I wore down my 245 45 ZR 18's already and have been told it is time to replace them. I need a 245 45 ZR 18 with all season capability, money is no object i just want the best tire available i have done research but have found that every tire has something wrong with it just wondering if anyone knows do a superior tire that i might have overlooked.

 

"best tire available". That could mean a lot of different things. Handling? Quietness or smoothness? Snow traction? Sporty handling?

Every time has a trade-off. What do you want most out of the tire?

 

I'm not sure if the come in 18 inch size but my car has Michelin Primacy tires on it and they are wonderful. Check tirerack.com for comparsions.

 

All of the above i am looking for handling quietness and smoothness, i would like snow traction to be good but rain traction is more important since i already use winter tires on a separate set of rims.

 

Tire Rack recommends these: Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position, I'm gonna check out Nitto Tires and see what they say about those.

 

The RE960s I've tried in the 18" size. Very good handling... and also hard as a rock. You'll get to feel every thing on the road for sure - grooves, bumps, etc. They are quiet, but definitely NOT smooth.

The Michelins will almost certainly be smooth and quiet as mentioned already. They are well liked by members here.

I'm amazed how good my 18" X-Ice2 tires are (Michelin) and if I were buying new tires today I'd go with the Michelins that members recommend. I'm currently runnning 18" Yokohama YK520's, but I'll switch to Michelin for my summer tires when these wear out.

 

Mine are 19's, but I compared Primacy and Pilot Sport A/S Plus as carefully as I could (talked to Michelin people, read as many reviews as I could find, etc.) and decided to go with the A/S Plus. I LOVE them. I've driven a couple of LS430's with the 18" Primacy's on them and they seem very good as well.

 

I seccond (or 3rd or 4th) the Primacys.

Gene

 

Are you by chance referring to this thread?:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/the...son-tires.html

It seems that they are kind of misleading people by leaving that old thread up stating the Bridgestone is "simply the best" because it's a test of the old Michelin tire that has been replaced by a new generation that beat the Bridgestones in one of their own more recent test:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=115

An even more recent test shows a Pirelli PZero Nero A/S to give very impressive results ON THEIR COMPACT BMW test car. I don't think I could bring myself to purchase a Pirelli tire after the horrible experience I've had with them in the past, but those test results are interesting enough to make one investigate.

And IMO, it's important to keep in mind that the results on a compact car like the 3-series aren't necessarily directly relevant to what we might value or experience on a large sedan like the LS. But they should be worth taking into consideration.

 

Except for the Eagle GA summer tires that came on the LS400 I purchased in 1990 (and which were replaced under a class action lawsuit), I always used all season tires in Spring/Summer/Fall and true (mountain/snowflake logo) snow tires in winter.

At least I did that until I recently bought summer directional Bridgestone tires for my 2000 LS400. The summer tires have been sooooo much more pleasant than the various brands/models all season tires I used all those years -- sharper handling, better braking - especially on wet roads.

If you are using snow tires during the winter, why bother with all season tires the rest of the year?

 

I think it may depend upon just which "all season" tire one is using -- whether it's one of the newer Ultra High Performance A/S tires, or just "any old" A/S tire. In my experience, Max Performance summer tires (I've owned and driven on several different brands and models, and have generally preferred whatever was the latest generation of Michelin Pilot Sport at the time) are harsher riding, more noisy and wear out significantly faster than a well-chosen Ultra High Performance A/S tire such as are available nowadays. Just how much harsher, noisier, and shorter lived will depend upon the tires in question, but generally that's what you'll trade off for the improved dry performance. Now, for my Supra I wouldn't make the sacrafice and run an A/S tire (certainly not here in FL), but I never push a barge like the LS THAT hard, handling-wise or braking-wise, so a good UHP A/S tire will do fine in that regard for my purposes. All that said, these are the first UHP A/S tires I've ever had, so perhaps I just happened to get an unusually favorable comparison if these are much better than normal...

I agree re: a performance oriented car (I've never had a set of A/S on a performance car, as far as I recall), but for some cars such as the LS, the signigicantly higher treadwear rating (500 on the Pilot Sport A/S Plus vs. 220 on Pilot Sport 2 Max Performance Summer), lower noise, softer ride, and better wet grip can be worthwhile advantages.

 

I just picked up 4 Michelin Primacy MXV4 H-rated a few weeks ago. They are pretty quiet and ride smooth, which were my primary 2 requirements. Online reviews gave me the impression that they were the best all-season tires.

 

I've had a great experience with those as well.

These tires made a huge difference in ride between our 2004 and 2006 UL's. (06 has brand new Goodyear Eagle GT tires)

 

I've had them on for about 1500 miles now, and I love them. Quiet and great and great in the rain. Light years ahead of the Turanza's I had on the car.

Randy B

 

After researching i believe i was looking for the wrong tires all together. I was going to go with all season tires because i wanted superior traction in wet conditions but now i see that Performance summer tires can have good traction in wet conditions as well i am researching the Bridgestone Potenza RE-11's most have used them on Compact sport coupe's but they might provide just what i am looking for.