OrokuSaki

Hello,

at first, greetings from Finland. I'm quite new Lexus owner, just couple months ago bought my first Lexus.
However, I have quite annoying problem with it. Also, I found one topic about this case, but it was for Gen3 Lexus, not sure is it that same as this Gen2 model.

So, I bought this IS250 2007 and it had some South European non-studded tires on it. Those had very bad traction, but it was extremely stable to drive. It didn't matter was I driving 60mph or 100mph, it was always perfectly stable.
After that, I changed Michelin X-Ice North 3 XL tires for it, size is 225/45R17. Notice: all tires are this size, rear tires are not 245 unlike summer tires are. These are custom rims for winter tires. And no, I haven't tested summer tires yet, I'm from Finland...

After this change, if road is even a little bit on ice/snow, +60mph and IS is extremely unstable to drive. Car mainly goes from side to side, strafes very much. I really need to use both hands to drive it and have 100% focus to keep it on lane. If the road is dry, it goes fine. I've tried use different tire pressures, but couldn't fine any good solution. Especially since rear tires are too narrow, I'm not sure should I use pressures from the user manual (2.4 front, 2.6 back).

Otherwise car feels very solid, handling is super accurate and everything feels good. I'm going to M.O.T. soon with this car, to see if there's anything wrong with the suspension.
However, buying new tires and problem appears immediately, it really feels like these Michelin tires are just bad to drive.

Any ideas, thoughts?

This car is completely stock, it has very low mileage ~90k miles. Here's some fresh picture of it. I love the car and Finnish Lexus companies are super good, never had so good service from any other car dealer.
Lexus IS250 2007
Thanks to all and drive safe.

jr4div2

Edit. Nevermind!! I made a mistake in calculations, but still you should have your lower control arm bushings checked.

MikeFig82

iTrader: (13)

I had the same problem when I got new tires. It was bouncy on all 4 corners. What I did was resret the ECU. Then the steering rack tightened back after a few miles. Wierd yes indeed, but it worked for me.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

I just installed new skins on all 4 225/255 40R18 BFGoodrich Comp 2 A/S and what a night and day difference in dry, wet, and snow performance.

One thing to note is the pressure name plate is for max load and that 38psi /2.6bar is likely going to blow the center out of the rear tires if not loaded. That said try lowering the rear pressure by 2 to 4 psi...

You said on clear highway the snow tires are OK. Maybe you need to slow down! Ha!

OrokuSaki

Thanks guys.

I'll test ECU reseting and setting tire pressures once again.

gompka

iTrader: (6)

I had the same tires on my car for years and they performed very well in Chicago winters, fyi.

Aspect

I'm currently running them as well, 225/45/17 square and they are very stable and have great traction on snow and aren't too bad on ice for a studless tire. Make sure you aren't hitting any unplowed patches of snow, that will definitely cause you to veer as one side could be slowing down relatively to the other. As long as you aren't hitting snow ruts and it's even snow every where you should be fine... also make sure to clear your wheel wells and wheels of snow and accumulated ice which could cause balance issues

markjustus

What's up from. California! You mentioned customer. Wheels, what wheels are they and also, are you 100% positive they were balanced correctly?

bazzle01

Balance is not going to affect going from dry to wet roads. Alignment, worn parts or just unsuited tyres maybe.