lexuslover

good question. yes, they offer that, but i am past warranty at 60k miles now

plus i always have had AAA for other services (travel, DMV, etc) and the times i called both companies, AAA always showed up faster. i know lexus basically subs out the work to AAA, but for some reason they act more slowly. i've only tested this theory 2-3 times in my life, but AAA always is the first to show...

fw1

glad I found this thread coz I just had my 5k servicing done and I noticed they didn't rotate the spare. I was obviously unhappy because I had asked the service advisor before and after the service if tire rotation is performed and he said yes. It was also written on the statement of work "tire rotation performed". The only thing they don't tell you is they don't follow the manual on the tire rotation procedure. I was obviously not happy when I got home and inspected the tires. When I called back the advisor told me that most cars they service either has a smaller spare, or had a different type/manufacturure spare (because they had replaced their 4 tires at least once). My rebuttal to that was that is their process and as a car owner, the only thing I'm following is the lexus manual, and if they're not, they should at least inform me and let me make the call. Anyways he asked me to come in and they'll rotate the spare too.
Next I asked him about balancing the spare after putting on the vehicle and he told me that it'll be extra charge for that -- haven't decided if I'm going to pay for it yet. Does anyone know if it is necessary to balance the spare before using?

geko29

It should have been balanced at the factory.

bileve

A well worn but healthy tire is the perfect spare. Might as well use up the first 8 or 9/32s. When called into service, it can take you 50 or 500 miles until you can repair the bad tire.

For fifty years I have performed five tire rotation until original tires are ready for replacement. Then the best tire is designated spare. Four tire rotation is used for the new set of tires and so on. Keep an eye on spare inflation (I keep it at 40 psi until needed.) and check for rubber rot.

fw1

here's an update.... took the vehicle back for the spare tire rotation, and they even did the tire balance (on the spare only) without asking. In and out in a hour. That closed the case for me.

Dinomon

Lexus never did spare tire rotation for ours as well. So our spare looks brand new.

gizmozoid

Do the techs even know there's a spare in the car? Gotta wonder. The extra fee is ridiculous. My last oil change/tire rot was $198.10. There should be more than enough for the extra 5 minutes it takes to swap a tire.

I was a little grumpy about this too :-)