Original Tyres

[audi al]

I have noticed there seems to be a fair variety of makes of tyres fitted on new IS's. Just looked at mine and they are Dunlop SP Sport Max. They seem to be quite noisy especially when braking when they seem to almost "rumble", strange description I know.

Does anyone else notice tyre noise increase when braking?

On a different theme I have found some nice person has put a crescent shaped scratchabout 6" long right in the middle of the boot lid, definately wont polish out as its too deep. I have only had the car 1 week and think maybe it was done out of malicious spite as it was looking immaculate after its first wash on Saturday.

[Northern Boys Luv Gravy]

I had Dunlops on mine and swopped them for Bridgestones at 30k miles - I couldn't detect any difference whatsoever.

[Tango]

I had Dunlops on mine and swopped them for Bridgestones at 30k miles - I couldn't detect any difference whatsoever.

I have Bridgestones on the OEM wheels and Toyo Proxes T1-R on my Volks Rims, and the Toyo tyres are much quieter. When I put the original rims and tyres back on the 250 while the Volks were being refurbished the increase in road noise was immediately apparent.

[Northern Boys Luv Gravy]

I had Dunlops on mine and swopped them for Bridgestones at 30k miles - I couldn't detect any difference whatsoever.

I have Bridgestones on the OEM wheels and Toyo Proxes T1-R on my Volks Rims, and the Toyo tyres are much quieter. When I put the original rims and tyres back on the 250 while the Volks were being refurbished the increase in road noise was immediately apparent.

You could be right - I noticed some of the new IS in the showrooms have Toyos on them. I never considered them because I didn't think they were a premium brand, but if Lexus think they are OK then I may consider them in future.

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

...nice thread...I find that the road noise of the Potenza's is really quite aweful - almost shameful for a luxury car. I thought the old IS was pretty noisy on the move and this is better, but not as quiet as the competition...I remember that after the test drive, I jumped into my old Audi, which was much quieter at town speeds..

You can almost see tarmac approach and you can guage what noise the car tyres will make...

They love the smooth billiard table type tarmac when it's new, but the coarse stuff, especially on the M1 between J16 and 19 (depending on south/north bound) is dreadfull - much worse in this than any car I've been there in before...

Toyo's it is then!

[Crispy]

I have recently fitted Yokohama Aspec db tyres to my IS250. They are advertised as A500 Australia, but the tyres themselves only have Aspec db written on them. They don't come in 205 55 R 16 so had to go for 225 50 R16 , which has the same diameter. I figured the wider footprint couldn't hurt handling either.

I decided to get rid of my Goodyear Excellence tyres I had initially bought to reduce noise, due to their poor ride and grip. 28 psi was required to give a reasonable ride and I was not happy with using the low pressure required, from a safety point of view. They also had poor grip and would often squeal in corners (even at normal pressures) with only moderate throttle openings. The Yokohamas, at 34psi, ride just as well as the Goodyears at 28psi. The Yokohamas also seem to reduce road surface vibration as well.

Having recently had a week in a loan IS250 with Bridgestones on, I can confirm the Goodyears are marginally quieter than the standard Bridgestones and the Yokohamas are SIGNIFICANTLY QUIETER than either tyre. The Yokohamas certainly live up to the claims made on their website where they are promoted as "ultimate silence". The only other explanation for the dramatic reduction in road noise could be that all the roads had been resurfaced in the hour it took to have the tyres fitted. Unlikely! :D Road noise is now muted (or non existent) on all but coarse ship roads. The most road noise still comes from the driver's side front tyre (which only seems to afflict IS250s and was noticeable on all IS250 loan cars I have had) but it is much reduced on the Yokohamas.

I am not sure what sort of black magic Yokohama use on these tyres, but the noise reduction is quite simply amazing. I hardly notice road texture changes now. They also claim to maintain this over the life of the tyre. Time will tell.

The only downside is that you are now more likely to notice any cabin trim noises and rattles.

http://www.yokohama.com.au/ourtyres/tyre.aspx?tyreid=65

[chandru]

anyone else changed from the bridgestones to others i.e. dunlop/toyo etc?

tango what do u think of the wear/tear rate on the toyo's?

[mnobleuk]

anyone else changed from the bridgestones to others i.e. dunlop/toyo etc?

tango what do u think of the wear/tear rate on the toyo's?

I always used Toyos on my IS200 and they gave good wear, grip and life and were a lot cheaper than better known brands too. The 'performance' guys seem to like them so that reassured me about their quality.

Got an IS220SE in November and after years of my dealer sniffing at tht Toyos - what was fitted as standard ?

Yup Toyos.

[Tango]

tango what do u think of the wear/tear rate on the toyo's?

The car has only done around 14K on the T1-R's but they're fine...the tread depth has been measured from new but mainly to check for even wear in monitoring the geometry settings and tyre pressures. I don't know if Tony le Bone has the figures somewhere, but there's no undue wear & tear although the car does get thrashed on a regular basis .

I like the improved grip of the Toyo's after the Potenza's, especially in the wet so have put Toyo 'Proxes Four' on the IS200 Sport as according to Toyo they are a further improvement over the T1-R (which was developed to overcome the perceived poor wet performance of the T1-S).

Both the Toyo types are a lot quieter than the Bridgestone Potenza's that were original equipment on both cars...and no, I'm not a Toyo agent B)

http://www.toyo.co.uk/sub_products.php?ide...;category_id=22

[chandru]

lol. sure hope u aint a toya agent :)

lookin at blackcircles.com at the T1-S are more expensive than the T1-R...strange..will have a look at these and the dunlop sport maxx when i get new ones it looks like.

[Tango]

lol. sure hope u aint a toya agent :)

lookin at blackcircles.com at the T1-S are more expensive than the T1-R...strange..will have a look at these and the dunlop sport maxx when i get new ones it looks like.

The T1-S is being phased out as more sizes in the T1-R series are introduced. I wouldn't buy the T1-S, and if I were blackcircles.com I'd be discounting them to shift the stock.

[nicnac]

@chandru,

Gor full set of SP SportMaxxAs to replace the Potenzas050 s fitted from new.

The Ride is slightly better on the Dunlops and also slightly better noise wise.

The biggest change is the steering being a lot less skittish but this is probably due to the tracking being done at the same time.

The tracking was well out on the left side although this car was never kerbed etc.

they dont seem to be very accurate in setup from new.

If your steering seems a little too positive at speed get your tracking checked.

total cost including tracking and disosal etc £450