Richard He

I can't stand the roar of my Toyo Proxy's with 12,000 miles on my "98 GS400.

I am considering trying something in 215x60x16. I am a comfort driver, soft
shoe.

Please share any wisdom, experience. Thanks. Rich

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to ClubLexus Rich,

We've got a forum specifically for tire questions, I'm moving your post there!

I know Yokohama used to make (may still) a performance tire that promised quiet handling (AVS-DB). Brandon from the Tire Rack and others may have good input

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

Michelin Energy MXV4+ Plus

Considering that you don't have a heavy foot and are looking primarily for comfort, give these tires a shot. They rode very well on my Nissan Maxima and Acura TL--very quiet, comfortable, and good handling, although not quite nearly as good as dedicated performance tires, but you've got comfort as your main priority, and these will fit the bill nicely (and you don't really have to drop down to 215's either). From what I got out them, they lasted me 45-50K miles no problem. FYI, I didn't have balance or noise issues with the tires either as they wore down.

FYI, Costco has a 30 day return policy, don't like them, get a full refund or as credit for a different set. My guess is, you'll like the Michelin Energy MXV4's. If you don't have a Costco nearby, give Tirerack a a call

Richard He

Thank you for your PROMPT AND TIMELY reply to my inquiry.

I will le t you know what happens.

Rich

bchau_gt

Those are nice quiet, comfortable tires. I used to have them on my BMW, and they offer a nice compromise between quietness/comfort and handling.

RON430

Actually, if you search you will probably find a lot of threads in here on this issue. I recently posted some comments on the Yokohama AVS db S2 which we recently replaced on my wife's car. Bottom line is that the original db's may have been pretty good, we had a set of those on my wife's Maxima and really loved them. But the S2 seems to have taken a big step backward. Whatever quiet they have quickly wears off and they end up being a very hard riding tire. We got rid of them at 18,000 miles because they developed a higher pitch howl that doesn't go away regardless of the road surface and are very hard riding. Some Michelins are Ok but don't have recent experience. I replaced the stock 16s on my wife's GS with Pirelli P Zero Nero M&S. Even though we went from 225/55-16 to 245/50-16, the ride is much better and much quieter, even with higher tire pressure. May not handle quite as well but the Pirelli's have a lot of tread on them, but the extra rubber is noticeable in turns. Whatever slight falloff in steering response there is is more than made up for with the softer ride and much quieter environment. I will replace the stock Michelin's on my GS in about two weeks.

At one point I was a big supporter of Yokohama but now, it will take a lot for me to go back to them. Having said that, I am also of the opinion that on modern tires, tread depth is no longer a good indicator of when the tire is shot. There was a lot of tread left on the Yoko's and a fair amount on my Michelins but both are noisy and very harsh riding. Probably a result of the rubber compounds to give long life. I have better things to do than ride on those things for another year, regardless of tread left.

Good luck.

Richard He

Thanks for your suggestions and for confirming that my car is not
unique in suffering from tire noise.

I would still like to hear from someone who can advise about changing
tire dimensions to 215x60x16 on my GS 400 stock rims.