m8554

I recently purchased a 95 LS400. The car has Yokohama Avid V4 tires that are about 50% worn. They seem to ride harder and are somewhat noisy.

After reading many opinions on tires, I installed a set of Bridgestone Turanza LS-H tires. While the ride is the same or slightly better, the noise is worse. Luckily I have a 30 day ride guarantee.

I am now at a loss as the gurus at tirerack recommended the Turanzas as the best choice.

All I want is a smooth quiet riding tire.

Any personal experiences with tire replacement for this car would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike

pascualjr

I have BF Goodrich radial T/A's on my '91 LS400 now. Happy with lack of tire noise.

BrianV

The Turanza's aren't that bad, maybe you're expecting too muhc. I have Michelin MVX4 or something like that. They seem ok, but the traction on them doesn't seem too stellar.

hlippy4

Mike:

I can tell you from experience -- I purchased a 1996LS and immediately had the Avid v4's installed based upon my experience with them on my Supra -- BAD CHOICE!!!! The car drove like a truck.

Anyhow -- I took it back to NTB after a month and had the mgr. drive the beast -- right away he understood that the Avid's were no good for this car. To make a long story very short -- he installed Michelin Pilots on the car (luckily at no additional cost -- even though about 2x as much) and it drives like a dream -- smooth as silk and better traction also here in Ohio.

These LS's have very testy suspensions and to utilize the exceptional ride it seems that only the best -- and not cheapest will do (unlike my lincoln).

Good Luck

hlippy4

LS007

My wife has Michelin Pilot A/S tires on her New Beetle. They stick like crazy compared to the stock Michelin Pilot MVX4 and are rated well for wet roads and light snow. In the reviews on www.tirerack.com a guy tried these on his LS400 wasn't happy stating they pulled the car to the right and aren't smooth enough. Sounds more like alignment issue to me...
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a definitive winning tire (exceptional smooth ride, low noise and ultra high performance traction, cornering and ware) for our LS's?

pscmj

Went through the same "agony" with my '94. I agree these cars are very "picky" about their tires, especially if you're like me and want quiet and smoothness over sticky performance. Here's a thread that has a pretty good discussion on the topic. As I stated in the thread, after trying the MXV4 Energy Plus and Turanza LS-H, I ended up going with the Turanza ER33 from TireRack.com. As I stated, I was very pleased with quietness and ride (they were exactly what I was after), but the snow performance was a little slippery. Fortunately I live where it only snows 2-3 per year. If I had it to do over again, I'd buy these same tires. For your reading pleasure, here's the thread link. Hope this helps ...

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=75138

m8554

I'm new to this website so I hope you receive this message. Not sure wether to respond through the private message system or reply to your message directly. Anyway I have some questions for you.

Do you have a LS or GS? In your profile it states a GS but you mention you have a LS.

Also, could you tell me what kind of noise you were experiencing with the Turanzas and the MXV4s? I ask this because after two sets of new tires I'm trying to rule out the possibility of it not being the tires causing the noise but instead maybe a mechanical problem such as a noisy wheel bearing or something.

Was the noise evident at all speeds or just highway, and was it more pronounced on coarse pavement?

I know the origional tires supplied by the factory on my car were Dunlop SP4000.

Any feedback you can give me would be very helpful.

Thanks

herbvdh

I bought my preowned LS400 with the Yokohama Avid I replaced them with Dunlop SP5000 this ended my slipping spinning fishtailing adventure the Yoko's were HORRIBLE beyond beleif. Dunlop is quieter better tire all around

johnw

I have a '95 LS. When I got it there was a set of high performance tires on it and noisy as hell. I went to Michelin and they suggested the Michelin Symetry and they are great, very smooth and quiet. They cost about $ 500.00 with balancing and tax.

Johnw.

Toolman_ar

I put the Michelin / Pilots on my 98 LS400. The tires ride very nice and have a 50,000 mile rating, as long as they are rotated. My only problem is I think the French own Michelin. I will go with Goodyear next time.

Toolman_ar

LIGHTYEAR

Pirelli P6000 standard size 225/R16/Z rated - great drip wet and dry + not much noise at all.

Very good at high and low speeds (ie 70 - 100 mph and down at 25 - 50 mph)

Infact I am more concerned about the wind noise that I can hear (at over 50 mph), than any noise coming from contact with the road surface.

I guess this is all because the car itself, engine noise and general insulation is so good that we look for silly little faults and holes to pick that would be ignored in lesser vehicles !!

m8554

Lightyear

I'm beginning to think you're right on the money. Maybe the quietness of the car is exagerating the tire noise when contacting the road. This would not be as noticable in most other cars. I guess all tires will have some noise transmitted into the cabin.

Still searching for the quietest, though.

Thanks

Mike

pscmj

IMHO, if quietness is what you're after, then the Bridgeston Turanza ER33 is your tire. Michelins don't come close. These cars are so quiet that even the slightest road noise will creep into the cabin. As someone who went through the hassle of trying other tires on a '94 LS, you can't go wrong with the Bridgestones. There is absolutely NO road noise at ANY speed. After all, Lexus did choose them as their original equipment tire ... they weren't wrong.

tenpointed

Yes, my car came with those Turanza's as original equipment. But I would never recommend them to anybody. They wear out very fast (only 140 tread rating), and are slippery as hell on wet roads. They also have a narrow tread pattern, so dry road handling pretty much sucks and they have no warranty. But yes, they were pretty quiet. I replaced them in February with Cooper Lifeliner SLE's and couldn't be happier with the choice I made. The Coopers are every bit as quiet, maybe quieter, handle ALOT better in rain, snow, and on dry roads, have a wider tread pattern, have a 340 tread rating with a 50k milage warranty with a "V" speed rating, and are cheaper. Since your car is a 95 and probably has the 16" rims, another very good tire is the Dunlop SP5000. That tire is just as quiet and also handles VERY well in all sorts of weather. I had them on my old GS400 and loved them, but they didn't offer that tire size on my LS430 17" rims. Lastly, one more brand of tire to avoid is Goodyear. I think they call them Goodyears because they are only good for 1 year. Every car or SUV that I've had that came with Goodyears always sucked badly. Not the cars/SUV's, the tires. They wear out fast and are slippery as hell, not to mention are very expensive.

pscmj

You made excellent points about the ER33s, all of which I brought up in prior posts BTW, but he asked about quiet tires, and the ER33s are very quiet. Even with a treadwear rating of 140, they'll last between 25-30K miles which is not bad for a car of this size (depending on driving habits of course), and while they are slippery in snow, I NEVER had a problem with them in even the heaviest rains. Tires are like shoes, everybody has their own viewpoints and priorities. For me quietness was the number one priority, so I went with the ER33s (especially after trying the MXV4s and LSHs which were very disapointing). Anyway, to each his own, and the best of luck to all ...