ajiscool43

Hey everyone! I just bought a used 2006 Lexus GS300 RWD and I am trying to do a few things on it and would like your advice. The first thing I need help deciding on is tires (225-50-17). I ran a few searches but still don't know what is the best tire to buy for this vehicle.

I am leaning towards Michelinman Pilot® Sport A/S Plus, the MXM4, or sticking with another pair of the BF Goodrich g-Force™ Super Sport A/S. The main thing I want is smooth and quite ride. I only do city & highway driving so its not like I need some expensive track performance tire. What does everyone have on their car and which one would you recommend for me.

P.S. I live in florida and mainly do all my driving here so snow is not really a factor. However I would like a tire that performs really well in heavy rain. Also feel free to suggest any other brand of tire as well.

Thanks in advance,
AJ

passnu2

iTrader: (33)

Out of that list I have had the Pilot Sport A/S and they are a good all around tire and being your in FL you cant beat the tire. On the mildly cold days you see the tires will still perform. Cant comment on the others as I haven't purchase. I think I may have had the MXM4 as OEM spec tires on a car in the past but not certain.

GS2006

Have you noticed any drifting to right with these Michelinman Pilot® Sport A/S Plus tires?

jane12

Dunlop SP Sport Signature
Yokohama AVID W4S
Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum

GSTom

You shuold look into the Bridgestone Potenza RE960 pole position
These are an all season tire
check out Tire Rack for all the comparisons

LexFather

Welcome to Clublexus. I moved this to the tire/wheel forum.

I've read many good things about Pilot A/S

QuachmanES

iTrader: (4)

I currently have these on my 99 ES300, and love them. They are classified as an Ultra-High Performance All-Season, and they perform great in dry, and have excellent wet traction as well. Very smooth and quiet ride.

steviej

iTrader: (1)

I am currently running the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S, the newer verison is the "Plus". It was pricey, but I find this to be a very quiet and responsive tire. Rain traction is very good, even in torential downpours.

If you don't need an all season, then look into the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3. Incredible summer tire.

steviej

ajiscool43

Wow, I thought this post would help me make my decision, now I realize it just makes it harder lol. When I talked to tire rack they recommended either the Michelin a/s plus as a performance tire or Bridgestone Turanza W/Serenity for touring and better ride. The Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 looks like a really good choice too.

I guess the first decision I have to make is what category tire I want? They are all pretty similar in price. I keep leaning back towards to Michelin a/s plus because it seems like an all around good first set of tires and was designed to exceed the Bridgestone® Potenza® RE960 and Goodyear® EAGLE® F1 All Season.

Unless someone can really push me onto another choice or speak badly about the new Michelin's, then I think I'm going to try them out this week. Then maybe in the future I can try some others ones out to compare.

Thank you everyone for all your input and advice.

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

I would say the only thing bad about the pilot sport a/s is that there is one member (GS2006), who has essentially been through two sets and still has a tire pull (it has changed, but not cured itself with tire replacement)... his alignment is well within specs and it is agreed it is highly unlikely his alignment is causing the pull...

other than that, they seem to be great tires...

I do have an affinity for the Bridgestone RE960's... I think you will find them every bit as good, if not better than the Pilot Sport's... You can't tell they are an all season tire in the dry, and they still handle better than most if not all true all season, lower performance tires, in the wet, with good snow capabilities too...

if performance isn't a big factor though, ignore all of that and buy the Bridgestone Serenity's... it'll last longer, ride smoother, quieter, than any of the other tires you could buy, period.

ajiscool43

Thanks mitsuguy, I am glad you pointed that out. I read the thread of his problems and I must admit that it does make me hesitant to purchase those tires. However, I wonder if the new "plus" model makes any difference?



To me it seems that every tire has pros, cons, good reviews, bad reviews. Im also still trying to learn the different categories (performance, summer, touring, etc) and what I truly need. Remember, I live in FL so snow is not an issue lol.

What are you riding on?

Also here is the link we are refering to if anyone wants to read it...
CLICK HERE FOR GS2006 THREAD ON TIRES PULLING

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

his issues are with the "plus" model... though keep in mind, there is a chance its not completely the tires fault, and they may be ok on your car...

in Florida, I wouldn't consider the RE960 or the PS A/S at all...

I would either go towards touring higher performance or summer high performance...

touring = quieter, more comfortable ride with typically better treadwear, summer high performance/max performance = exactly what it sounds like - a high performance tire with sticky compounds and geared towards dry weather driving, but they also typically do pretty well in wet weather...

I use the Bridgestone RE050, which is a max performance summer tire - good in the wet, excellent in the dry, not super quiet or super smooth though - very stiff...

for touring, it's still the Bridgestone Serenity though - it's a winner across the board, pretty much always has been... for performance, RE050's are good, Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's are good, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetrics are probably good (haven't used them, but they compare favorably to the GS-D3's, which were good)... not sure if any of those are made in your size tho, lemme look...

these are the options I would consider, and there are cheaper tires out there, just keep that in mind...

summer performance tire options:
RE050
F1 GS-D3
Advan Sport

all season performance tire options: (these do have the ability to last longer than the summer tire options, though with reduced dry weather handling)

BFGoodrich Super Sport A/S (I didn't include the G-force sport on the summer list, as it is not that great of a performer, but this version is quite good)
RE960A/S
Eagle F1 A/S
Pilot Sport A/S Plus
Advan S4
G019 (this is a cheaper tire, but works great)

Then, your touring tires:
Turanza Serenity
Pilot Primacy
Eagle Responsedge

GS2006

The drifting issue is unfortunately mine.
At this point I still can not say it is the tires 100%. Other than the slight drifting, I like the tires. Before you get your new tires, take your car out on a straight newer interstate around 60-70mph and see if the car drifts. If you get these tires, check again after they are installed. Maybe in 17” it is even less noticeable. I also have the 430 which has some slight differences. Also, I had my wife drive the car and she said yea, it goes to the right but said she probably would not of noticed.
Here is some snippets have received from an engineer in the business:

“The reason I wanted to think about this was that I wonder if P-RAT (Ply - Residual Aligning Torque) was playing a role here. Many car manufacturers pay a lot of attention to this intrinsic tire property (I tend to think of it as a force - ply steer), but I always felt that conicity was the cause of drifts and pulls - at least those caused by tires.

I just threw a lot of terms out and I should explain them.

Conicity: Root word "Cone". It's a tire property that varies from tire to tire and is best described as a force pushing sideways (lateral direction). The force can be pushing to the left or the right or the force could be zero - and the direction is oriented with the tire - that is remounting a tire with the other side out, changes the direction of the force. Vehicles would tend to pull if a positive and a negative were mounted on the same axle.

Ply steer: Same idea as conicity but it is intrinsic to the tire and all tires of that type tend to have the same value. It doesn't change direction when the tire is reversed on the rim. You would think this would cause a drift or a pull, but it is hardly noticeable as the vehicle adapts a slight angle to the road (dog tracking) In most of the world we drive on the right hand side, and the Ply Steer is towards the right causing the vehicle to push off the road. Some tire manufacturers make special tires for countries that drive on the left hand side - but if the plysteer is small, it doesn't have much of an effect.

P-RAT: Ply - Residual Aligning Torque. Same as Ply steer, but expressed as a torque rather than a force. It's the torque the vehicle sees.

So, when you posted the 2 bulletins about your tires, it kind of confirmed something.

Mercedes is unusual in that they want all their tires to have positive conicity - all pushing inwards. Their cars use a large amount of camber - and so does yours. Camber tends to cause a force on the tire which also pushes inwards. P-RAT tends to cancel this force on the right side and cause a slight drift to the right - which is why Mercedes wants all their tire to have positive conicity - all their vehicle will either drift to the right or slightly try to climb the crown of the road and be cancel by the slope.
However, most car manufacturers don't specify direction on conicity - only the range of values. This can result in a situation where a tire with a very large P-Rat would cause a slight drift.

So that's what I think is going on. There's something fundamentally built in to the tires that your car is sensitive to. And no amount of fussing with tires is going to fix it unless you replace them.

So go back to Discount Tire and tell them you want something else. Something in a different Michelin might work, but a different brand might be better..”



When this becomes available as a link, I will post it in the other thread.
Now, I wonder how much of these is built into the PS2 that Michelin specifically makes for MB, Audi and BMW. I wonder how much is missing from the generic PS2.

BTW, My wife’s 06 GS300 RWD car we just purchased from Lexus has brand new Toyo tires on them. Touring tire. They are cheap tires and they do not seem bad at all. Handling is not close to the A/S sport though.

steviej

iTrader: (1)

I have the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and no drifting whatsoever. They were mounted with a Road Force machine and the alignment was done by my trusted tire shop. They are pricey. I will tell you that the only reason I have them is because my Lexus dealership gave me a good price on them when I bought with a set of 4 18" G-Spider rims and TPMS sensors balanced mounted and programmed. Had I bought a package from TireRack (now that I know the TPMS sensors are available from them as well) I would have opted for the GY Eagle F1 GS-D3 as a summer tire because I had these tires on my ES and loved them. I can say that with close to 10K miles, the Pilot Sports are great and I do not have any regrets.

Be careful when you "test" your car for drifting. You cannot do this on highways that have a crown to them. The crowning of the road my tend you car to drift to the right if you are right of center and left if your are left of center.

GS2006

Hi Stevie,
This is interesting that the dealer sold you the tires. There are several posters in the past that were told by Lexus that the tire or directional tires were not approved for this car. The dealer here does not have this tire. The only Michelin that they have is the OEM Primacy HP.
I wonder if this is a regional thing with the dealers??

Crown in the road is not something to ignore for sure, however if your car does not drift now on the same crowned road and does after, crown in the road is not the reason.

Also, cars and tires are designed with crown compensation in most cases.

Like I have stated before, I bet the majority of people would not notice the drift I have. I’m sensitive to these things and even more so since it did not occur before. I also have the Plus. It is a different tire. I really wish this issue was not there. I really like the tire. When the PS2s are put on the car, I guess we will have more of an idea if it is the tires.

If the tire does not perform correctly, I’m sure Michelin will take care of you. At least they are for me.