LexBob2

I think that referred to the summer tires only. I believe the all-weather tires have a longer/normal life.

350Dave

The short tire life is more from Lexus' legal department. 17" lo pro tires will not last as long as standard aspect tires. People get upset if they don't last 40K or so, and this sort of gives the service dept ammo to counteract any consumer complaints,

LS4Lexus

Lexus seems to have that disclaimer regardless of if they're using low-profile tires or not. Most of the OEM summer tires they use have low treadwear ratings (I've seen as low as 160 on the previous-gen ES).

Lexus actually replaced all the OEM Goodyear Eagle GA tires on my LS400 in the early '90s due to customer complaints about short treadlife. And I hadn't even complained...Lexus corp just sent a letter to me saying I could go to the dealer to have all my tires replaced for free. They must've learned their lesson from that and added the disclaimer.

LS4Lexus

Looks like I was little off on the OEM choices for the ES350. They actually are (in order of aftermarket pricing from highest to lowest):

Toyo PXJ33
(High Performance Summer) Treadwear: 220

Michelin Energy MXV4 S8
(Grand Touring All-Season) Treadwear: 440

Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02
(Standard Touring All-Season) Treadwear: 260

I'll probably go with the Toyo PXJ33 since i'm in SoCal.

GRFE350ES

tirerack.com comparison shows that;
GoodyearEagleResponsEdge is quieter than
MichelinMXV4S8 and BridgeTuranzaEL400-02. (but ToyoPXJ33 lacks data)

I am in SoCal too, and need your recommendations. Thanks.

toneman

The main reason one would want to go w/ the "summer" tires is that they generally offer better (dry-weather) road grip than their all-season counterparts. The rubber used on the summer tires have a softer tread compound that is typically not conducive to longer tread life. That's the trade-off--exceptionally-great grip at the expensive of tread life, or decent grip but longer tread life.

Summer tires aren't really needed on the ES if you plan on driving it mostly as a commuter vehicle, since it's not as if you really need the extra grip that such tires offer when driving to/from work...

don6709

I have Michelins Energy MXV4 S8. they are good tires, quiet ride. With the exception of tread life. If you get to 30 000 miles without anybody suggesstings you change it, you are lucky. Talked to Lexus cust svc. They said those tires were selected for their ride. Treadwear was not a high priority for them in selecting this tire for ES350. Just curious, are later models 09 -12 ES350 still getting the Mich Energy Tires ?? I have heard a lot of people switching to the Michelin Primacy.

garsarno

My 2011 came through with Bridgestone Potenzas. Car has 9,700 miles on it and I would estimate the tires will last to 20,000 miles.

mattds

I have an 09 with the OEM energy's...they aren't great. they are a bit noisey on the high way, I had contiprocontacts on my vw prior and they seemed quieter and the primacy's are always great. I may go with the Turenza serenity's...they come in a low rolling resistance 225 55 r17 and the primacy do not have the LRR in that size...

CQRT

Interesting that this is a six year old thread - - regardless, I have 25k on a second set of tires - -original Michelins lasted 33k miles . . current Michelin MXV4's have 27k on them and will easily go 35-40 . .

amf1932

I changed my tires only because of their age, not because of the mileage..18K.
The car, a new 2007 ES350 had Michelin MXV4's installed at the factory, and I replaced them
with the same type. I purchased this car in April, 2006, so I was concerned, since the tires were on my car for about 7 years.

nevernu

18k in 7 years sweet , gonna be a classic