Eritsuke

I have a friend that just received delivery of his brand new Lexus ES350, which he is quite happy of. The reason why I'm the one asking questions for him is because he's not that computer savvy. So anyway, here are the questions that he wanted me to ask, yes I did use the search button already.

1. He wanted to get two different size rims, of course the bigger ones in the back, but he was asking the people at the local wheel shop if it'll make a difference because the ES350 if front wheel drive, so if the rear tires are bigger, will it actually perform better. The local guys at the shop said they don't know, so I thought I would ask here. He wanted to 18x10 or 9 in the back and 18x8 in the front.

2. I just saw a couple of postings about the transmission spike, my daily commuter is a Camry, so I have the same problem as well, but does he take his car back to Lexus, or do you guys think that they will not do anything for it?

3. The area where we live at has a lot of tint shops, but we can't find the tint that we want, which is the mirror like tint, not the one that is black and has a reflection only in part of it depending on where you're standing, but something like a full two-way mirror, does anyone know any place we can get that done in the bay area?

I think that's enough questions for now, I don't want a lot of people to be pissed off at me asking questions, but anything will be appreciated.

(Edit) Question 4: I know the engine code for the Camry and the ES350 end in -FE, and the IS350 and GS350 end in -FSE, what are the differences internally between the two engines and does that make our cars upgradable?

BillP

I'll try to answer number 1. I’m no handling expert but I do have a fair amount of road racing experience in the SCCA. My take is it will have better overall grip, but because front drive cars generally have a tendency to push when they approach their grip limit a larger tire in the rear would probably emphasize that characteristic, although I can’t see too many people taking an ES to the limits. Going to real wide tires like a 245/45 or 255/40 is going to impact ride quality and the suspension is not set up to optimally control that wide of a footprint. He may even have to play with the alignment numbers. That said, care has to be taken with fitment of the rims especially going to an 18 x 9 or 10 inch width in the rear. Proper offset is going to be critical. I’m not to sure a 10 inch wide rim will fit or is needed anyway. If your friend has a local shop that’s willing to work with him to do some test fitting that would be a plus while working his way through this process. Is he trying to go for the M3 look, 225s in the front and 255s in the rear?

I did mount a 17 x 8 rim with a 235/50 tire from my wife’s G-35 coupe on my ES to see if it fit. They did, although the offset was not enough, only about +35mm. As far as looks I thought it was too much tire width, but that’s personal preference. Good Luck.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

#1 see below.

#2 Yes take it to the dealer. I don't see you posting that he has that problem, just that you do... does he?

#3 Suggest you try posting in the Club Lexus Norcal regional forum for 'tint this question. Note that at least in in older Lexus, metallic tint (often used in the reflective stuff) causes sporadic issues with navigation reception.

#4 You wouldn't want to pay the bill on that one for the upgrade... the IS350 has a higher compression engine (11.8:1 vs 10.8:1) and uses direct injection.


Reminder that the ES350 is still a FWD car and putting staggered fittment wheels / tires is (searching for kind words here) sub-optimal. Yes a couple people have done it for looks only, but you certainly don't get any performance benefits and you lose the ability to rotate your tires.

I'd recommend not doing staggered fittment to avoid people who know cars laughing at your friend on the street (many will). Just my opinion, but if its what he wants more power to him

ES350Bob

I had thought at some point the ES would like nice with larger rear wheels, heightwise anyway, not necessarily much wider, and if ever going to do it I would call and ask for the shop tech foreman at his Lexus dealer instead of the svc. manager and simply ask for an opinion, though you will get help from here too on that question.

If his transmission is spiking, then he needs to at least notify his Lexus service department about it and it is up to him if he wishes to now go in to dealer and go through the process available or wait. You can get an idea from reading the transmission postings and maybe share them with him.

ES350Bob

Almost forgot, the one thing I realized about increasing wheel size in rear is that the rims would not match those of the front unless you change out all four from a manufacturer that offers varying size, though same style, in appearance rims.

LexFather

Like Dave said, Staggered wheels are for function, it is to put more tire patch down on a RWD car.
SInce the ES has 17" from the factory, you can plus 3 to 20" with no issues.

Patric

Does changing wheel size have any effect on the odometer or speed read out?

Pat

tnedator

Is the Nav antenna INSIDE the car? I have wondered where the GPS antenna is since there is no shark fin.

dreyfus

It absolutely does. For how much your odometer and speedometer will be off, check this site.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

dreyfus

The GPS antenna is in the front dash just under, behind, and a little to the right of the center speaker by the windshield.

tnedator

Dreyfus provided a link with some info, but it does effect speed and odo readings.

I just (yesterday) changed from 16" to 17" tires on my Subaru Forester. Using one of the calculators that are available on the web, I found a 17" tire that was 'almost' the same outside diameter. It was one of the closest matches, and now when my Speedomoter reads 60, according to the calculator I will be going 60.2 mph, so fairly close to stock.

You really need to use one of the calculators, because otherwise it is very easy to get a tire that could have you off much more than .2 mph at 60mph.

ES350Bob

If you are increasing the size of all 4 it would, when only increasing rear wheel size it would not if the odo/speed takes it's readings/measurements from the front revolutions.

dreyfus

The Miata site in my previous post gives the percentage and mph changes based upon the old and new tire sizes. You can play around with the sizes until you get a speedometer/odometer adjustment that is to your liking.

Patric

Thanks dreyfus;

I added the Miata site to my "favorites" for potential future use.

Pat

Eritsuke

Okay, so from what I'm getting from everyone's feedback is:

1) Don't get staggered rims because since it's front wheel drive, it won't have a lot of functionalitiy, and it'll be better when I rotate them. If he does have it staggered, then that's only for looks.

2) I already told him to go to Lexus for that problem last night even before I saw the posts, so I guess I told him the right thing.

3) I'll put a posting at the norcal area for tint shops that would better suit or tastes for tint.

4) I know that there's a difference in horsepower, and now I know what the difference is in compression, but when I try to search for what the "S" means in -FSE, I can't find any results, does the "S" mean Dual VVT-i? I can't seem to find it.

Thanks a lot for the information, I did go to the miata.net site that was posted and I told him to play around with the site to see what the differences are too, in what he has and wants on his car.