Rx330 Alignment Needed At 25k

[RX330inTPA]

Had my '04 RX330 in recently for its 25K service. The service advisor called me to say that he recommended an alignment due to uneven wear on the tires and the tech indicated it pulled slightly to one side. Of course they did not think this odd.

Has anyone else had this problem this early in the life of their RX? The car is never off road and I have never put a tire wrong since new. The worst the car sees are the brick roads found in several locations in downtown Tampa which have done nothing more than to point out the dash rattle problem and an issue with the driver's side windows rattling when cold. (Neither fixed)

I have driven many other cars and trucks over the years putting as many as 200K miles on one car ('84 Subaru Wagon 4x4 bought new) without the need for an alignment. However, none was a luxury SUV and thus my posting here. If it truly needs one I was thinking of taking it someplace I might get a lifetime warranty on the alignment and even thinking of waiting until the tires need replaced. Honestly, the wear is noticable but not that bad for tires with 25K on them. I have the Michelins and do have a habit of taking interstate entrance and exit ramps at high speed which put a load on the outside of the tire.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

[Rx330driver]

I find it interesting that you have never had to align any other vehical...because i have owned 3 lexus cars already and all of them get aligned fairly frequently....That means maybe every 10 thousand miles...i think its even part of the tune up schedule. THey usually do an alignment and rotate the tires...nothing surprising here. I think there was recently a thread saying that these cars are very hard to align, even lexus has a hard time...so maybe they did it wrong the first time...If its gonna help with the uneven tire wear, then im sure it doesnt harm you

[RX330inTPA]

I find it interesting that you have never had to align any other vehical...because i have owned 3 lexus cars already and all of them get aligned fairly frequently....That means maybe every 10 thousand miles...i think its even part of the tune up schedule. THey usually do an alignment and rotate the tires...nothing surprising here. I think there was recently a thread saying that these cars are very hard to align, even lexus has a hard time...so maybe they did it wrong the first time...If its gonna help with the uneven tire wear, then im sure it doesnt harm you

I sure as heck hope your cars do not need alignments every 10K miles and no car I am aware of has as part of its normal servicing the need for an alignment. The word "alignment" does not even appear in the RX330 maintenance schedule PDF document you can get from their owner's forum.

Yes, they will rotate your tires at the appropriate intervals and recommend that you have your tires "balanced" but not an alignment as in "front end alignment." And yes, I have probably put 450K-500K miles on various vehicles in my nearly 30 years of driving and can confidentially say that I have never had the need for a front end alignment after only 25K miles. Perhaps at 60K or greater would be more acceptible.

I sure hope the dealer doesn't charge you to rotate your spark plugs as well every 10K.

[johnac]

Had my '04 RX330 in recently for its 25K service. The service advisor called me to say that he recommended an alignment due to uneven wear on the tires and the tech indicated it pulled slightly to one side. Of course they did not think this odd.

Has anyone else had this problem this early in the life of their RX? The car is never off road and I have never put a tire wrong since new. The worst the car sees are the brick roads found in several locations in downtown Tampa which have done nothing more than to point out the dash rattle problem and an issue with the driver's side windows rattling when cold. (Neither fixed)

I have driven many other cars and trucks over the years putting as many as 200K miles on one car ('84 Subaru Wagon 4x4 bought new) without the need for an alignment. However, none was a luxury SUV and thus my posting here. If it truly needs one I was thinking of taking it someplace I might get a lifetime warranty on the alignment and even thinking of waiting until the tires need replaced. Honestly, the wear is noticable but not that bad for tires with 25K on them. I have the Michelins and do have a habit of taking interstate entrance and exit ramps at high speed which put a load on the outside of the tire.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

My '04 RX330 was pulling slightly to the right and tires were wearing a little to one side. Took it in for an alignment at 24,600 miles and dealer said I needed tires and then the alignment. $1150 later, everything is fine except my pocketbook. The tires could have lasted a little longer, but I was there and tired of the pulling

John

[RX in NC]

The requirement for frequent alignments typically has nothing to do with mileage on the vehicle other than the more you drive, the more likely you're going to hit something that will knock your alignment off. If you cruise through potholes and speedbumps without drastically slowing down, drive on rough roads on a regular basis, go offroad at all, or bump curbs when parking, you're going to need more frequent alignments regardless of what vehicle you happen to drive. All it takes is one good knock or bounce to throw quite a number of different vehicles out of alignment.

That said, my experience has proven that some vehicles are better able to hold their alignments than others. Our pick-up trucks have always held their alignments longer than our cars or SUVs, and I've always driven our pick-ups hardest of all of our vehicles. That may very well be due to the more rugged chassis, suspension, and hardware components holding alignments in place.

As you know, some tire shops sell lifetime alignments on most passenger vehicles. If you're experiencing the need for frequent alignments, you may want to consider purchasing one. Just be sure to get your money's worth by ensuring that you take your vehicle in on a regular basis to have its alignment checked and corrected if necessary. Check the fine print of the deal very carefully - that particular shop's "lifetime alignment package" may limit you to only one a year. Be sure that you can get your alignment checked out anytime you suspect that something may have occured to throw it off before you purchase one of those lifetime alignment deals, though. There are many stories about drivers getting an alignment and then hitting a pothole or bumping a curb the next day and their brand-new alignment is already ruined....

[Ericok]

When Car and Driver did their long term test of the RX300, they ended up aligning it 3 or 4 times. They said the RX300 needed more alignments in it's short test run that some cars in a lifetime. Firestone does offer lifetime alignments.

[RX330inTPA]

When Car and Driver did their long term test of the RX300, they ended up aligning it 3 or 4 times. They said the RX300 needed more alignments in it's short test run that some cars in a lifetime. Firestone does offer lifetime alignments.

Thanks, Ericok and NC. Was driving around the other day and came across the local Firestone shop which had the lifetime alignment special on their sign. Stopped in to check on that and the cost of a set of new Alenza tires for when it comes time. Have 30K on the current set and perhaps can get another 5K-7K out of them, but I do not think much more. Only 5/32 of tread left at best.

FWIW, this is definitely the heaviest car I have driven. I am careful in my driving, slow down to go over speed bumps and in general try to take it easy. Easier on the car and easier on me.

[Rx330driver]

you are right, this is a very heavy car, very very heavy car, which is why even a 230 hp engine cant move it much faster than a compact car with an inline 4 engine. This car has changed by perceptions that japanese cars were made light

[tmastres]

""I sure as heck hope your cars do not need alignments every 10K miles and no car I am aware of has as part of its normal servicing the need for an alignment.""

I second that opinion! Funny thing that I was just having a conversation the other day about how well this vehicle seems to stay in alighment better than any of my other or previous vehicles. I 've got about 7k on a new set of tires and I keep a close eye on the wear when they're new just to check for that type of thing.

[SW03ES]

I also am surprised that you were able to drive vehicles 230k miles and never need an alignment. I always have a 4 wheel alignment when I have new tires installed and I ALWAYS find that the alignment needs to be adjusted. It rarely needs to be adjusted so much on the Lexus that I or a tech would proactively have it put on the rack and checked, but it does need to be done from time to time from just the normal wear of being driven on rough streets etc.

My Explorer used to CONSTANTLY need alignments, my Lexus not so much.

That actually bears the question, how did they know it needed to be done? Did it pull to one side or did the steering wheel sit crooked when tracking straight? Was there abnormal tire wear? If the answer to both of these questions is no then they put it on the rack to see, which isn't part of the standard maintenance routine and was probably in an effort to sell you a terribly priced Lexus alignment ($200 or so). If they say the tires were displaying abnormal wear, ask them to show you.

A lot of times alignment issues you find when its put on the rack, while they need to be adjusted and should be since its on the rack at 80% of the work is already done, aren't so far off that they would contribute significantly to increased wear or decreased economy. I bet this was one of those times.

Ask to see the report.