markj

tried swapping the tyre front to back and side to side but it made no difference. all tyre pressures are also correct as well.

Hi Recently my LS600 started pulling to the left, not a violent pull but enough to overcome the lane keeping assist. All four tyres were only a month old so I suspected the alignment had been knocked out from multiple pot hole hit on our wonderful roads. An alignment check showed that both front wheel castor and toe were out of spec and were adjusted, all angles are now in spec but not at the ideal settings and the car still pulls slightly to the left. When I spoke to the garage they said that it was the best they could do and any further adjustment would most likely require changing parts on the front suspension. Don't know that much about wheel alignment and less about the suspension setup on the LS600 as I cant find a manual online to check their statement. Does anyone have experience of 600's pulling to the left or it's alignment setup? Would the alignment figures below cause the car to still pull to the left or should they be OK as they are all in the green? Although the before and after castor angle for the front left has the same before and after value but one is red and one is green which is a bit odd. Failing that can anyone recommend a good alignment centre in the Edinburgh area? I have attached the alignment printout below. All help and advice greatly appreciated.

Hi Not sure if this is in the right place but here goes. Had the good fortune to be a passenger in a mates Lexus Ls460 today. Also had the misfortune to have a puncture N/S/F. Anyway when helping to change the wheel i had a look at the front suspension setup. all nice and shiny forged aluminium hub carrier and two upper ball joints! I have never seen this type of setup on a car, it must rotate arount different axies when you turn left or right. another thing that came to me as i read the owners manual on the way home, yes i know it's sad. the car drops 30mm when it travels over 60mph. does this effect the setup. if you lower most cars the camber changes causing wear of the tyre. i have enclosed a picture of the front suspension. it may also have two lower ball joins but the 2nd one is hidden on the picture. Has anyone seen a similar setup on another car, does it cause any problems with alignment. just wondering mark

Hi tony i have sent you my details. Sorry if you get them twice the pc is playing up. Mark

time and distance are the biggest problem it would be almost a 900 mile round trip to have you look at the car. could it be a problem with one of the alignment machines or possibly bad setup by the operator?

checked the front and rear ride height again today they are all within +/- 2mm of spec, best measurment i can get using a tape measure.

it's the one posted previously were the camber was set to 0

no that was the only print out they gave me. They were measured on the previous check but that one showed no sign of a castor problem.

hi two thing done today new geometry check and a service. the results of the check are below. the camber and toe angles look OK but now the Right camber angle is out. the garage cant adjust it directly and they said it most likely caused buy accident damage. the car was checked over for damage during its service and nothing was found. the car is only four years old full service and not even a scuff on one of the alloys. How bad is the camber angle, it can be adjusted by replacing the rear bush housing but its not cheap. the car still pulls very slightly to left but apart from that the handling is fine. will the Castor angle cause tyre wear or any other problems? http://s578.photobucket.com/albums/ss225/m...-2009195544.jpg Thanks for any advice MJ

Bridgestone don't seem to publish much information on this. if its down to the customer to pick which one they want from a list on screen, and the person on the other side of the counter can't tell you the difference between versions, except price and "that one has Lexus on it" so it must be the one for your car. a lot of people replace like for like tyres on the car if it's been a good one. It make you wonder how many people may have the same name tyre as their previous one but a different construction or rubber compound. Markj

The tyres are all the same size, speed and load rating. 245 wide 45 aspect ratio 18" rim 96 load rating and W speed rating It is down to the difference between the JZ, JZ Lexus, BST JZ and the DZ notations. These are the notations as shown on the computer screen when he searched for Bridgestone 245/45/18 ER33 tyres. He has stated that he has never fitted one to a Lexus as its not that common and that most people just pick the cheapest one. I have ordered the one listed for lexus, i was only curious as to the different versions of the same tyre. if it is a compound difference its not listed on the bridgestone website, here or in the US they only list the ER33 and a runflat version which was listed as ER33 RFT. Mark J

Hi The choice of tyre to fit my LS430 became too much for me so I decided to stick the tyres fitted as standard 245/45/18W Bridgestone ER33 When I asked for a quote for an ER33 from my local tyre fitting centre I was asked which version I wanted as there were four different types. A 245/45/18 W 96 version, a 245/45/18 W 96 DZ version, a 245/45/18 W 96 JZ version and a 245/45/18 BST W 96 JZ version. When I told him I did not know he asked what make of car it was for I was then told that there was a forth version 245/45/18 W 96 JZ (Lexus) version. Can anyone shed some light on these different versions of the same tyre I believe that JZ and DZ indicate country of manufacture Japan and Germany, But this does not explain the Lexus specific one or the £70.00 price difference across the four tyres. Of course the Lexus one was the most expensive. The price is not really the issue I just want to make sure that the correct version is fitted to the car. My spare tyre is marked 245/45/18 W JZ but no indication of BST or that it is specific to Lexus. All advice appreciated. Mark J

Hi Which type of tyre is generally the quietest on the road? Not make or model but type. Is it A standard symmetrical tyre? An asymmetric tyre? Or a directional tyre? Assuming that overall grip is not the issue. Mark

i dont know why they were set to 0 degrees. All was told at the time was that the N/S/F was out, both in toe and camber and that the rear toe was out on both sides. he said if i have any problems to go back and he recheck it. is it a big problem being set at 0 degrees.

Hi Tony The cars aligment was checked today. according to the printout the camber and the toe angle were both out on the front wheel. And the toe angle on the rears was also out. if i've done it right there should be a scan of the printout on this post. Can't say i've noticed any difference in the car on the drive home, guess i'll just have to keep an eye on the tyre wear. MJ

Hi Tony I took the car to major high street tyre retailer today to have the geometry set. I won’t mention their name but when you’ve read this I’m sure you can have a good guess. Not only did I have to drive 60 miles to find one that did full geometry instead of the usual 4-wheel laser alignment con. Once there I explained the problem and offered the possible cause, only to be told, you are going to love this. its a common problem on Japanese cars as they are set up to drive on Japanese roads and our roads are different, and larger tyres wear quicker anyway because they are so wide. This would have been bad enough but the best was yet to come. Despite still having 3mm of tread around the full circumference of the outside edge I was told that they could not check and adjust the geometry unless I bought two new tyres. Apparently their equipment is so accurate that the outside edge wear would throw off the figures. Is that correct, surely new tyres don't have to be fitted to do a geometry check? I had only just picked myself off the floor when he gave me a price for 2 245/45/18 tyres. £620 for a pair of pilot sports. "These are the only ones I’ve got in stock he said" Needless to say the geometry is as was and I’m looking for another garage to carry out the work. I have been advised to go to one in Edinburgh from a friend who had is S class done there. Oh well it only a 120 mile round trip. I’ll keep you posted

Hi Tony I guess the first step be to get a full geometry check done with a print out showing how the car is at the moment. Once this is done is there a set figure for the camber angle or does it depend on the indvidual car. MJ

Hi Has anyone experienced a tyre wear problem on a Lexus LS430? It’s a 2005 model with 245/45/18 tyres. Dunlop SP9000 but I don’t think the make of tyre has anything to do with it. Both tyres are wearing on the outside edge, with the NSF the worst. The handling of the cars is ok and the geometry has been checked by the local Lexus dealer who has stated that it ok. Unfortunately no printout was given. Any help or advice appreciated MJ