I just got my '02 SC430 w/66K miles. The runflat tires that were on it were very worn, so they were going to buy some new tires for it and were willing to let me have a say in what they put on. After doing some research here, I decided to go for Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions. Shortly after taking possession of the car I felt like it seemed to ride a little rougher than I thought it should. I never drove an SC430 before, so I'm not sure if it's normal, a result of these tires giving more road feel, or a problem. From doing some googling, it doesn't sound like an alignment problem (the car isn't pulling to one side), but could be a tire balancing issue. However, the googling I've done suggests that the shakiness I might feel with tire balancing issues usually happens in a certain speed range, and the articles usually mention 50MPH or so, but I think I'm feeling this well before that.

I'll try to better describe it, but it's kind of hard to. When driving, I feel like I'm feeling every little nuance of the road. Because this car is considered a "luxury cruiser" and changing away from runflat tires supposedly greatly improves the ride quality, this came as a surprise to me. Now, I used to own an '07 Mazda RX-8 and I like a sportier feel, so I'm not opposed to feeling the road. Where it becomes a problem is that I feel like I'm often on uneven pavement, where I'm getting a slight, but noticeable, shakiness/shimmying/vibration. There are times when I'm not feeling it, but I think I'm feeling it more often than not, and the pavement often appears to be fine, so I'd think I'd hear more owners discussing this if it was normal.

As it is, I think I could live happily with it if that's how it's supposed to be. But if there's a problem that can be fixed inexpensively, I'd obviously want to address it and make my enjoyment of the car even better.

FWIW, the dealer purchased the tires from a Town Fair tire shop near them. This one is not the nearest Town Fair tire to them, but they said they use this one because they baby the cars. I've read someone here suggest that it's worth it to bring an SC430 to a Lexus dealer to have them balance the tires. Is there something different/special about the SC430 such that you would need to bring it to Lexus? Or should I first try to bring it back to this Town Fair tire and ask them to re-balance the tires?

Any other suggestions/thoughts?

 

I should add a couple more details...

I wasn't noticing any vibration in the steering wheel (in some of the threads I see a lot of people mention this). I *was* feeling some "feedback" on the gas pedal, so I also had the thought about it having something to do with the engine or transmission (which I sure hope not). Again, overall, the feeling is subtle enough that I could probably live with it. But if it is something wrong and, ideally, easy/cheap to fix, I'd obviously want to do it. This is one of those situations when you wish you knew someone locally with an SC430 so they could take it for a spin and tell you if the feeling was normal.

 

I've Had problems getting tires balanced correctly on my SC430. Took it back to the tire place where I got the tires and they rebalanced them over and over. Still no luck. I finally bought the same tires that you just bought and took them to the Lexus Dealer and they mounted and Balanced them for me. Smooth as silk now! They have, at least my dealership has the road force balance where they match the tires to the wheels balance to give it a perfect ride. Cost to do it was over $100 but so worth it! I would give the tire place another shot at the balance(free) and if that doesn't work....Lexus dealer.GL