I know it must be frustrating. If the dealer you purchased this car from is reputable, I think they would understand your dilemma and would want to make things right.

Good luck!

Nauticalx

Damn, that sucks. Lesson learned, when I buy mine, look under the car. Nobody ever checks down there and I never thought to until this post. Sorry for the unwelcome news OP, I hope it gets fixed quickly!

beachfront

I am not a mechanic but with regards to the tire inside wear...
I was told that a little inside wear is somewhat "normal" for many sports cars as they adjust the cambers (sp?) to account for a sportier ride...


Not sure what that means, nor do I care but when Yokohama replaced my advans with s-drives the local shop told me a little inside wear is common...