Anyway, this bmw courtesy car that I am driving at the moment has very little road noise indeed. Super quiet on all roads, and way, way quieter than my expensive Dunlops and Michelins. That puzzles me. So, I looked at the tyres and saw they are Bridgestone Turanzas.

Here is the link, wonder if any LS400 owners have tried them?
http://www.bridgestone-eu.com/articles.asp?ID=134


However, they only do 205/65 15s in a H speed rating. I think it must be quieter because it's got a single tread design. My Dunlop SP Sport 01s and Michelin Pilot Primacys have very fashionable multi-tread designs, which may explain greater road noise.

So do other owners have multi-tread or single tread designs? Quiet or noisy tyres?

Hi,

A lot of tyres with the V shaped tread are noisy, even more so when they wear. The V tread is good for grip in general though. I like quiet tyres, and the Yokohama dB V550 I have on the front are very quiet, but my favourites are the Continental Sport Contact 2 (the 2 is important), because of the composite materials (stiff rubber on the outer edge for precise handling, soft silica in the middle for good braking in the wet). It is in my opinion one of the best sport tyres for a wet climate, and it is and stays quiet And it has a straight tread design.

Cheers,

RX-Men-8

I've just fitted Stunner scudos on the back of my Aristo, in place of the Mich's which were a little low on tread. The main reason was cost and the ref's given by the dealer who races sports saloons. Cost £82. per wheel balanced and fitted. I've done 1K since fitting and obviously with max tread seem quiet keep you posted.

Must admit I enjoyed I loved the feel of the thin Michelins. Mikel

It's Britain's bloody road composition! In Germany they use silent surfaces, I believe. Here in Bristol they laid about a couple of miles of this stuff. You drive onto it and.....silence! (almost) It doesn't cost any more, is just as good in wet. So why doesn't the govt use it more? Because they say we drive slower because of the road noise! If it's quiet, people tend not to notice their speed is the theory! Rougher roads probably (friction) wear more so the tyre people will be happy too!

If there's more friction then the car will be doing less mpg. So more money to the government in fuel tax!

Personally, I'm interested in having the 400 ride as smooth and quiet as possible. 'Sports' tyres? Well, OK for the sporty Lexus, but the 400? It's a smooooooth car!
So...? I assume that Toyota spent some time on this, (as they did on every OTHER aspect of the car!) so perhaps the Dunlops are the best, relating to the car. But, I guess we'd all like to get more info from fellow owners on othr variants.

Quite interesting that you should note those tyres....

I live in the US, and my '96 LS400 came with V-rated Bridgestone Turanza ER33s in 225/60R16 from the factory. These tyres are absolutely WONDERFUL tyres in terms of being silent without sacrificing grip, but they just don't last. I'm told that other tyres were used on cars shipped to colder climates, such as Dunlop SP Sport 4000s. The LS is at 98,000 miles and on its fourth set of tyres, including the original Bridgestones. The originals were the quietest, and came in second in grip to the Dunlops that I had on it.

Here are the tyres that have been on the car, and the miles they lasted:
Bridgestone Turanza ER33 (V-rated): 30,000 miles and two were bald
BFGoodrich Comp T/A VR4 (V-rated) 30,000 miles and all 4 were beyond bald
Dunlop SP Sport 5000 Symmetrical (W-rated): 35,000 miles
Bridgestone Turanza LS-H (H-rated): just got them, but they come with a 50,000 mile prorated treadwear warranty

The ER33s were the quietest, with the LS-Hs not far behind, followed by the SP Sports (got quite noisy as the wore down), and the BFG's brought up the rear. The Dunlops had far and away the most grip of them, with both Turanzas tieing for second, and the BFG's just had no grip to speak of, wet or dry (my mother complained of them breaking loose when pulling away from a stop on dry pavement).

Sorry, I've started rambling again....

Oh, by the way.... if you want V-rated tyres, you can upgrade to a 225/60R15 and it's almost exactly the same height as a 205/65R15... my aunt just did this on her '02 Camry and is very pleased with the results.

I guess that's one of the differences between the US and UK. 30,000 miles for a set of tyres is good here. 10,000 is poor. Most of the tyres in the UK are a softer compound because of our higher speeds and more corners etc.

Well, I'll expand a bit. The Turanza ER33's 30,000 mile lifetime is more than generous when you consider its silent, impeccable ride combined with amazing grip for a touring tyre. 30,000 miles from the rock hard BFGoodrich Comp T/A (my dad let the tyre shop talk him into these godawful things) is absolutely ridiculous. They spun at anything more than a one-third throttle start, they squealed, howled, and then let go without warning round curves, clomped loudly over the slightest imperfection and sent vibrations through the steering wheel at each one, and honed in on rain grooves and jerked the car all over the place as it found them and latched on (the Turanza LS-H is more guilty of this than the Dunlop or ER33, but to nowhere near the degree the BFG's were). Wet traction was attrocious from the beginning, with the ABS kicking in under routine stops to keep things under control. The moral of the story: they no longer make the Comp T/A in 225/60R16... Funny thing is, I've driven other cars with these tyres and they weren't bad. It's easy to see how well matched the Turanzas are to the LS400.

I have just got a set of 5 Bridgestones Turanzas ER30's 225/45/17 cost well that would be telling i will be back to let you know what i think of them , when i get them fitted
























O they cost me £245 for set 5 good old Ebay and they are NEW!!