Ride Comfort

[RichardM1142]

When I first bought my IS300 the tyres were a bit ropey and were suffering from the standard geometry setting problem of front tyre, inside edge wear. So a new set of Bridgestone RE040 and a trip to Mr Bones at WIM soon had me thinking what a lovely set up I had.

Well a few years later, a few replacement Bridgestones later and a few years of daily toil over the speed bumps in the most speed bump infested local authority in the UK (Ealing) I found nasty inside edge wear had returned and taken a pair of fronts to an early death.

This time I queried tyre choice with a few friends in both the tyre and performance industries. No real consensus but after a lot of consideration I chose Continental Contact 5's

This was closely followed by a visit to Doctor Bones surgery for corrective adjustment.

Cant believe how transformed the car is. Without getting too anal about it, the softer tyre walls means ride comfort is so much improved and road noise is hugely down, I couldn't believe such a quiet car to begin with could be so improved.

And thanks to Tony, hopefully a decent lifespan.

A visit to WIM, the trip all IS200/300 owners should treat themselves to.

[panya]

Well write up, thank for sharing, I think this would benefit many new is200/300 owner.

[noby76]

same here mine had Pirelli Rosso's on when i got them and to be fair i wasnt sure how many miles it had done but had enough treads on them and the car tends to lean to to one side when driving stright, handling wasnt that grippy and wet driving was all over the place and i hardly push it when its wet as i dont see the point in doing so in a rear wheel driven car infact my previous V6 ford Cougar handled better in corners than the IS so took it to WIM to have steering and geometry adjusted which corrected the handling round bends but car still leaned to one side when driving straight and since i got used to it i left it that way. after 14K miles i have since changed from the Pirellis to Falken Azenis 453's and noticed the Pirellis had suffered inner front tyre wear even after WIM adjustments.. Falken's are not household brands like Bridgestones, Continentals ,Michelins or Dunlops but they are big in the drifting scene and Le Mans and being Jap brand they will know a thing or two about designing a performance tyre.. and I am not sure if its the fact that i now have more tread on compared to the Pirelli's but the car now grips like crazy not once has the traction control light kicked in brisk during acceleration, the car rides more smoother, brakes better, shorter and icing on the cake is more improvement in mpg still not sure if this is the fact that i have moved from Shell V power Nitro to Shell Fuel save unleaded as i alternate between the two formulations every couple of months but i ended up doing 100 miles on fuel which normally gives me 75miles.. still testing to see if its the Tyres or the fuel. my control arm bushes needs replacing so once thats done, i will get WIM to check it again and adjust. looking to rotate them round every 5K miles after WIM to see how long they last will be happy if i get 30K miles from all sets. whilst minding those UK pot holes in the process to keep my geometry intact :)

[petayV8]

Thanks for the info. Ive always hated the tyre noise on the IS200... so how much would it cost for this treatment and where about is this WIM. thanks

[noby76]

all here