IowaVol

I have a 2004 LS 430. These are rated for H rated tires. Has anyone ever put T rated tires on instead of H? What are the gains/losses of doing so? The speed rating on T is 118 and H is 130. Typical driving for me is in town or 80mph on the highway. Perhaps aggressive but not sport driving in town.

Thanks for any input.

2008GSh

Can't speak to an LS car. But my last Cadillac was rated for W/Z 150+mph tires. I down graded to T rated tires (maybe even lower) and found the "cheap" tires to:
1) Wear better
2) Ride smoother
3) Be almost silent on the road and
4) Considerably less expensive

The down side was that they were less grippy in the rain and the snow... and dry performance was "OK" But given that 99.99% of my driving was at speeds less than 85 mph I was more than happy with the trade offs.

I find most of this tire rating stuff to be marketing. I actually had to shop around to find a tire shop willing to put lower speed rated tires than what the door sticker called for... I got several speeches about liability and what not.

Bocatrip

When I first puchased my car, I found the new tires(1,000 miles since installation) that the previous owner had installed were T rated. The car handled terribly on the highway, and seemed to wander more than I found acceptable. I exchanged them for Primacy V rated, and noticed the steering was more precise as well as the car being exceptionally quiet. I've heard that for safety reasons, most tire shops should not replace your tires with a lesser speed or load rating than the manufacturer recommends.

Kansas

Check the Tirerack.com customer feedback ratings for your T-rated tires. If they are not customer rated on Tirerack, I wouldn't buy them. Lots of people use T-rated tries on LS cars in winter since that is what most snow tires are - such the Bridgestone Blizzak WS60 I use in winter. My 00 LS400 is supposed to use V-rated (150 mph) tires but I chosed H-rated Michelin MXV4 tires for 3-season use for their supposedly quieter ride and longer wear - had to sign a release though. The MXV4 are very nice.

It's hard to generalize about tires but I doubt if many T-rated tires are going to provide very sharp handling response.

AlexusAnja

Unless you compare the same tire with different rating, you will not know the real difference. You can't say H of this was that of T and worse than V. Different tires have different characteristics so can't compare across. I personally would do no lower than H.

warminwisc

I did it on my Accord and it was horrible and just make sure there is a 30 day trade in policy as you will likely need it(I did) As someone said it will wander on the highway and your hand and arm will tire. A good shop will not do it anyway as it is H rated car or higher.

Stu

Yes, it would "work" but I'd try to stick with the minimum suggested by Lexus unless the cars say ... older with high miles, then take it easy on the highway and the T rated tires would be just fine.

You only need high performance tires on an LS if take corners fast, drive quickly in the rain and strangely find yourself needing to stop hard, frequently. I dont think many ( any ?) of us here drive the car that way. I baby mine, so when it came to tires again ( my first choice was horrible ) I went for smooth, quiet and comfort, and didn't think anything T rated would give me that so spent and got V rated Michelins.

I dont get 60,000 easy miles out of them, why the hell are they so expensive, lol

campisi

One of the reasons a tire is rated for 'H' or higher is that it won't heat up at high rates of speed and fail (usually a separation). One of the ways they can make sure this happens is that the tire is manufactured and inspected to much closer tolerances. This will translate into a smoother rolling tire that will most likely be much quieter than a lower speed rated tire. That's one of the main reasons I won't put a T on my car - I like it quiet and you're more likely to get a quiet tire with the higher speed rating.

warminwisc

Stu, Bro yur the guy with the perpetial drivabilitying problem. Did ya ever get yur wandering figured out? My experience is, ya get what ya pay for in tires and I totally disagree with ya. An extra 100 bucks for the best v rated tire on the front end equals smooth drivabilty on the back end for 60k miles more or mas /minus no matter what the conditions. T do not want to get a tire I regret for 60 k miles.

I drive 30 k a year for the past 12 years at work and like a smooth vibrationless, easy to steer, one finger does it all tire. Who knows what other cars, everyone else's xepectations are. More power to ya to go under the specs of the car to save money and like the ride. Not me I drive her hard.
Warm

Stu

Yes, it was the Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires I bought new for the car last Spring .....

I sold both the Contis and and 18" Lexus wheels over the winter and bought new 17 inch wheels and Michelin V rated Primacy tires .... and the car doen not wander anymore.

2008GSh

Not true, in fact the opposite is the case! Performance high speed and directional tires are notorious for their "song". This is a well known and generally accepted point... Performance vs noise and comfort. You rarely have both.

And speaking of noisy, I can't wait until my Primacy HP tires on my GS are finished. The handle great, and grip like crazy in both the dry and the wet... BUT... whats that you said?... I'm sorry I can't hear you over these freaking tires. On a IS 350 or IS-F thats driven like you stole it, I can't think of a better tire... But on a large comfortable luxury car it is IMO an insane tire choice.

Stu

You're kidding ..... right ?
By the way, you're clearly wrong stating Michelin Primacy's are High Performance tires, they are NOT ... they are Grand Touring tires, so I wonder ......

It's possible your Primacy's are old, dried up and/or defective.

But if not and you're serious, let everyone here know when you find a set of quieter tires.

Good luck !

2008GSh

Nope deadly serious, the Michelin Primacy HP tires on my GS are some of the noisiest tires I have ever had. I've had Michelin Pilots in the past too and the directional nature of those tires also had a nasty highway "howl".. GT vs HP... I never said that the Primacy is a High Performance tire... The "HP" is the Michelin name on the side of the tire, not my description.. regardless of however they want to brand them... noisy. Not sure why anyone would put a high performance tire on a LS anyway, If you bought an LS to try and pull 1.0G corners, then you probably bought the wrong car.

Again both Michelin tires were smooth and had more grip that I could ever use in my GS... But both were hugely noisy. The reviews on Tire Rack and numerous forums support this too BTW

Bocatrip

I think the misunderstanding here is that all Primacys are not the same. The Primacy HP is a summer tire and many LS430 owners have the Primacy MXV4s (all season) on their cars which are proven to be very quiet. It might very well be that the Primacy HPs are noisey. I have the MXV4s and they are as quiet as a church mouse.

warminwisc

Back to the "Rack", the Primacy HP was not a popular tire with 321,000 miles reported versus 10,6000,000 miles for the tried and true standard Primacy. The HP with no warrantee was rated worse than the Primacy on noise and most everything else. I have had GY Assurnace, Primacy H and GY Comfortred on my LS and rate them in that order on noise all pretty good tires.