Lexus IS Maintenance and Repair

ajmtbm

basically says that if you have an is 250 or 350 and dont like the brake dust lexus will replace the pads with a lower dust pad. may affect braking performance

alolewis

Took 350 in for 10K service, dealer service advisor recommended ONLY doing oil change; not do the other stuff in the owners manual which is checks, check brake pads and change AC filter. This shocked me they do not recommend doing what the manufacturer recommends. Other's thoughts?

Mr_Shiftright

Seems unlikely that either item would require replacement at 10K, especially if the pads were checked at your 5K service. He might be trying to do you a good turn.

MrShiftright
Visiting Host

tolbert

I bought my 07 Lexus IS250 8 months ago. Lexus replaced the front tires at 4000 miles because the tires were roaring so loud. It was OK for about 3000 miles and they are right back there again. I know you can't rotate the tires because of the different sizes on the front to the back. But I didn't expect to have to buy new tires every 4000 miles! I have always driven Mercedes and went with Lexus expecting the same if not more quality. I love the car but I can't live with the noise. I bought a luxury car. Is anyone else having the same problem?

albunad

I've owned my IS250 AWD since Apr'06. The tires, so far, have provided a smooth ride. Since is AWD, think tires are same size all around. This may be a factor.
V-rated tires tend to have a more limited tread wear, but you should get at least 10-12K miles (depends on your driving style as well).
As for my car, brake dust on the rims has been a real problem. Read that you can replace the brake pads to help on this problem; have not looked into this remedy. Anyone have comment on the brake dust issue? :confuse:

ajmtbm

front break dust is excessive for me as well. this is due to the high friction brake pads. there is a TSB out which will replace the front break pads with "normal" pads which should help reduce brake dust

ajmtbm

12k seems light. anyone have any information rerding how many miles they had when they replaced their tires?

subearu

You can wax the rims which will make the brake dust easily rinse off. It won't stop the brake dust, but will make it easier to clean.

-Brian

kristen6951

I bought my 07' IS 250 at the end of Nov and already I have had to replace one of my back tires due to a nail being in the sidewall ($300), a week later I brought my car back in as I had a screw in the bottom of the SAME tire & my front brakes were making a horrible sqeaking noise.

:mad:

When I brought it in, they patched the hole ($30) & told me that there was nothing wrong with my brakes & that since it is a performance vehicle, it does that. Now, I didnt buy a luxury vehicle (performance or not) for my brakes to pretty much sqeak on purpose. Sqeaking got worse over the next few days and a "check system" light came on, I brought it in again because I didn't care what it took, they needed to fix the problem.

:mad:

They told me that the last time I had it in, someone accidently put the "computer system" on the wrong setting?! and thats why the light was on. There was nothing wrong with any of my tires. I spoke to a manager because I was so annoyed with all the problems I have been having and he advised me that on all the new IS & GS models there is a I guess you can say "defect" with the front brake pads (of course he was the only one who knew about the problem). He told me that Lexus was in the process of creating new pads to replace all the defective ones (at no charge) to all problem vehicles. I finally received a postcard in the mail saying that my new pads were in. I am taking my car in Friday morning and hoping that once the new pads are in and the tire pressure indicator is fixed, my car wont need to be back at the dealer until it needs an oil change.

:confuse:

ajmtbm

my understanding is that the new pads have been created due to complaints of ecessive brake dust. the new pads have reduced braking perfromance (i would be surprised if it is noticeable) and less brake dust and less squealing.

achan618

Is there a link for the TSB on Excessive Brake Dust and squealing noise? I bought my 2007 Lexus IS250 in Dec. 2006 and have complained about this before, and the Dealer would say there are no problems, and that I just needed to break-in the brakes, as they were new. This was the reason for the squealing. Reading all these similar experiences, I knew they were giving me the run around.

ajmtbm

i found it on another forum outside of edmunds. i dont know how to paste it here. its br002-06. i can email it if you like.

ajmtbm

my dealer told me the same thing. the 350 was added in january and 250 in april, so they did not have a fix at the time.

carmonkey

Just replaced my Dunlops w/ Michelin PS2s @ 17k miles. Size: front 235/40R18, rear 265/40R18.

maxidrive

Aren't the stock tires 225 front and 255 rear? Could we safely use greater size tires?

carmonkey

The factory setup is 225 front and 255 rear. The slightly wider setup I chose is safe and should not excessively stress the suspension. I've heard of wider setups on IS350s on stock rims- up to 245 front and 275 rear (35 profile). I almost went with the 245 and 275 setup, but the tire diameter would have been about 1/2" shorter than stock. With the 235 front 265 rear combo, the rear tires are about 1/2" taller than stock.

alolewis

My wife just took the Jim Russell Performance Driving School with her IS350 where they do hard braking exercises and high speed driving around the Infineon raceway track which is not an oval but has 12 turns, lots of braking and accelerating. The tires look good with no excessive wear but is there anything else to check or mainteance done (fluid changes?)besides maybe having brake pad wear checked? Her 350 has about 11,000 miles on it and had oil changes at 5 and 10K. I washed the car afterwards and this is the first time I saw a lot of brake dust on the rear wheels, not as much as the fronts obviosuly but usually it is almsot indetectable on the rear wheels with normal driving. She has the 18 inch wheels and summer tires. BTW she thought the class was fun but expensive.

carmonkey

If you check the brake pad wear, be sure to measure the pad thickness of the inside pad, not just the outside pad. I replaced my brake pads at 14k miles. The inside pads wore much more than the outside.

simeve

I am on my first set, 19k miles. I think I can go for another 20k miles

dontbuylexus

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!

Everyone seemes to be blaming me on the Brake issue. Lexus stated in a note from their TIS that their brakes and rotors are high friction and wear out faster than normal. Everyone says "dude, what do you ride the brakes?" I have been driving for 20 years and this is the first car where I have had this issue. My pads and rotors go every 15k to 20k. I do live outside of LA but I am no race driver or granny on the brakes. My BMW got 60k out of the rotors even though it was still about 20 on the pads with the same dust issue as the IS250. When ever I tell mechanics outside of Lexus about 15k out of the rotors they go :surprise: But Lexus wont even flinch an eye. They also will not machine them, only replace at $600 a pop. ouch!

I just turned them at Sears, got non-OEM pads and I'm going to order Centric slotted rotors for after the next 15k.

kc567567

I put drilled brembo's and Greenstuff pads on my IS300 several years ago .... will do the same with my IS350 when the time comes.

KC

dontbuylexus

Yea I will change them out too. But Brembo doesn't make them for 2006+ yet. Only EBC, Centric and some no name shop who machine's their own. EBC is slotted but not drilled, only dimpled, plus they are a fake oxidised gold color wich looks cheezy. Some shops have said that they can drill out the slotted centric ones.

I looked at the greenstuff pads and they look good but they are expensive. I like the idea of the 80% less dust on the kevlar greens, but I think that a semi-metalic will cause less wear on my rotors and that is the key.

achan618

So I got my new brakes using the TSB. My reaction is that there is still excessive brake dust on the front tires. However, the annoying sqeaking sound is gone. This is a major plus, as the sqeaking sound made the car sound cheap. I do not notice any difference in braking, so it isn't an issue. For those that have changed their brakes, have you noticed that the amount of dust hasn't changed?

yzfr1n

We just had the same thing happen with my wife and I this past Labor day weekend. About 40 miles into our trip the I noticed the navigation system was not on a street, I then looked up at the compass in the mirror and we were traveling North as we should have been but the Navigation system had us moving south. We knew where we were going approximately but had a little trouble finding the house without the Navigation system we have become so dependent upon using.

I immediately called the Lexus dealership about ½ and hour before closing time (Thomson Lexus), explained to them the navigation system had me traveling in the wrong direction. The service representative informed there was a TSB to replace the nav DVD. I did not think the problem was with the DVD, all the DVD does is save the data, coordinates, and Points of interest. The navigation computer was probably at fault.

So I asked the service rep how to reset the navigation computer, after a 3 min hold the service rep returned with “I’m sorry sir but the only way we will be able to address this issue is if you bring the car in”. I could not do that Labor day weekend and needed the nav system the next day so hung up on the rep out of frustration, better than yelling, the rep tried but there was just a lack of knowledge on how to address the issue.

I borrowed a small adjustable wrench from our hosts and disconnected the battery for 1 min and reconnected it. The screen showed the nav system was initializing and the problem was gone ever since.

NOTE: ALL FOUR WINDOWS HAVE TO BE RESET AFTER DISCONNECTING THE BATTERY!!!!!!!!
This is easily done by holding the window down button on each door control for about 20 sec, you will hear a slight tick if your quiet.

staggered6

Dontbuylexus said:

"Yea I will change them out too. But Brembo doesn't make them for 2006+ yet. Only EBC, Centric and some no name shop who machine's their own. EBC is slotted but not drilled, only dimpled, plus they are a fake oxidised gold color wich looks cheezy. Some shops have said that they can drill out the slotted centric ones.

I looked at the greenstuff pads and they look good but they are expensive. I like the idea of the 80% less dust on the kevlar greens, but I think that a semi-metalic will cause less wear on my rotors and that is the key."

EBC rotors are Zinc plated so they do not rust. The zinc in the pad's contact path is scrubbed away by EBC pads (greenstuff, yellowstuff, redstuff). Please do research before making such claims.

Also, another person said that Lexus (or a Lexus dealership) wont machine the rotors. Not true. I find myself machining rotors every day.

IS 350 pads wear because of the 350's need of high-friction braking. The IS 350 is a pretty peppy car out-of-the-box. If you are having trouble with brake dust, I suggest finding ceramic brakes, using the paddle shifters to downshift, or cleaning your wheels more often.

All Lexus dealerships should wash/vac your Lexus with every service. If they do not clean your wheels for you, ask them to. You are Lexus owners, you didn't pay all the money to have a crudded up vehicle.

ckoll

I recently bought an IS250. In the spirit of making sure I maintain my new car well, I've been checking out the availability of oil filters for the IS250 so I can figure out where to get the oil changed since I do not like dealerships. I am seeing that oil filters do not appear to be generally available in a local auto parts store nor a Wal-Mart. This begs the question of "Is there a problem getting parts (such as filters and wipers) for the IS250??"

One of the reasons I bought the car is that you do not see them at every street corner like the other cars I was considering (Acura TL and the G35). Is there an issue of having to go to the dealer for parts you typically can find in the automotive section of many stores?

I appreciate your insight on this question.

carmonkey

I don't know of any oil filters for the IS available outside of dealerships. I'm not concerned because Lexus is keeping the parts prices very reasonable on filters. I've paid between $5.50 and $7.00 per filter.
If you are a mail order type, try Sewell's (out of Dallas) on-line shopping. http://www.lexus-parts.com/
Periodically, Sewell offers free shipping on all orders. I do my own oil changes. So I buy several filters every time Sewell offers free shipping.

cc2718

I checked out your www.lexustech.org. It is very nice. I would have brought an 250 if I saw the website two weeks ago when I really needed a car.

cruiseship

while driving on the freeway, my IS250 VSC light came on and my temp gauge shot up to Hot. got off the freeway after about 10 miles and brought it into a dealership right away. i was told that something must have kicked up and punctured the radiator and the coolant leaked out. it'll cost $600+ to replace radiator, and on top of that, the engine might be damaged!!! warranty wont cover it because it was not a defect. any suggestions or am i SOL?

Mr_Shiftright

your car insurance might cover all or part of this under comprehensive. Check with your agent. Be sure that you emphasis this was a hazard that occurred while the car was in motion, not some "leak you found" when the car was parked.

And next time, when the engine says "hot", pull off onto the shoulder right away. "HOT" means stop now. Not that the car companies tell you that. I wish they'd put overheat alarms on cars that would shreik bloody murder until you turned the key off.

lws1

I am about to buy a IS300 and the dash is melting. They are having a guy come in to sand and repaint. Is this going to hold? Never had experience with a painted dash. It seems defective to me. I am probably going to return this car. Have to do more research on how long this cure lasts.

maxidrive

I also got the original brakes changed using the TSB and the annoyingly excessive brake dust is now completely gone! Brake feel is not as good, as Lexus has warned, but still acceptable. After 25K miles, my IS 350 is still on its 1st set of summer tires - Dunlop Maxx, what a pleasant surprise!

tfz_hebe89

Hi Louiswei, did you install the doorsill plates by yourself? If so, how did you do it?

If you bring it to a tech shop or dealer, how much did it cost you?

I am thinking of installing that on my IS but afraid of the high cost.

Thanks

louiswei

No, I let the dealer installed the doorsill plates. They didn't charge much, it's more than a year ago so I didn't quite remember. However, I am pretty sure I still have the paperwork for that service so I'll try to dig it out and get back to you.

It's much less than the doorsill plates' cost that I am pretty sure.

louiswei

tfz, I've just checked my service paper work yesterday and the total labor charge was $350.

Keep in mind that's including the doorsill plates, sports padels and trunk spoiler installation. My service advisor told me the the sports padels took the longest time because the original set was not easy to take off. So based on that information I would think that it should cost $100 or less for the dealer to install the doorsill plates for you.

For what I hear, it is very easy to install the doorsill plates, just simply remove the bolts, take the original off, put on the new ones then tighten it. However, if you are trying to install the illuminate ones then it could be tougher. I got the sports doorsill plates and those are just aluminum without lights.

ajmtbm

Anyone else struggling with the heater settings.

i live in the northeast and i usually leave the temperarture at 72 degrees year round. here are the issues i seem to be having:

*even when the system automatically (or i manually) set the airflow to the floor, quite a bit comes out of the top stacks, and while my feet are cold, my face gets way too hot. if i turn the temperature to 70 my feet freeze, especially the left one.
*when on dual mode, i set driver to 72 and passenger to 78. my left foot is now ice cold.
*by hand (im trying to figure out a way to measure) it seems that the right side yields much cooler air than the left when set at 72.
*closing the top vents help, but when it is a little warme rin the day i have to always open and close. kind of annoying
*summer / hot temperatures are no problem at all. just when it gets cold.

i have had other vehicles where when the heat is on, it is bottom only, like it should be. also, with auto temp the upper air is usually a bit cooler, never hot, but here on the IS i get hot air from the top which is particularly annoying (especially when my foot is cold).

i asked the dealer about it last winter and then said since i kept it at 70F thats why my foot was cold, system was OK. going to 72 helped my feet, but now i get a face fuill of steam.

the only thing i can see as a potential root cause is the difference in temperatures between the two sides. these should be the same if both sides set the same, no?

thanks for the help, obviously i would like to get as much info as possible because i know the dealer will look at me like i have 6 heads and tell me teh system is fine.

kodi4

Hi All!

Is it worth buying an IS 250 inspite of all the maintenance and repair costs like the tires, brake pads, rotors and all others?

I just want to buy a car with nothing or less to worry about paying for unexpected costs.

I do love the design of the IS and all.

I am just not completely sure about it.

loucopits

Buy a Toyota Solara instead.

ajfinoak

I am noticing a high pitched whine/buzz when playing a CD or iPod which gets higher in pitch as RPM's increase in my '08 IS 250. Anyone else experience this and know what the fix is?
Thanks!

louiswei

There is a TSIB for that problem, you should check with your dealer. This can be fixed under warranty.

depeche77

Can anyone tell me if they know if the 2008 IS250 AWD has the same tire and brake wear that others have mentioned for previous model years? My salesperson has told me that the IS 250 AWD in the Northeast do not come with Low Profile tires so I shouldn't have this problem. I am a bit skeptical about these guys. Also, does anyone know if the brakes on the 08 are the same as the other years? Do both the tires and the brakes really wear out between 15-20K miles?

I'm going to be leasing for 3yrs/30K miles and I'd hate to replace both the tires and brakes during my lease for all the added cost.

Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thank you all.

ar39

The car does come with low profile tires. I've driven 24K miles in 15 months & the tires have performed well. I might need to replace them at ~40K. It depends on how you drive & road conditions. The brakes are good too, no worries. The rims show excessive brake dust. The brake dust does not bother me. I would choose safety over the clean rims.

sjaieve

my 07 has 24k miles on it and its still on the same set of tires and rear brakes, got my front brakes replaced under warranty cos there was noise coming from there at 20k miles.

louiswei

Hmm... interesting because I had my front brakes replaced around 20k miles due to noise as well.

I have an IS350.

depeche77

Thank you all for your feedback. I appreciate the comments and I feel much better about my prospective lease.

sjaieve

thats a sweet ride man, test drove it a couple of weeks ago, if i wasnt married i would have taken it on that day

smokyis250

Hi All,

I just purchased an IS 250.

I think I got a good deal on the car except for the 'Tires for life program' that I purchased with it. I researched on everything else before buying this car but I made a mistake on knowing nothing about the Tires for life program.

Anyway, does anyone know if Lexus dealerships would give me a refund on this.
I bought it for $1,900 and I really think its not worth it. I had my car for three weeks now. I know if you purchased an extended warranty you have 60 days to decide and they will refund you if you choose not to continue with it.

So please does anyone know and had an experience on this??? :confuse:

Thank you.

louiswei

Trust me, $1,900 is well worth it if (and a big IF) you keep the car for longer than 5 years/100k miles. Depends on your driving style, the original summer tires will last from 15k to 30k miles, I changed mine at around 22k miles and that cost me $1,100. So based on that if you get to change the tires at least twice during your ownership then the amount you paid for the program is well worth it.

smokyis250

Thanks for the reply.

On the contract it stated that I have to do all my maintenance at a Lexus dealership to not void the tires for life program. I am just thinking that it might come down to me spending more if I have everything done at a Lexus dealer

sjaieve

I have an IS250 AWD with all weather tires, I am now on 25k miles but I still have my original set of tires. At my 25k service I asked the dealer if I need to change them and he said there are ok and he will reassess at the 30k service. I think I may need to change them at 35k miles. I quickly realized that I am not driving a perfomance car so my driving style is not aggressive, since you also have an IS250, I figure you should get similar mileage from your tires as well. 1900 over 2-3 years may serve you better if invested in an instrument of your choice rather than in the life program you purchased, IMO.