skidby

Hmmmm, that is what I was expecting when I was getting the Lexus ones, because the original ones on the car looked like that. They assured me tho that they were Lexus ones, so I assumed they must have changed the design. Seems I might have been conned ← you will find that the standard lexus one's will have 'made in japan' on them and the non standard ones will have 'made in germany' on them. That is the best way to tell the difference if you are not sure if you have got the right one's :winky: ← As far as I know the only way to tell the difference is to check where they are made. The Lexus/Japanese SP9000s have a stiffer sidewall which is better suited to the IS. Other than that they are identical. I had a German set of SP9000 on the front of mine and they wore on the edges in no time at all. The Japanese versions are much better. If you can't get the Japanese SP9000s you might be be better off with Toyo Proxies...

The Lexus version of the SP9000 will probably have the letters CZ on the sidewall somewhere. The Bridgestones have this CZ mark as well (not to be confused with the Z speed rating).

I asked myself the same question...... I don't think the novelty of hurtling round corners in the new toy has worn off yet..... I couldn't find any other info on this CZ type on the web (other than loads of tyre sites in the Czech republic!) but there definately is a version of the SP9000 listed on the Dunlop web site purely for the IS200.

After only 10k miles on the original fit Bridgestones I need to get a set of replacement tyres for the rear of my IS200. I've finally decided on a set of Dunlop SP9000s (I'm hoping they might last a bit longer....) after much browsing through the various topics on this on the forums. I placed the order with blackcircles.com and then got a phone call from them to let me know that the IS200 has a special Lexus fitment version for the Bridgestones and Dunlop tyres shown by the CZ markings on the tyre. Needless to say the Lexus versions of the SP9000 would have added another £50 to the bill so guess which ones I went for! Has anyone else come across this and does anyone have any idea what the difference between a standard 215/45ZR17 and a CZ version is?