bagwell

I don't like the 17's the come on the AWD and would swap to the 18's....they WILL fit right?

mcfly

Out of curiousity, what the heck did you get AWD for? Aside from weighing more, being slower, and getting worse gas mileage, what exactly were you looking to gain in Texas with it as opposed to RWD?

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Unfortunately not, as far as I remember.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

if i remember right, the 18s are staggered setup right? and from the tire spec it seems like the front and rear has different overall diameter

if so, then no you can't put the 18s on the awd

mcfly

You can't run a staggered setup on an AWD car. You'd have to get two sets of front pairs or two sets of rear pairs (assuming the rears would fit up front... they probably won't).

So in other words, you can run 18's, but not a staggered setup.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

well as discussed in the gs forums, staggered setup is not a problem as long as the overall disameter of the wheel is close (meaning right choice of tires). as long as the rotations are similar it should be fine. but the is350 18s, they are staggered and the overall diameters are not exactly the same last time i read

bagwell

I DIDN'T buy a AWD and because of this thread, never would because I can't stand the look of those 17's. I was asking because I've had a few dealers in the NE offer AWD at significant savings and the AWD comes standard with heated/cooled seats and wood trim. I also found am AWD at a dealer with 550 miles on it for $32K and its still negotiable....but if I can't swap to the 18" setup....forget it.

mcfly

Seriously, in Texas, I'd forget the AWD.

tim817

Yup, we have snow here like once every two years? Then people freak out so much because most of them here don't have experience to drive in the snow/sleek road, every school and most of the work place close on snow day.
One more thing, the IS250 AWD mileage is 22/28 (city/hway) , the RWD is 24/32. With the gas price is rocket high today, i'll go with the IS250 RWD.

Johnny Mo

Nope - can't do it. When we did the ClubLexus East Coast Test Drive I asked the product specialists - they said no on the staggered, but you could go with 2 sets of fronts - w/same tire size.

tqlla3k

iTrader: (1)

The Fronts on the 18s are 225/40/18(22") and the rears are 255/40/18(25"), so the rears are about 3" bigger in diameter.

I would go with 225/45/18 (24")or 235/40/18(23") all around

I personally think 245/40/18s(with 8.5" Wheels) would look the best on this car, but I wonder if that would fit on the front of the IS without rubbing

dmz

What they said, You can fit the 18s if you just get 2 pair of front wheels/tires setup

rominl

iTrader: (4)

hahahaa, if it's 3" difference that would be horrible man. not even the covette or nsx would be like that you did the math wrong, it's onnly 1" different, the front is 25" and the rear is 26"

bottom line is you can't just put the 18" lexus staggered setup on the 250 awd, coz' of the 1" difference, the rotation is different and the system will think the car is "losing control" and it will be put under tons of stress.

and from talking to couple of experts and some readings in the gs forum, as long as you keep the overall diameter clsoe within spec, you are good coz' the car won't be able to sense anything. for example if you use 235/40/18 and 275/35/18, the overall diameter is virtually the same. that's a good setup.

yes you can do that, but refer to my post for more info

Rockville

which are all the same and it worked fine. The AWD has a 2 foot larger turning radius, uses more gas (but still frugal) and is slower than the RWD 250. These are OK if you need the extra traction but extra baggage if you don't. I agree with Heffergm.

Rock