Lou,

You are correct sir. I only had them on my car 20 miles, when they came off.. Never read the sidewall.. LoL

They are indeed marked "Outside", but they have NO directional indicators on them... So theoratically they could be swapped Left to Right ON or OFF the rims, but that would be pointless..

The Continenal Extreme Contact & Yokohama Advan Sports tires are just like that too.
Marked for "Outside", but not direction specific.


Joe Z

Happy Father's Day !!

^^^^Performance tires would have either (outside) marked on the sidewall - Asymmetric. Or (arrows) on the sidewall indicating the direction they should roll - Directional. IOW, on an Asymmetric there is only one sidewall that will face outside. On a Directional tire, either sidewall can face out. Most non-performance tires are Symmetric where the tread is the same side to side and can run any way they are mounted.

Lou

Aren't the PS2s NON directional, even though they specify an outside? How bad would it be to swap them then? My dealer says stock toe is what they require, yet STILL my front tires wore out in 15k, rear have 28k and still going strong. I'm getting new rims soon and am terribly tempted to swap front from right to left (dismounting) to SAVE the terrible inside wear. I don't ever track this car, and this inside wear seems absurd, no?

ok, someone can correct me, but i think it's either directional OR asymmetric (inside / outside). i am not sure if there are regular tires out there that are both. ps2 are asymmetric, there is no direction, same with bridgestone from factory on isf. my old perelli pzero nero is also asymmetric, no direction. my toyo t1r on the gs350 are directional, and they aren't asymmetric (there is no inside / outside) so i flip them left/right

On an Asymmetric tire, the tread design is different and the rubber compound on the inside than on the outside of the tire. So, mounting them inside out is not a good idea. You can do it, but performance will suffer. I don't know if it's safe or not but, it's certainly not recommend. Look at this old thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/the...-the-wear.html

Look at Post No. 3.

Lou

It would be pointless... Since the "Outside" would still need to remain on the "Outside", if the tires were swapped On or even Off the rims..

The same inner thread will still be wearing on the "Inside" of the tires..

Joe Z

^^ I totally understand Lou..


Below I attached a Symmetrical Directional Performance Tire.

The Nitto NT555 - EXTREME ZR is marked Left on one side & Right on the other..
With Arrows to show rolling direction.

This tire would make a good candidate for dis-mounting and re-mounting from side to side..



I have owned these tires on MY 2001 IS300 and I did actually do just that, to have them last longer..



But, not sure how many owners would put these on their IS-F..

Joe Z

No, I'm saying move the right tire to the left side of the car, keep it facing the same direction, by undermining the term "outside" ? Sounds like a bad idea from Michelin's perspective, but they don't have to buy new tires every 10k miles for non aggressive driving? People don't follow up on this stuff, but if we all do, perhaps Lexus will allow a less aggressive "stock setting" up front for customers who don't intend to track?

you are driving an isf, i really don't see the problem of having high performance tires on the other. otherwise it's like having a great car but it's not going anywhere because the wheels are just spinning. if you are worried about tread life, after your stock ones are gone you should just put on some all season tires

I'm fine with even wear, im saying M3 owners never complain about excessive inner tire wear. Why should we?

i am not sure if it's they don't complain or they don't have uneven wear. my m3 is my daily driver, i only have fun occasionally, and my tires don't last for more than 11-12k. inside also wear our quite a bit faster than outside. on my last tire change, inside was completely bald already, outside still had plenty of tread

I managed 35k on my factory Michelin PS2. Lexus built the IS F as a specific built performance car. Like rominl mentioned, if the Z rated tire issue bothers you, switch to an ultra high performance all-season tire like Michelin Pilot Sport A/S or similar.