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Thanks man! Will go with the cheaper option. I assume any car repair shop can do it or has to be performance shop?
Any shop with a press should be able to do this. I took the brackets out myself in my garage and took them in to my friend at my old dealer where I used to work at, he did them for $40 on the side for me. The shop may charge you extra if you take the whole car but can't imagine them charging you too much but guess it all depends on where you go and where in the US you are. I'd call around and get some quotes cause if it ends up costing you a ton in labor to get those done if you take the vehicle in then you might as well get the whole assembly from Figs and install them yourself, they're super easy to do.
Any shop with a press should be able to do this. I took the brackets out myself in my garage and took them in to my friend at my old dealer where I used to work at, he did them for $40 on the side for me. The shop may charge you extra if you take the whole car but can't imagine them charging you too much but guess it all depends on where you go and where in the US you are. I'd call around and get some quotes cause if it ends up costing you a ton in labor to get those done if you take the vehicle in then you might as well get the whole assembly from Figs and install them yourself, they're super easy to do.
Exactly. Labor here (NY) is ridiculous. Checked the price is $386.03 vs $185.83 including shipping. Will make some calls. Is there a torque spec? i am no mechanic or anywhere close. Changing brake is the best i can do LOL
Exactly. Labor here (NY) is ridiculous. Checked the price is $386.03 vs $185.83 including shipping. Will make some calls. Is there a torque spec? i am no mechanic or anywhere close. Changing brake is the best i can do LOL
If you can do brakes, you can definitely do this, it's literally two bolts on each bracket and just got to pay attention to how the brackets come out and have the shop press the new ones in right and also so you can install them back again correctly, that's all. Although it was overkill for my tech and for myself but just for grins, I marked each bracket to be on the safe side with tire chalk to know which bracket came out of where and also front and rear since the new bushing has to go in a specific way since it is shaped differently from the crap OEM ones, you'll see the huge difference and feel it once you drive it after the install (at least I did). The bag of parts from Figs comes with pretty clear instructions as well, so also the tech pressing the new bushings knows to mount them correctly. What are the shop rates up there if you don't mind me asking? CO has become ridiculously expensive in comparison to when I stopped wrenching in 2016 but curious to know how we still compare to other parts of the country. As far as the torque specs, I have air tools and just have the feel for it after being a tech of 15 years (poor excuse, I know haha) but I'm sure there has to be a downloadable manual that states the torque specs on those bolts.
Waiting for parts. Asked dealer to order in the parts for the GSF/RCF bushings. They are around $90 each, plus ordering two tires for the front. Gonna report back on labor but initially was quoted something like $500+ for RR racing so definitely better to save a couple hundred. Didn’t see how much labor is but they did give me a discount last time when the labor was clearly overcharged for a spark plug work. Got a call from the mechanic himself saying they saw I got charged for 6 spark plug plus labor when it’s really just 4 and shaved off like $200
In line with my own observations the thread depth on the four tires were, going from outside in in 1/32 inches
Left Front: 2 / 6 / 0
Right Front: 3 / 7 / 0
Left Rear: 6 / 7 / 3
Right Rear: 6 / 7 / 3
Tires were replaced new by dealer in Apr 2020, about 14 months ago. Miles driven on tires was 16,000 miles per odometer readings.
Asked dealer to replace both front tires, the front lower control arm bushings with the GSF / RCF equivalent ( 48075-24010 and 48076-24010 ) and perform alignment.
I looked at the documents given to me briefly and saw it was changed but didn't get a chance to talk about it with the advisor. I've since looked more closely at home and left a message to advisor's voicemail to clarify the alignment numbers.
Costs
Tire mount, balance and disposal and fees was about $60 plus 10% on top of tire prices on amazon
Bushings from parts 48075-24010 and 48076-24010 were $95.70 each.
Cost to install was 3 hours at labor rate of $165 discounted 15% due to service coupon special at the time.
Just noticed as well that the paper says all wheel drive while the car is rear wheel drive. Does this change the proper alignment specs?
Yes it does. That's why the front Caster is out of spec, because the RWD and AWD models have very different front Caster.
Also they never bothered to equalize the rear Toe, even though it's in the green. That's just straight up laziness on the Techs part.
Also they overcharged you on the bushing install labor time by 2 hours. 1 hour is more than enough time to install the bushings barring any issues.
Based on your measurements of the front tires I'd say there was two issues: the inherent inner Toe wear and the tires being underinflated.
The Toe on the rear likely contributed to the rear tires being a little bit more worn on the inside.
Personally I'd go back to the dealer and request a credit of 2 hours for the bushing install and to have a proper alignment done by someone competent.
Yes it does. That's why the front Caster is out of spec, because the RWD and AWD models have very different front Caster.
Based on your measurements of the front tires I'd say there was two issues: the inherent inner Toe wear and the tires being underinflated.
Personally I'd go back to the dealer and request a credit of 2 hours for the bushing install and to have a proper alignment done by someone competent.
I have been very consistent with tire pressure, and kept at the factory spec of 36 psi on all tires, or just higher due to the recently warming temps. Since I mostly (read: 9/10 miles on highway) do highway driving, I figured I'll up the PSI on the front by 4 psi, and the rear by 1-2 psi to be at 40 and 38 on front and rear. I'm going to call up the advisor and report back.
Update from yesterday:
When I drove off the lot, it tracked fine, but it was unusually slow to accelerate, with the car down shifting in order to keep accelerating and confirmed with a notably lower MPG reading on the dash, normally in the 30s dipping into low 20s.
Handling wise the advisor told me that the mech wanted to be sure I got the "F Sports" bearings. Since the car was F sport from the factory I figure that sounded good to me, but then continued to mention that the car may be more stiff.
Now having had driven back and driven a little bit around town for half an hour, it's not notably any different aside from the feeling of fresh tires. No longer worried about understeering at the smallest hint of water on the road. It does "feel" stiffer, but it's not obvious enough for me to tell if it's in my head or actually stiffer. Since the exact part number was specified, it should be stiffer since it's normally used in a 5.0L V8 engine configuration.
As for Noise Vibration, it didn't feel any different running over the same potholes I've driven over every day in and out of my home, neither for the potholes on the highway.
I have been very consistent with tire pressure, and kept at the factory spec of 36 psi on all tires, or just higher due to the recently warming temps. Since I mostly (read: 9/10 miles on highway) do highway driving, I figured I'll up the PSI on the front by 4 psi, and the rear by 1-2 psi to be at 40 and 38 on front and rear. I'm going to call up the advisor and report back.
Update from yesterday:
When I drove off the lot, it tracked fine, but it was unusually slow to accelerate, with the car down shifting in order to keep accelerating and confirmed with a notably lower MPG reading on the dash, normally in the 30s dipping into low 20s.
Handling wise the advisor told me that the mech wanted to be sure I got the "F Sports" bearings. Since the car was F sport from the factory I figure that sounded good to me, but then continued to mention that the car may be more stiff.
Now having had driven back and driven a little bit around town for half an hour, it's not notably any different aside from the feeling of fresh tires. No longer worried about understeering at the smallest hint of water on the road. It does "feel" stiffer, but it's not obvious enough for me to tell if it's in my head or actually stiffer. Since the exact part number was specified, it should be stiffer since it's normally used in a 5.0L V8 engine configuration.
As for Noise Vibration, it didn't feel any different running over the same potholes I've driven over every day in and out of my home, neither for the potholes on the highway.
The outer Toe wear could also be a byproduct of spirited cornering as well...typically when tires are worn on the inside and outside tread more than the middle, that is a sign of underinflation. However the IS has this inherent Toe issue in the front that can effect the norm of tire wear.
With overinflation the opposite occurs, where the center of the tire wears faster.
Since you need another alignment done, you should ask the advisor if they calibrated the steering after.
In the repair manual it states that whenever an alignment is done that the steering must be calibrated after...and I can guarantee you literally no one does it.
They may argue that no parts were replaced (other than the bushings) so the calibration is not needed (that's if they even know it needs to be done), but the repair manual doesn't care why you're doing the alignment, only that if you make adjusts during the alignment the steering needs to be calibrated after.
As the vehicle has electric steering the ECU remembers where the straight ahead position is for a number of systems in the IS.
When you adjust the alignment, especially the front Toe, the physical straight ahead position has now changed, therefore the ECU needs to be calibrated so it knows where the new straight ahead position is.
Otherwise the ECU will assume you are constantly turning slightly in one direction when the vehicle is fact is going straight. This will directly effect how much steering assist it provides based on its belief of the straight ahead position versus how you are actually steering the vehicle.
Decided to go with RCF LCA bushing instead of Figs. Cheap ($100, plug and play, no pressing needed). Not as stiff as figs or other performance brand but it works. Not really into performance just want to fix tire wear. I think labor here is around $150/hr. I was quoted ~$1200 for front brake (rotor and pad) replacement a year ago.
If you can do brakes, you can definitely do this, it's literally two bolts on each bracket and just got to pay attention to how the brackets come out and have the shop press the new ones in right and also so you can install them back again correctly, that's all. Although it was overkill for my tech and for myself but just for grins, I marked each bracket to be on the safe side with tire chalk to know which bracket came out of where and also front and rear since the new bushing has to go in a specific way since it is shaped differently from the crap OEM ones, you'll see the huge difference and feel it once you drive it after the install (at least I did). The bag of parts from Figs comes with pretty clear instructions as well, so also the tech pressing the new bushings knows to mount them correctly. What are the shop rates up there if you don't mind me asking? CO has become ridiculously expensive in comparison to when I stopped wrenching in 2016 but curious to know how we still compare to other parts of the country. As far as the torque specs, I have air tools and just have the feel for it after being a tech of 15 years (poor excuse, I know haha) but I'm sure there has to be a downloadable manual that states the torque specs on those bolts.
Decided to go with RCF LCA bushing instead of Figs. Cheap ($100, plug and play, no pressing needed). Not as stiff as figs or other performance brand but it works. Not really into performance just want to fix tire wear. I think labor here is around $150/hr. I was quoted ~$1200 for front brake (rotor and pad) replacement a year ago.
Turns out I was given the wrong alignment sheet. The advisor showed the way to the tech and lift, demonstrated the numbers and got a new printout showing the right caster and camber angles, as well as a toe angle of approx 0.05 Left Front and -0.03 Right Front, which seemed to me to be sufficiently close to 0. Additionally the rear had camber -1.8 and -1.7 for left and right, with a toe of 0.07 and 0.06, which also seemed appropriate and the final thrust angle was 0.01. The tech did confirm they do steering calibration via the scanner each time an alignment is done.
I'll let the rest slide since the advisor was very apologetic about mixing up the paper and stated he was checking on the car every 5 minutes when they did the initial work.
Noting Sasnuke's reply, I'll adjust air pressure to +3 on fronts and +1 on rears since driving and cornering at speed on the highway can result in tire wear on the outer edges in addition to being slightly under inflated for the driving conditions.
I have fresh tires in my garage waiting to get them installed. In the meantime, my rears are almost totally bald. Conti DWS 06's. I've attach photos.
I made the lighting so as to highlight the differences. Notice on the RR that all but the deepest grooves are worn out. And actually, now that I'm looking, the RR does have some out-of-round looking wear on the inner deepest groove. You can clearly see where there is still some tread and then it just fades into totally bald.
The LR looks far more normal, in fact almost not exhibiting any uneven wear.
I get the vehicle aligned maybe once every 1-1.5 years, and have no NVH complaints ever until the tires are at the end of their life. I am now going on to my 4th set of tires with this car with almost 70k miles.
Mostly highway driving. Any particular reason for this discrepancy that I should make my indy mechanic aware of during my next visit?
I have a 2018 IS 350 fsport AWD. Put some new Michelin PS4's on in April, came out to just under 800 w/ everything mounted & balanced.
My question is I do alot of highway driving, 80/20, although I've switched out the OEM bushings to RCF Bushings, will this completely mitigate the premature tire wear? How many miles should I be expecting on this set? All four tires are inflated to 37psi . Im averaging about 20/21 MPG but I do tend to drive aggressive at times. On my original set, I saw the steel band on my rears, but that was at 30k. Also, anyone else with this tire feel as if its noisy? Kinda annoying but once I throw on some music its barely noticeable.
06-11-21, 11:41 AM
