I got these tires

Nankang NS-II Tires 245/35-20



as a pakage deal with my wheels and i'm very unhappy with the road noise, a friend of mine says "Dude they are 35's not 45's!" Another says they can be quiet i will just have to pay for it, so my question is are they any quiet 245/35-20 tires out there?

Or will i just have to live with the them, due to that is how it is when you go that low in sidewall height.

 

That low of a sidewall WILL be a lot louder than a taller sidewall, all else being equal. HOWEVER, there is a TON of difference between various brands and models of tires in terms of road noise, ride quality, etc. I've never ridden on that brand of tire, so I have no idea how they'd stack up with other brands and models in the same size.

Tires are the most important decision you can make when it comes to the overall on-the-road experience. I've learnded from owning about 35 vehicles in my life and purchasing well over 100 sets of tires. I always try to spend wisely on tires, and that RARELY if ever means buying cheap tires.

 

245/35/20 is not bad, I had 235/30/20, and those were noisy!

I think it got to do with the tire design and brand. I have 245/35/20 Falken 452, and I love them.

 

The real issue is those are low quality tires. I have Toyo Proxes 4s and the sizes are 245/35 20 in front and 295/30 20 in rear. They are not noisy. You can definitely get quieter tires. Treadwear rating and quality are more likely to be related to cabin noise than the sidewall height.

 

Well the Nankang NS-II tires have finally run their course, I decided to run them out and upgrade to a better set later. So I'm going with Falken FK-452 245/35ZR20 this time around a few guys in SELOC love them, they are definitely a better more quiet tire than the Nankang (Which I HATE) NS-II's. If anybody have other recommendation chime in, I will be pulling the trigger in 2 weeks.

 

I'm VERY concerned about noise as well. I have a set of 245/40/19 and 275/35/19 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus on order, hoping to install late next week. I am very nervous about the potential of deterioriating the smooth, quiet ride quality, but extensive research pointed me to those tires as the best all around choice for what I wanted. I had Dunlops in the same width but 45 front and 40 rear aspect ratio on my '03 LS430, and even with the taller sidewall they were NOT quiet enough to suit me. We'll see how these work out, but I'm biting my nails meanwhile....

 

Conticontact2 are quite and ride very smooth. They are a bit expensive but you get what you pay for.

 

In the essence of keeping everything on my Lexus of Japanese origin, I had some Yokohama S-Drives installed. You can still notice some road noise in comparison to the 18" wheels but it's hardly noticeable and they perform exceptionally well as far as I am concerned. I agree with everyone else though, get the most tire you can afford. You can usually get some good insight from Tire Rack by reading the user reviews. Good luck!

 

UPDATE: I installed the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus (245/40/19 and 275/35/19) yesterday and I am VERY HAPPY with them. For Ultra High Performance tires, they are extremely quiet and the ride quality is outstanding, and even when compared to touring tires such as the OEM 17-inchers, they fare very well. I am extremely picky about tires, and especially the ride, noise level, and to a much lesser extent, handling, on a car like the LS. As a quick reference, here's how I'd rate them compared to the 17" OEM Bridgestone ER33's that were on my '03 and some Khumo touring tires had been just recently installed on my '05 before I bought it, as well as Dunlop Sport 01A in 245/45/19 and 275/40/19 that I had on the '03.

Handling: Of course the handling is far better than the 17's. I think the Michelin's handle a little better than the Dunlops, but on a car like the LS it's hard to gauge handling of UHP tires -- both Michelins and Dunlops are fine no harder than I'll push the LS.

Ride: The Michelins compromise very little vs. the 17's -- about as little as as I think could be possible with performance tires like this -- on the smoother road surfaces there is practically no difference. On coarse road surfaces you get a little bit more transmitted to the vehicle, but not bad at all, even when being very picky about it. Compared to the Dunlops, the Michelins are MUCH smoother.

Noise: This is what I'm most happy about -- on smooth roads (such as comprise about 85% of what we have here in FL) I'd rate them as follows, giving the 17's a base number of a perfect 10 on a scale of 1-10:
17's : 10
Michelins: 8-9
Dunlops: 4-5
Other very noisy tires on other cars I've driven: 1

On coarser surface roads such as ~15% of FL roads...
17's : 10
Michelins: 6-8
Dunlops: 3-4
Other very noisy tires on other cars I've driven: 1

 

Today I got rid the..

Nankang NS-II Tires 245/35-20



For the

Falken FK 452 245/35/20



WOW!!! What a difference between the two, first the noise is gone and the ride is smoother. Even stopping is better, handling is nice improvement over the NS-II's. I really hated the NS-II's but did not want to spend more $$$, I should have taking them off, sold them and bought the FK-452's a long time ago. I got a great deal online on the FK-452's, no stand alone store would match price. Anyway very happy with my new tires, I notice that the side wall is taller than the NS-II's which looked like 30's not 35's. I guess tires vary in this area too, I highly recommend the FK-452's.

BTW stay the hell away from the NS-II's!

 

Told ya! u should have bought mine though but its cool.GL

 

Yeah you did much props, and thx for the offer.

 

Those should be a great look for you. I remember we discussed the Falkens. You did not take my recommendation on the Toyo's I see, ha-ha! Keep me posted, I have heard good things about those, Nitto, Toyo, and Bridgestone.

 

El,

I heard good things on the Toyo you are rolling on and the others but I got the Falkens for $102.00 a tire could not pass on them! Got my Wheel alignment on Friday, now I'm really loving them!

 

I will be checking them out the next time we get together! That was a sweet deal you got!