GS430|Moku

I'll start out with the fact I drive my Lexus hard, and what I mean by hard is that my 3 mile commute to school at 6:45 in the morning usually involves me driving over 100mph. I also like to do frequent canyon runs and even the burnout every so often.

Stock tires lasted me 15k miles, lexus.com says that's about average. I had a pair of bridgestone's (Forgot model) before these, that also lasted 15k miles. They were rated to last 20 to 40k, they were soft, costing $450 a tire with a total bill around $2100 (Damn things only lasted 8 months!). Needless to say I was not going to be purchasing anything that expensive again, way to easy to burnout in, traction was more or less abset. Going around round-o-bouts I would always have to slow to a crawl or find my rear weels slipping.

I was searching tirerack.com for the best all around tire, and I came across the Bridgestone Turanza LS-Z's. Almost all raitings in the 9's, one of only two tires which scored like this across the board. At only $225 a tire at my local dealer I fealt the need to get these and see the diffrence.

My O' My! What a diffrence! First off, usually from a powered launch I can get some squealing. I pulled up on 2500RPM's and let loose (This is after I wore the tires in) and nothing. Just a good solid launch! For ****s and giggles I even drop shifted to get the babies squealing, and all I got was a chirp and I was off. And my final test of durability, turning at 135 mph. (I'll get pics of this one up soon) Before If i was going over 120, I wouldn't feel safe. Let alone turning going that fast. I would pull the wheel and seconds later I would start the turn, but I could never be sure when the turn would start, or stop.

On my way home one day I pulled the Lex on 140mph, and pulled up on a fairly significant turn. I was able to pull it no problem with keeping my foot on the accell. I felt too in control.

If you are dishing out the bling bling for the hardware inside the car, I recommend spending the bling bling on these tires. TireRack sells them for $200 per tire, a small price to pay for safety at high speed. But these tires so far seem to be well worth the purchase.

Rich-

paulcars

I recently purchased a set of the Turanza LSZ's from Costco. They have to special order them from Bridgestone. They are very quiet so far.

whitels

Good review. Thanks for sharing. I have been very pleased with my Dunlop SP sport 5000s. Very quiet even after so many thousand miles and hard to break loose. Tirerack ratings at high 8s. Cost me about $110 per tire.

The Turanza seems like a good alternative. May look into it when the time comes.

Pushing the limits of excellence in tire selection!!!

billh556

I've had my 98 GS4 since new, in 12/97, with factory 17s. Tire history: Original Bridgestone Potenza Re030s replaced by dealer at 6k miles after contant attempts to fix vibrations, pull, etc. They put Michelin Pilot XGT-Zs on. They were much better for straight line tracking, good ride/handling, slightly noisier than the 030s. Became much noisier as they got older, but I got 60k miles out of them..... I was surprised and impressed.

Recently replaced those with the LSZs.... difference is truly amazing. The car is *much* quieter - that was my #1 goal, so I'm quite happy! It's like being in a different car, it is so much more quiet in there. They are a bit softer than either the 030s or the XGTs, so the car takes a different set into a corner - a bit more lean than with the other tires... but they don't break loose any sooner than the others.

They aren't perfect, and I guess something had to give to get such a quiet, smooth ride.... 2 things I notice: they don't track quite as well as the XGTs..... not bad, but not quite as true in holding direction. Very minor, and I'd never notice it if I hadn't had another experience with the Michelins.

The other thing though, is hugely noticeable - the LSZs get horrible flat spots after sitting still - even for a few hours. This is most noticeable in cooler weather (temps below roughly 50 F), and is worse the colder it gets. I've had them for a couple of months, and the coldest it's been is high 30s overnight. They thump like mad in the morning when it's been that cold. This goes away after 2-3 miles of driving, but it's something I haven't had in a set of tires for many years.

In all, it's a downside I'm not unhappy about - I'll take a few minutes of thumps in return for the silence they provide.

Princeton

I am very happy with my Dunlop SP Sprot 5000 as well. I have one caveat. I used them once as snow tires. They are not an alternative to snow tires. I have a set of Blizzaks for that. I recommend these as well.