flyguyscot

I took my car in for it's regular service and the service manager came back noting there was wear on the inside of both front tires and they should be replaced right away. He said he's seen this regularily on the IS. The tires have seen a bit over 26,000km (16,250 miles) of wear as I have winter tires.

Is this type of wear normal? There's lots of tread on the rest of the tire. I have the sport package so it has the sport suspension.

If so, can you swap the front tires onto the opposite rims so they start to wear the other side of the tire opposed to buying new ones?

If only the front tires need to be replaced, it's it highly reccomended that I stick with the same tires? I'm pretty happy with Bridgestore OEM tire.

If you had a choice between the Bridgestore Turanza ER30 or a Michilin Pilot Sport PS2, which would you choose. Tire noise is my largest concern, second would be performance, 3rd would be tread wear. They both seem to be around the same price.

Thanks in advance.

Kevin.IS

iTrader: (6)

Sport package comes with a lower stance suspension. That may have cause the uneven tire wear. I'll go with PS2, I've heard really good reviews on it.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

My IS did the same thing with cords showing on inside edge at 18,000 miles.
This forum has majority Lexus fanboys so no one thinks there is anything wrong with this. I estimate minimum of 35% of new IS are delivered new out of alignment. All you need is proper alignment & PS2 for reduced tire noise. I bought a set 5 hours ago. ( Z rated tires not good for cold temps )

BTLS250

iTrader: (1)

I had the same problems with my OEM tires. I switched over to the Michelin PS2s and theyre great tires, but the tread wears down ridiculously fast

eric_r_ho

iTrader: (9)

Yeah, I thought my alignment was perfect but apparently not. Steel belts were exposed around 20k miles..oh well.

rokezekiel

yeah i had that problem too. i believe its due to the camber is negative on sports cars so that the inside the of tires will wear faster? I'm not too sure on that though.

flyguyscot

Thanks guys, sounds like it's pretty normal. I was leaning towards the PS2 so thanks for the confirmation.

Sounds like an alignment might be in order as well. Anyones elke know if this will make a difference? I know it can't hurt.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

No. Just plain no.

The problem is toe, and it's too much toe in for the car. Byprodrive is right on the money - it seems the majority of these cars are delivered with poorly adjusted alignment, and it's all in the toe setting.

Without getting too difficult to understand, there is static toe and dynamic toe in production cars with rubber bushings. This is not true on race cars with solid bushings and only minimally on production cars retrofitted with polyurethane bushings. Static is the number the tech sees on the alignment rack. Dynamic is what the car sees driving down the road. Because the bushings allow movement, the wheels push back while driving down the road. Since the steering rack is in front, as the wheels push back relative to the chassis the alignment naturally toes inward from static. So it's possible to have an alignment statically in spec, but dynamically way off.

I'm pretty convinced the cars are delivered with less than zero toe from the factory. They're still in spec, but while running down the road, they're way too toed in. I have my alignments done by someone who understands chassis dynamics (because I don't have access to a rack) and I pay more than most do, but I get what works, not what the computer's database says is acceptable. So I've never had a problem with my 2IS wearing the inside edges.

I learned all about this a long time ago with my Supra. If you Google "lance alignment" you'll see what I came up with.

Shinedown

I have this same problem on my 07 350 sport pkg car with 16,000 miles.
I will be getting PS2 tires and an alignment (will be first one). Im confused though. Does +toe=toe in and -toe=toe out? Or the opposite

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

It should be -toe is toe out and +toe is toe in. Lexus does not specify an angle measurement, they specify a distance measurement. See below (IS-F specs):



So if A > B you are toed out and the number is negative. If A < B you are toed in and the number is positive. There's more detailed information in this thread.

smokyis350

iTrader: (21)

I had the same problem. How do we know the best spec for our car to ensure longer tire life?

08mica

iTrader: (1)

count me in. 18,000 miles and cords showing. new tires this week, im going eagle ga

gemini1

iTrader: (7)

Read all these.. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...op-normal.html

slee18

iTrader: (1)

I have pilot sport a/p that are great. My re50 only lasted 19000 miles my inside tread wore out first. What's weird is the car tracked fine

Little E

iTrader: (2)

I just took my Bridgestones off today and got my new wheels mounted with Michelin PS2s. The guy that took off my Bridgestones said that the front insides were worn pretty bad (only after 10k on them....wtf?) With that said, I love my PS2s; they feel sooo much better on the road.