Alright my IS350F AWD is at 16K miles and the stock bridgestone turanza el400-002 are worn.

These are absolutely the worst tires I've ever had (I know they come stock with the car).

I thought my 3IS was horrible in the snow even with AWD, but it was these tires, making the ABS go crazy even in light snow and braking slowly. My car was basically a sled. I know their not snow tires but all seasons, but I've had other cars with all season tires and never have had a issue with snow or stopping in the snow.

Anyways, to get to the point, even though my car is leased and I decide to re-lease a new vehicle, I would rather not get into an accident with these tires as I've still got 15 months on my lease left.

What are some good tires, obviously don't want the most expensive, just something I can actually feel confident in the snow and stop.

TIA

 

Glad I'm not the only one that had this issue. As for tires, I always go with Michelin.

 

give us a category.. do you want all seasons or do you want snow tires?
if all seasons the DWS i hear are best, if snow tires, i hear good things about blizzaks.
just go to tirerack.com and do research they have a boat load of info, tests, analyses, just go read and learn, it'll help you make a better informed choice.

 

Im about to have some Toyos put on so i'll let you know how those goooo.

 

drivetrain doesnt mean squat if the tires cant grip. Tires are everything

 

Interesting experience with your tires. I have the same ones on my IS and while they are noisy, I have had tremendous grip in the snow, though granted only about 2". I have 11k miles on mine with no visible wear.

When I do replace them, I'll likely do so with Michelins.

 

im quite surprised that there is not an in depth discussion on AWD tires here. Looking at tire rack, i can only find one review for the 14/15 (3IS) using the Michelin PS A/S 3. Nothing for other tires.

Perhaps we have start with a list of preferred tires and have users provide some personal reviews?

Looking at the contenders, The Michelin PS A/S 3 and the Continental Extreme Contact DWS seem to be contenders? Are there anyone that can post suggestions or reviews?

 

for all weather, go with the A/S3. DWS are good to, but I've never driven on them so I cant say much about that tire. AS3 have superior grip in all weather, snow, rain, and so on.

 

since OP listed, cost, being able to stop and move around in snow, i think the DWS are good since they down side to the DWS is the softness and cuchy feeling.

However, if noise and comfort becomes a factor what are the recommendations?

The reviews for the Michelin PS A/S 3 is either love it or hate it, it seems.

 

If snow performance matters, then DWS. Used them for several years. Quiet, good in snow and ride nicely. Only concern is they are squirmy under hard cornering.

Otherwise, most performance type all seasons will be pretty poor in snow. Other choice is using a dedicated winter/summer setup.

 

anyone who has the michelin PS A/S 3 care to chime in their experiences?

 

I am running on Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric All-Season and they perform well in all condition.
In wet and dry they grip very well to a level which is close to some good summer tires.
In light snow they perform well for being all season.
I had DWS before and they are too soft and slow respond.
They will get you from point A to B in all weather and condition but if you are looking for a more performance orientated tires you can look at the Goodyear.
People are saying the Michelin AS 3 are some great 3 season tires giving that the snow performance isn't that good.
You can look at the review here:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=177

 

Quick question, what is the average life span of the stock tire. To me 16k miles is quite short, but given the fact that OP has AWD and driving in snow. Mine is RWD and the odometer reads 15650 miles.

 

I am not a believer in all season tires for winters in northern climates. Where you are in Mass. and with similar conditions to NS, I would recommend you get some winter tires for next year. I run Nokian Hakkapalitta R2 for my winters and I am still using the Turenzas for my spring, summer, fall tire. When I do eventually replace the Turenzas, I am not sure what I will get. Probably Michelin AS3 or PSS. I am also a fan of Toyo tires.

 

just wanted to share my experience with my new tires on my IS350 F sports. I bought the continental extreme contact DWS to replace the factory installed Turanza EL400-02. Took advantage of the recent discount tire direct $100 off every $400 deal on ebay. The rears worked out to be $338 after the $100 discount and the fronts $308 after the $100 discount and buying 28 steel valve stems as fillers. The fronts before the discount was $324. I managed to trade the valve stems in to my tire shop for $30 off my installation of my tires. They charged me $20/tire for a road force balance and installation. So total amount spent was $696 including installation. I was happy with my deal.

Here is my mini review.

I would like to start off by saying that i am not a very aggressive driver and my top few priorities when looking for a tires are road noise, comfort and handling in that order.

Firstly, the biggest thing i realized is how much lower the road noise is compared to the OEMs. These tires really make the car feel like a Lexus in the cabin. In the past, my back seat passengers could not hear me talking and i had to talk really loudly before they could barely hear me. The asphalt surfaces are still a little loud, but compared to the OEMs, they are a world of difference. Only tires that were quieter than the DWS were non ultra high performance tires. On my 2IS, i had Primacy MXM4s and they were comparable. A little quieter on smooth surfaces i would say.

Comfort is pretty good. Going over small and large bumps seemed somewhat comparable, if not slightly better maybe because the softer side walls helping to cushion?

Handling honestly is good enough for me. As i mentioned, i am not a very aggressive driver, but once in a while, i enjoy cornering hard and stepping on the gas. A little slower to respond to fast adjustments, but i am definitely willing to sacrifice it a little for better road noise.

Wet performance is better than OEMs. I felt that i was in control in heavy rain and braking was better.

Have not had the opportunity to test the snow performance, but reviews online are excellent.

Just to give a little background, i had this tire mounted at a tire shop with a Hunter 9700 road force balance. The first time it did not need any more than 1 oz of weights and road force numbers for the front were low single digits and 10-12lbs on the rears. I drove it around for a day but felt a little of a high speed shimmer.

Took it back to the shop the next day and had them re-balance it and road force it. Till this day, i really cannot understand the accuracy whole road force and balance thing. Especially with the road force, running it again always gives different numbers. And the balance was off by 0.25-0.75 oz. I am on pretty good terms with the guys at the tire shop so i asked that the machine be calibrated on the spot so we get a very good balance. Given the volume they have at the shop, i wanted that piece of mind. So they recalibrated the machine and rebalanced and road forced it. Rebalancing it required 0.5-1 oz of weights in the front and 1-1.75 oz of weights on the rears.

A couple of tires especially the rears showed really high road force numbers in the 20s and we did a rim run out and tire test to match the tires and the rims. The road force said that the best we could do was about 18lbs after the match, but we seem to have got it down to about 10 and 13lbs. So we put the 13lbs one on the passenger rear. Made sure everything was balanced well too. High speed shimmer is gone.

This tire seems to have a bad rep with vibrations, needing a lot of weights to balance and it being out of round. There are a lot out saying out there about bad batches. Personally, when i owned my 2IS, in 2009, i tried the DWS and was a victim to a defective set. I gave up and got the primacy MXMs. However, reading the reviews again, i decided that since i have a 350 now that i really did not want a touring tire and decided to try the DWS again and good thing it has worked out for now. It has been a week and i am satisfied so far.

Overall, i give this 9.3/10. 0.5 off for handling and 0.2 off for possibly better ride comfort, but that is me being harsh on it. I am extremely happy with this tire given my strong preference for low road noise. Hope my mini review is a good reference to others.