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Handling V Ride Comfort ! Gs300 Mk1


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Hi guys,

Just thought id post my opinion after fitting some 17's met grey spoke type from an IS200 on my standard MK1 GS300, its seriously reduced the ride quality. Did a bit of research before and took into consideration the GS300 sport sizes and chose the below tyres for my great white...

All Bridgestone Potenzas RE050:

FRONT:

225/50/17

REAR:

245/45/17

30 psi all round no way am I putting any more pressure in there

THE DISASTER:

For starters my near mint alloys got scratched up quite badly by the fitter who was a friend (was lol) although he promises to refurbish the 2 he damaged which is fine but I cant be bothered with taking them off and him sending them off to repair. Any idea how this felt after spending ages the night before putting a coat of Meguirs on them lovingly :-(

THE RIDE:

Who lowered my dam car ??? well thats exactly what the ride is like now bumpy and I can feel the bumps in my steering, the soft magic cloud ride has dissapeared, I sometimes have to fight the steering to keep it straight depending on road surface.

THE HANDLING:

Dramatic improvement on the handling simply amazing over the stock 16's 225/55/16 BUT in my opinion NOT worth the sacrifice, I didnt buy a Lex to go round corners like a Pug 205 ! Jumps a bit at high speed mind you if going over a bump.

THE VERDICT:

Keep your standard wheels or keep a high tyre wall at least 55 maybe even 60 ?? BUT if its handling your after you will be grinning..

WHAT NOW:

Well im going to go back and get some 225/55 or 60/17 to improve ride quality, maybe even 245/55/17 anything with a bigger tyre wall ! I dont really care about the handling as long as its safe I have screaming VTEC with Toyo's for that which by the way are the best tyres I have ever experienced and been using them for 4 years amazing in the wet.

What do you guys think about the larger tyre wall can I go to 60 and not having it rub or be unstable in any way? plenty of space in the arches hmmm maybe a bus tyre lool Hmm I now know why Lexus have such puny wheels as standard..

Opinions greatly appreciated and I hope someone finds this a little usefull

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OOO dear so my 19" rims with rubber bands on are going to be a tad rough in the ride dept??? To be fair if you want to ride on a majic carpet get a car with active hydraulic or air suspension, citroen do a good job in this dept.

Toyota put 16" rims on their base models based on cost reasons as 16"s are mucho cheap as chips. The top of the range motor has 18" deep dish alloy rims as standard straight from the factory.

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I've got 245/40/18 on my Mk II and must say the ride is alot harsher than my ...don't laugh....Vectra which was on 205/55/16. I've just changed my tyres recently and, had I thought of it at the time, I may have opted for 45s rather than the recommended 40s, but this would have affected my speedo rating. But the ride isn't too bad on motorways.

However, the handling is amazing...so much grip.

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IS wheels are too thin for those size tyres. The IS wheels are too thin for the GS and have a different offset.

What tyres did you use? You have told us the range of tyre, Potenzas, but there are 4 different types, some of which are not that good.

Going to a 60/70 profile will put your speedo well out if you are keeping the same width.

I would also recommend you get your wheel geometry set up correctly. That may well sort out your fighting with the steering wheel.

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IS wheels are too thin for those size tyres. The IS wheels are too thin for the GS and have a different offset.

What tyres did you use? You have told us the range of tyre, Potenzas, but there are 4 different types, some of which are not that good.

Going to a 60/70 profile will put your speedo well out if you are keeping the same width.

I would also recommend you get your wheel geometry set up correctly. That may well sort out your fighting with the steering wheel.

Thanks Colin,

I did quite a few searches on here and quite a few posts came up stating offsets are the same ???

I have checked the Bridgestones they are "RE050" (RFT JNK3403) ???

Thats just great after all that I have the wrong wheels, if thats the case im going to take them off get the damage repaired the Tyre man did and sell them..I give up now, maybe spray the old Mk1 wheels and stick them back on but I may be able to get a hold of some RX300 alloys (225.60.R17) would they fit correctly ?

I used the table below along with the search here to determine compatibility before I purchased them

Can anyone confirm before I take them off please ? and would the RX ones 225/60/17 be compatible ?

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The table is correct but just because a rim has an offset within that range doesn't mean it will feel 100% unless you get the wheel geometry set up corectly.

RX wheels wouldn't be correct. The correct size tyre for 17" rims is 235/45/17 and the IS rims are really too thin being only 7". 17" GS rims are 7.5" wide.

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Your right about the sidewall Colin and thats the main reason why the fitter struggled to pull the tyre over the rim causing the damage.

So 45 is the largest wall I can put on the 17's ? Hmmm I may just take them off in that case and look for some later Gs rims I really dont want to go that low profile.

I know the GS300 Sport MK1 standard sizes are

Front = 245/40/18 8.5j wide

Rear = 275/35/18 10j wide

The wider tyre must absorb the road a bit more and make up for the reduced tyre wall.

Anyone want a set of Wheels lol...hmm eBay..

Just want to thank everyone for their input....

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Well spotted Colin,

Just checked around the net and it seems they are run flats hence the "RFT" so "JNK" marking would mean junk which is about right, no wonder the rides so harsh with that tyre wall being as hard as steel, and your were also correct about them being fitted to the likes of s2000's and Ferraris/Z4s as standard.

In light of that may just try some other tyres..

What size would you suggest then with the biggest tyre wall possible for optimum ride comfort, obviously will get the geometry sorted out afterwards ?

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I would stick with the standard 235/45. You need to maintain the correct wheel/tyre diameter for speedo accuracy. Remember the profile is just a percentage of the width of the tyre so you could fit some wider/lower profile tyres or thinner/higher profile tyres but the actual height of the side wall will still be the same.

You will alway lose a little comfort moving from 16" to 17" rims but it's not that much and it will certainly be an improvement over what you have now.

You should also consider your tyre choice. Maybe something that offers comfort and quiteness over ultra high performance. Worth looking at Yokohama AVS dB V550 (although they can be expensive) or something similar.

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Colin is spot on.

When I bought my Mk1 GS it had standard 16" alloys with 60 or 65 profile tyres.

I then changed to the standard Sport wheels and had the standard springs replaced with the Eibarch lowering springs rather than the Lexus equivalent. As others have said the ride is much harder but the handling is greatly improved.

Only when I recently had my sport wheels refurbed did I realise that the 17" loan wheels I had offerred a good compromise between ride comfort and handling.

But I do like the original sport wheels and they do fill the arches nicely.

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Colin is spot on.

When I bought my Mk1 GS it had standard 16" alloys with 60 or 65 profile tyres.

I then changed to the standard Sport wheels and had the standard springs replaced with the Eibarch lowering springs rather than the Lexus equivalent. As others have said the ride is much harder but the handling is greatly improved.

Only when I recently had my sport wheels refurbed did I realise that the 17" loan wheels I had offerred a good compromise between ride comfort and handling.

But I do like the original sport wheels and they do fill the arches nicely.

Must admit the Sport wheels are soooo perfect for the Mk1's and it completely transforms the look of the car, they look brilliant but dam hard to find un-buckled.

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Right just a quicky, standard rims back on NOW it feels like a Lexus and they dont look too bad either for some reason, bugger it ive put my alloys up for sale in usual place a few quid lost a lesson learnt...Im happy now anyway just thanks again to everyone that contributed to this post !!!

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Right just a quicky, standard rims back on NOW it feels like a Lexus and they dont look too bad either for some reason, bugger it ive put my alloys up for sale in usual place a few quid lost a lesson learnt...Im happy now anyway just thanks again to everyone that contributed to this post !!!

Glad to hear you finally reached a happy medium.

Did you keep lowering springs on cos standard 16" rims may not look so bad in the huge wheel arches.

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