mtl1978

Quick question for everyone. According to the first footnote on the lexus.com page for the new IS:

"Tires fitted with 17- or 18-in. wheels are expected to experience greater tire wear than conventional tires. Tire life may be substantially less than 15,000 miles, depending on driving conditions."

Every 15k (or less) seems pretty crazy. Is this also true of the current IS? Of any other Lexus models? I am very interested in buying the 350 when it comes out, but not if I need to spend a thousand bucks every year on tires. If I don't get the Lexus, I'm thinking about a TL or G35...how long do you all think the tires would last on those cars? Also, am I right in thinking the tires will be so expensive? If it's true that we're talking about this added annual expense, the IS might be out of the running for me.

Right now I drive a '03 Passat GLX and it doesn't need new tires but for every 40k. Replacing tires (16") costs around $120 per tire. I've never had a car that needed new tires every 15k. Even my friend's Porsche doesn't require that.

Thanks for your help.

LexFather

Lexus has true low profile tires. I notive the TL and G35 hav a bigger sidewall, but they are bigger cars.
This is nothign new. When you get a car with big wheels and low-profile tires, you simply will have to change more often. EVEry car you listed, won't get more than 20k max on tires.

Tire prices have gone down in the last couple years as there is more competition.

LexFather

And welcome to CL. Of course it does depend on how u drive. If you take it easy, the tires will last longer. The more aggresive you drive, the less time the tire will last.

encore888

The 17' wheels on the LS are also projected to last not as long as the smaller ones...oh well, price for sporty-cool I guess.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yeah, as long as you get summer tires on performance cars, i think the wear is there. 20k is a good number to shoot for i think. and if you drive a bit aggressive, 15k is there

Young04

if your friend is using all season tires, he'll get more than 20K out of them. summer performance tires are made of a softer compound (they'll wear faster) and you'll never get more than 20K out of them, no matter what car they're on. i've heard of people getting fewer than 12K miles out of their summer tires. maybe the IS350 with sport package will have an option for all season tires, but if not, just use the stock summer tires till they're done and replace them with all seasons. you will not want to drive summer tires in anything below 40 degress farenheit. advantage of summer tires is that you'll get added traction in both dry and warm weather wet conditions. remmeber, it's not the brand of car, it's the type of tire.

lxspower57

my dad owns a g35, i drive it failry often, tires are i gretat shape at 16k another 4k to go until 20k, but then again there mostly highway miles...and my IS300 i had tthe same times on it since 18k to about 50k, now its off with the old tires and on to the new rims and tires racing hart c4's and falken azenis

Lexusfreak

What are the exact tire sizes for both the 17 & 18" size? What rubber comes with the AWD model?

spwolf

it is just an legal mambo jumbo to make sure you understand it is performance vehicle with performance tires.
Even then, factory tires are almost always designed to have longer wear time than lets say best performance road tires you can buy today - for example, Ferrari Enzo comes with Bridgestone RE50 tires that have longer life and not Potenzas S03 PP which are their best tires.

With an IS250 or even IS350, you should be ok as long you dont like to brun rubber. This is true for all RWD sport sedans, including 330i and G35... TL should be even worse for FWD wheelspin...

Personally, I preffer stickiest tire I can get as supposed to changing them 5k later. Afterall, you purchase 40k vehicle because of the way it handles and then you skip on 600$ tire replacement cost every 2 years.

flipside909

Lexus put about 20k for the life of the summer 17" stock tires for the IS300. Stock 17" IS tires are usually Bridgestone Potenza RE040's & RE92, Dunlop, Michelin Pilot Primacy and I think one other tire...i forgot. My stock z rated Bridgestone Potenza RE040 215/45ZR17's lasted me to about 28k miles. I do mostly long freeway driving (100 miles a day) so it's a little more easier on tires than just driving 100% city.

Because the new IS will be using a staggered tire setup for the optional 18" wheels, wider tire/wheel in the back, you will obviously get no chance to prolong the wear of your tires through a tire rotation.

upbull340

Its my understanding looking at the material I have from my dealer:

225/45 R 17 and 245/45 R 17

and the optional 18's are

225/40 on 8.0" wheels and 255/40 on 8.5" wheels

The 17's will probably be an all season tire while the 18's will be a ultra high performance summer tire. From my experience with my 235/40/18's on my S60R 20,000 is probably a good figure.

You can get more info on tires at the tirerack.com on ultra high performance summer and UHP all season tires. I'm using UHP all season Toyo Proxis4's and while I lose some summer performance I gain light snow capability.

flipside909

I will verify the tire sizes tomorrow as i will be test driving both IS250 and IS350 for ClubLexus w/Lexus HQ.

Gojirra99

& we expect a full detailed write-up on both I suppose no pics huh ?

XeroK00L

Ahhhh I so envy you!!! Get your hidden camera ready (in a hat or by the glasses or something), and a hidden voice recorder too (so that we can hear the exhaust note)!!

flipside909

Ooops did I say that? I mean't I was going to see pics and imagine what it would be like to drive it. Gotta stop daydreaming.