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****Official Wheel & Tire Fitment Guide for SC300/SC400****
#3962
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Will i be able to run 275/35/19s. Offset i believe is higher than 20. I dont have the rims with me at the moment theyre being polished. My car has rolled fenders, 285/35/18 +32 offset were able to fit without issues
#3964
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How long does your guy's tires last in average? Many of you have nice stance with some camber. Im debating whether i should get a little more expensive tires that is suppose to last longer or get a cheaper tire with less thread life. I just dont want the uneven tire wear to chew up my tires way before the tire thread runs out.
#3965
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Thanks just got a set of general gmax, has good ratings and long thread life. When you mean flip the tires are you telling me to just switch the wheels from driver to passenger vice versa, or dismount and mount them the other way?
#3966
Lexus Test Driver
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How long does your guy's tires last in average? Many of you have nice stance with some camber. Im debating whether i should get a little more expensive tires that is suppose to last longer or get a cheaper tire with less thread life. I just dont want the uneven tire wear to chew up my tires way before the tire thread runs out.
1. Get an alignment! Whenever you switch to a new set of tires, or change coilover settings, get a proper alignment ASAP. A proper alignment will ensure that your toe settings front and rear are correct - incorrect toe angles will wear down tires a lot faster than camber alone. I've seen cars with 4-5-degrees of camber have decent tire wear because they had a proper alignment and correct toe angles. Bad toe angles - even n a stock height car - will eat tires in a matter of weeks.
2. Always check your tire pressure weekly. Too low a tire pressure and the outsides of the tire will wear down faster than the inside; to high pressure and the inside section will wear faster than the outside. I'm running 19's and I stick to 36-38psi, nice even wear when combined with #3 (read next)
3. You have to flip the tires around every 2-3 months. Kind of like rotating tires on a normal car, but since most of us run staggered setups with directional treads, you'll want to flip left to right - meaning after a certain amount if time, have the left front tire switched to the right front and vice versa, and have the left rear switched to the right rear and vice versa. That way since initially the tire wear will start on the inside and middle, when you flip the tires side to side they will now be running on the newer half of the tire, and the tire wear will even out. Doing this regularly (like I said, around 3 months, 2 months if you're running high camber) will make your tires last a lot longer as well.
You have to consider that everything has pros and cons - the pros of running bigger wheels, wider wheels, stickier tires and some camber for a lower ride height are good looks, proper wheel fitment, and more traction for better handling. The cons are that you have to run more camber than factory spec, the ride quality will not be as comfortable and soft, tire wear will be relatively faster, and tire cost will be higher than a stock car. As for exactly "how long they last" it's relative to a combination of factors: alignment specs, suspension stiffness and settings, tire compound, and air pressure. You can't exactly say "they last XX,XXX miles" because every setup is different. But for an example, I just changed rears and the last pair lasted since August 2010... just swapped them out last week, pretty even tire wear across the band. Front tires tend to last a lot longer.
As for tire brands, don't go with a cheap no name brand. There are trade-offs with going cheap - less traction gain, faster tire wear, crappy handling. If you are trying to stay low with the costs, the lowest "quality" tire I'd recommend would be General UHP's. The 'sweet spot" for good tires at a good price are a set of Falken FK-452's or Kumho ECSTA SPT's. Don't go Direzza, they're crap. If you go Advan or Toyo or Pirelli or Yokohama you'll be paying $$$ that's not worth it for a regular daily driver.
Hope that explained it =)
#3967
Lexus Test Driver
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EDIT: did a quickie .ai illustration:
Tire 1 has halves A (newer side, darker shade) and B (worn side, lighter shade)
Tire 2 has halves D (newer side, darker shade) and C (worn side, lighter shade)
After you flip the tires, the tires switch places (left to right) and so do the halves of the respective tires - so after the flip you'll be driving on the newer half (the darker part of the tire in the illustration). Theoretically if you drove the same amount of mileage as you did before the tire flip, you should even out the tire wear across the band, provided that tire pressure/alignment specs are all correct.
Last edited by raine; 02-20-12 at 05:08 PM.