02 Gs300 Alignment Problems

[twijr1]

I have recently upgraded to 18" Tourmaline wheels on my GS and I am having trouble with tire wear. The outside edge on the drivers side seems to wear prematurely. It does not pull one direction or another nor does it have a shimmy (balance issue). I have taken it in to the dealership several times now with no luck in fixing the problems. I just purchased some new tires from Goodyear and thought I would let them check the alignment and they found (after showing them the alignment print out from Lexus) that the toe-in was adjusted in-correctly to make the car track straight down the road. They aligned the car and now it pulls slightly to the right. I was told by Goodyear, the dealership aligned this way because the caster was not adjustable and that this was the only to get the car to track straight. Does anyone have any knowledge on this matter? I dont know who to believe anymore. Thanks. Tom

[92Lex]

Sounds like radial pull. Try swapping the tires from left to right. If it still pulls to the right then there's probably an alignment issue. If it pulls to the left then one of the tires is defective.

[1sikgs]

i agree with 92lex on the tire pull. i was having the same problem just two weeks ago and i was told by my buddy at the wheel shop to rotate the wheels. after doing the rotation the pull went away. if this does not correct you're problem then i would say that there is another problem having to do with the suspension. check all the bushing and ball joints.

[twijr1]

i agree with 92lex on the tire pull. i was having the same problem just two weeks ago and i was told by my buddy at the wheel shop to rotate the wheels. after doing the rotation the pull went away. if this does not correct you're problem then i would say that there is another problem having to do with the suspension. check all the bushing and ball joints.

i may have to have a closer look at the suspension like you said, because they rotated the tires when i took it back to goodyear for a redo and it still pulls to the right. that is when they gave me the story about the caster being unadjustable and that the toe-in was adjusted to a point to make the car track straight. thanks for the input guys. hopefully not anything to serious. thanks. tom

[92Lex]

Not a problem. Keep us informed on the outcome of the diagnostic.

[twijr1]

Not a problem. Keep us informed on the outcome of the diagnostic.

nice beemer 92lex! did you do all the work yourself?

[92Lex]

Thanks. Yes, I did everything myself. Luckily I use to be an auto/smog tech....I saved myself thousands of dollars. Tuning the stand-alone engine management was a new thing to me, so I had a little help there.