Morrissey

update: Still experiencing the issue. I called Kuni Lexus and I have an appointment scheduled on Wednesday. I'll let you all know the solution.

TAMR_GUS98

Morrissey,
Just my $0.02, but I think Kuni will be putting new tires on your car. Keep us posted.
Good Luck,
Will

IS350PSK

I've had the same problem with my alignment, I took it into the shop and they aligned it with me in the car (while I was holding the steering wheel straight) and Im still having the same problem. Im going to call my dealership and tell them Im having the same problem even after the alignment.

Morrissey

I took my car in today at 11:30 am. At 4 pm I finally got a call from Kuni Lexus about my IS350.

Apparently they checked out my alignment "extensively" and discovered the left front's camber (or castor...whichever one deals with forward and backward) is off. They're ordering new parts for me and they hope it will fix the issue. These are the following parts:

bracket sub assembly x 2
bushings

They apparently consulted with the rep from Lexus and they all came to the conclusion this will do the trick.

I'm sort of pissed off right now. The only reason why I gave up my Z was because of it's bad alignment. Although with the Z's case, there was a TSB for it so it was a known issue. With my IS, this isn't a common problem and the guys at Kuni don't seem to knwo what's up.

mtnduc

Great I just ordered my IS350 from Kuni 12/30. The salesman said I'd have it in 2-3 weeks. Now 3 weeks later he tells me he has to check his allocation next Tues. I'm hoping to see my car by Spring!
My neighbor bought from Stevinson in Golden because he thought they were more honest on the lead time for his 350.

mcfly

There is a TSIB for alignment issues. The number is ST004-01. However, it's just a troubleshooting guide for 2002-2006 model year cars. There's nothing specific to the IS that would cause problems.

Basically, it looks to me like the camber adjustment method on the Lexus's is a bit odd, and involves a lot of hit or miss. And if you've got a tech sloppy about setting the camber, you end up with all kinds of other issues.

BimmerFL

Found this on tirerack.com Cross-Camber and Cross-Caster

Most street car alignments call for the front camber and caster settings to be adjusted to slightly different specifications on the right side of the vehicle compared to the left side. These slight side-to-side differences are called cross-camber and cross-caster.

For vehicles set up to drive on the "right" side of the road, the right side is aligned with a little more negative camber (about 1/4-degree) and a little more positive caster (again, about 1/4-degree) to help the vehicle resist the influence of crowned roads that would cause it to drift "downhill" to the right gutter. Since most roads are crowned, cross-camber and cross-caster are helpful the majority of the time, however they will cause a vehicle to drift to the left on a perfectly flat road or a road that leans to the left.

Using cross-camber and cross-caster is not necessary for track-only cars.

gsrthomas

iTrader: (1)

I feel you. I would be pissed off if my previous vehicle had know alignment problems and my new car was experiencing some sort of alignment problems also.

That is bad luck on your part since no one else has any alignment issues.

Hope everything gets fixed in a timely manner so you can start enjoying your Lexus again.

Morrissey

To ANYONE who has this problem:

Can you tell me what the solution was? i've heard that some people have received new tires from the dealer and that did the trick. If so, what kind of tires did you end up getting? I would assume it's pointless to replace my 18" tires with the exact same kind of set I already have.

I want to see if Kuni Lexus can give me new tires instead of messing with my bushings, etc. Who knows, they might make things worse. After all, it's a 2 month old car! It shouldn't need new bushigns.

tsp5

I'm curious about this as well. I am having the exact same problem with my IS350, it veers to the right. I took it to the dealer for an alignment, picked it up today and there is absolutely no change. It feels the same way it did when I dropped it off yesterday. According to the paperwork, they tried rotating the front tires first, which didn't correct the problem, and then did the alignment. The tech supposedly did a test drive and verified that the problem was corrected, which is obviously not true.

mcfly

Are you sure it's veering to the right and not tracking to the right? It's a big difference.

If you forcibly hold the wheel straight (concentrate), does the car go straight? Or is it just tugging a little to the right.

Most cars tramline a little, and cars with big performance tires even more so. My S2000 wants to yank on the wheel every time I cross the crown in the road. It's normal behavoir that I think some of you might be attributing to the alignment being off.

tsp5

It's definitely veering to the right, I actually have to keep the steering wheel turned slightly left at all times to keep the car on track. When I hold the wheel perfectly straight, the car goes right, no matter what the road surface is like.

Morrissey

An update for those who are interested:

I took my car into the dealership to get it serviced (for the third time). This time, some bushings from Japan and a few other parts came in, so they installed these. The car was at the dealership from 8:30 am till about 5 pm, so they had it pretty much the whole day.

Good news is that I can hold the steering wheel straight and the car won't veer to the right. However, if I let go of the wheel, the car WILL veer to the right.

The only explanation I can come up with is that the tire have been abnormally worn for 3300+ miles under the bad alignment conditions, so would that cause the car to still veer to the right?

tsp5

In my situation, the tires were the culprit. I took the car back to the dealership for the second time last week. They kept it all week (dropped it off Mon, picked it up Fri) trying different scenarios with the tires. To make a long story short, they ended up replacing the Dunlops with Michelin Pilot Sports and the car tracks straight now. It also handles a lot better with the Michelins.

Morrissey

Is there any way you could tell me which dealership this was? I need some kind of proof that it's the tires, but Kuni Lexus doesn't seem to want to go that route. They are calling me back after I left a message and I'm going to suggest they should replace the tires with another brand.

I wonder if I can buy a set of michelin pilot sport A/S and make them pay for it.