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Tire upsizing on stock 2008 - does it change handling responsiveness?

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Old Sep 30, 2020 | 12:42 PM
  #16  
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Originally Posted by lobuxracer
I run 275/30/19 rear and 255/35/19 front on the late model (wider and lighter) wheels in summer with Michelin PS4S
The exact same sizes and tires for me as well! PS4S is such a good tire I love it
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Old Oct 3, 2020 | 10:06 AM
  #17  
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Originally Posted by ChpEng
Just noticed Tire Rack and Pep Boys are no longer listing Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+'s in the OEM sizes (225/40-19 and 255/35-19). Evidently America's Tire still has inventory. Emailed Michelin customer service to find out if it will be discontinued in those sizes. Will share findings. I am a big fan of that tire because of its low-temperature performance...had a few too many longgg braking experiences in the mountains below 50°F with summer tires.

Sorry for wandering off-topic.
Received the following response from Michelin Consumer Care Team:
We have no plans to discontinue those sizes at this time.
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Old Oct 3, 2020 | 02:20 PM
  #18  
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Question

Originally Posted by ChpEng
Received the following response from Michelin Consumer Care Team:
We have no plans to discontinue those sizes at this time.
@ChpEng James I am currently now shopping for the next set of long term tires...

I'm still uncertain to move back to Summer Tire or stick with All Seasons.

Cross shopping the S04 again vs my worn out Conti DWS

Sizes will be for the 2012 wheels.. 19x8.5 & 19x9.5

Below are the OEM sizes on GS F / RC F :

Front: 255/35/19
Rear: 275/35/19

I guess I jumped into the Contis for lasting longer and costing less.

But from memory I want to think the S04 performed better

Decisions decisions... Also I haven't priced or researched the Michelen A/S yet.

When things get back to normal, I will be driving 400 miles a week. Mostly straight


Joe Z
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Old Oct 4, 2020 | 08:22 AM
  #19  
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IMHO, there is nothing like a Michelin for all around quality. Maybe it's their compounds, I dunno.
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Old Oct 4, 2020 | 04:53 PM
  #20  
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Originally Posted by Joe Z
@ChpEng James I am currently now shopping for the next set of long term tires...

I'm still uncertain to move back to Summer Tire or stick with All Seasons.

Cross shopping the S04 again vs my worn out Conti DWS

Sizes will be for the 2012 wheels.. 19x8.5 & 19x9.5

Below are the OEM sizes on GS F / RC F :

Front: 255/35/19
Rear: 275/35/19

I guess I jumped into the Contis for lasting longer and costing less.

But from memory I want to think the S04 performed better

Decisions decisions... Also I haven't priced or researched the Michelen A/S yet.

When things get back to normal, I will be driving 400 miles a week. Mostly straight
Joe Z
FWIW, I've run multiple sets of both the DWS06 and AS3+ both on the street and track (don't laugh) in 245F/275R setup. AS3 lasted about 20k and DWS06 about 25k. I found the AS3 to have better dry traction and the DWS06 better wet traction. AS3 got sketchy in light snow after about 7,500 miles. So I now run the DWS06 in the off season (still no replacement for snow tires of course) since I run RE-71R for summer/track.
(Have also run PS4S in summer/track).
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Old Oct 4, 2020 | 07:00 PM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by Joe Z
@ChpEng James I am currently now shopping for the next set of long term tires...

I'm still uncertain to move back to Summer Tire or stick with All Seasons.

Cross shopping the S04 again vs my worn out Conti DWS

Sizes will be for the 2012 wheels.. 19x8.5 & 19x9.5

Below are the OEM sizes on GS F / RC F :

Front: 255/35/19
Rear: 275/35/19

I guess I jumped into the Contis for lasting longer and costing less.

But from memory I want to think the S04 performed better

Decisions decisions... Also I haven't priced or researched the Michelen A/S yet.

When things get back to normal, I will be driving 400 miles a week. Mostly straight


Joe Z
Hey @Joe Z, Experimenting with tires is so much fun. :-) The only reason I chose to go with all-seasons is that I like / need to take long road trips to places where it occasionally freezes. The summer tire options (Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, Bridgestone Potenza S04) undoubtedly have better grip in their operating temperature band.

Random thoughts:
1) MPS4S has a 30k mi treadwear warranty, A/S3 has 45k mi. Warranty is halved for the rear if F/R sizes are staggered such that the tires cannot be rotated @ 6k mi intervals as recommended by Michelin. A 22.5k mi warranty for rear tires is nothing to scoff at. And the fronts still get 45k coverage. My other car eats A/S 3's every 20-25k with rotation, so I always get partial credit for replacements.
2) Completely agree with the strategy on RCF/GSF sizing. In my experience the A/S 3 does not like the stretch, so best to go true width or squish on the 2012 wheels.
3) I used to avoid Michelin products because of the horrific all-seasons they put on my first new car. But now I agree with @AlOtaBblGm and have only bought Michelins for three different cars for >16yrs: PE2, PSS, and A/S3. Looking forward to trying PS4S...
4) Evidently Tire Rack is low on A/S3 inventory? None listed for either ISF or RCF/GSF OEM sizes. Other retailers (America's Tire) are showing them in inventory.

Last edited by ChpEng; Oct 4, 2020 at 07:04 PM. Reason: added note #4
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Old Oct 5, 2020 | 07:26 AM
  #22  
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Geez. Tire Rack is having a close out on the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's UHP Summers. $148 for the front and $166 for the rears, THEN you get another $100 back in rebates. I'm in the Michelin camp but everybody has their price. I'm not biting. I know I will regret it. You get what you pay for.
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Old Oct 5, 2020 | 10:19 AM
  #23  
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^^^^This guy likes 'em - though upsized and on wider wheels:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/bui...f-build-7.html

Lou
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Old Oct 12, 2020 | 07:14 AM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by flowrider
Lots and Lots of threads on this. IMHO, the ISF came under-wheeled and under-tired from the factory. 295/30 will not work with the stock 9" wheel. When I had stock wheels I ran Bridgestone S-04 285/30. That size is technically too wide for the stock wheel and some folks didn't like the feel. They worked for me. I ran 245/35 and 285/30. Later I used modified RCF wheels with 255/35/19 and 295/30/19.

Lou
Lou is definitely a guy I would turn to for advice. I've also got a '08 ISF with stock wheels and have shod Pirelli P Zeros 255/35/19 front and 285/30/19 rear (mainly because the 285/30/19 pair were 2018 and got a very good price, for me, I run about 15k-20k miles in a year), before that it was shod with standard sizes, when I bought the car (various brands) and the ride was much smoother, the rear wheels were barely spinning (as compared to stock size tires) and yes the ride did get a bit floaty (as somebody else had also pointed out, as 285/30/19 is a bit larger than the wheel size recommends for rear).

But having driven for over 8k miles already, have no regrets, while I do admit, I don't think this setup would be nimble.....but it helps me get the power down and move real quick (as compared to the stock tyre sizes). I have even driven over wet surfaces, not faced any issues.

If you're looking for nimbleness, its the opposite of grip, hence there will be a tradeoff, the wider the tires, the greater the grip and stopping power as well, but greater fuel consumption, maybe a bit less nimble and a tad slower.

Ain't life a compromise!
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Old Oct 12, 2020 | 02:49 PM
  #25  
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I thought I'd share this very informative article that I read yesterday which is very relevant to this thread:

https://motoiq.com/how-to-properly-s...r-performance/

The eye-opening part of the article for me was on page 2 which breaks down the optimal tread width on a wheel for maximizing a tire's grip and response: “For ideal handling: when sizing a tire for a given wheel, I usually target a tire’s TREAD width to be as wide as the WHEEL width, or 0.5” narrower than the wheel width.”
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Old Oct 12, 2020 | 04:09 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by redspencer
I thought I'd share this very informative article that I read yesterday which is very relevant to this thread:

https://motoiq.com/how-to-properly-s...r-performance/

The eye-opening part of the article for me was on page 2 which breaks down the optimal tread width on a wheel for maximizing a tire's grip and response: “For ideal handling: when sizing a tire for a given wheel, I usually target a tire’s TREAD width to be as wide as the WHEEL width, or 0.5” narrower than the wheel width.”
Thanks for sharing, that's really a great read.
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Old Oct 12, 2020 | 07:24 PM
  #27  
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If you buy a copy of Racecar Engineering for the suspension analysis software like I did, you'll find fully half the book is about tires and reading how the tire is wearing in service. The article Redspencer linked could not be more accurate about the tires being THE limiting factor in your car's performance. Remember, you brakes don't stop your car, your tires do. It's not possible to shorten stopping distance on a single stop by changing anything EXCEPT tires, no matter what the manufacturer sponsored magazine articles would like you to believe. I remember many years ago, the guy working the Dunlop truck at the bike races scratching his head and trying to figure out why someone would take the time to prep a bike for the track, get to the track, pay all the fees and have all the necessary consumables, then go $10 cheap on tires. Ridiculous unless your goal is just to circulate. If you want to win, you need to buy the best tires suiting your application, and you need to prep them appropriately. Or just go out and circulate to have fun and be a moving roadblock for the fast guys who bought the fastest tires.
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Old Oct 12, 2020 | 07:56 PM
  #28  
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I might try selling my near new PS4S 235/35 & 265/30 and get PS4S 255/35 & 275/35
They seem to be a better match after reading through this.
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Old Oct 12, 2020 | 08:38 PM
  #29  
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I widened to 245/35/19 in front and 275/30/19 in rear on 2010 OEM wheels on my first tire replacement opportunity. I went through few different tire manufacturers over the years. I like the Michelin PS 4S the best thus far. (I am mildly lowered with KW v3 coilovers and running 15mm H&R spacers all around.)

Car feels great, awesome turn-ins. No rubbing. I found the original tire sizing pretty wimpy from Lexus.
It seems majority of us on the forum has gone wider, I would not over think this. Just my two cents.
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Old Oct 13, 2020 | 02:04 AM
  #30  
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Default Check clearances

Originally Posted by Slowlane
I might try selling my near new PS4S 235/35 & 265/30 and get PS4S 255/35 & 275/35
They seem to be a better match after reading through this.
If you get rear 275/35/19, those would be slightly larger in height than the stock tires, hence pls check the clearances, if you were to try for 275/30/19, the same is slightly smaller (in height) than the stock tires (i.e. 255/35/19), hence clearances would not be so much of an issue.

I'm referring to the clearance to the top of the wheel well. Width clearance should not be an issue, as I'm using 285/30/19 at the rear without any issue (by the way 285/30/19 is also smaller in height than stock tire size). You can search for tire calculator online to see the differences and compare with the stock sizes.

Stock sizes for ISF 225/40/19 (Front) and 255/35/19 (Rear).
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