Tyres Again

[chrisfs]

I have joined in the occasional debates on here in the past about the best tyres for LS430. When I got mine last November, I put on 4 new Dunlop Sport SP270's which I think were the original spec for this car.

The two rear ones are now almost illegal at 2 to 3 mm, only 11,000 miles on! Surely I should expect more than that? I'm no boy racer, but I do a lot of motorway miles, at fairly high speeds. The wear apparently is fairly uniform so no indication there of anything unusual.

Second question is the old one: what to get next? With that kind of life, I'm a little wary of the SP270 again. They have been smooth enough but not especially quiet in my opinion. Very quiet on a good road, not that quiet on the many poor roads we have to drive on in this country. Maybe it's just the roads?

Lexus also recommend Bridgestone, not sure which one but I don't think there has been a very favourable impression on here. On a previous Saab I had Dunlop Sport SP01's and they were great, smooth and very quiet, I noticed an immediate difference when I put those on the Saab. I think they can be fitted to the LS though not sure if they are actually still available, and quite pricey in LS sizes.

Old subject I know, but any other thoughts? Is there any new thinking on this based on anyone's recent experiences?

Thanks for your advice!

Chris

[Haylands]

Chris.

I changed my front tyres to the 270 when I bought it and one was worn out after 4000miles... anyway tracking was out and after a four wheel laser alignment and a new tyre all was well.... for a while... now both front tyres are starting to wear on the very outer edge, I guess its because the car is so heavy it scrubs a bit...

The rear tyres on mine are Federal 595's that were about 1/4 worn when I got the car, they are now down to 1.6mm after about 12000miles they have worn evenly and need changing so I'm in the same boat as you... I think the rear ones may wear quick because the traction lets them slip a little before it cuts in, not enough to hear them spin though. Just try driving it with the VSC off and see how easy it is to spin them... they have to be travelling at a different speed to the front for the VSC to work so I guess they are getting a little spin every time you take off.

I'm in two minds about the tyres, the cheap Maxxis that were on the front when I got it were so noisey it was untrue... but I'm loathed to spend too much when they will only last a short while...

So who knows of a cheap quiet tyre?????

Pete

[jsj24uk]

I have just put a pair of Michelin Piolot Sport tyres on the back of my LS430. It seems alot quieter on these tyres compared to the old Dunlops which were on before. I can't wait to get the front ones changed to Michelin Piolot Sports. I also had the Michelin's on my old GS300. They offer so much more grip and are loads quieter than Dunlop's or Bridgestone's. The only problem about the Michelin tyres is that they were £180 each. Worth it though in my opinion.

[Hunt.trophy]

Hi Haylands, interesting to read your current dilema with tyres. You have been such an advocate of the Dunlops in so many threads in this website that based on your apparent knowledge and great reviews I went and spent silly money getting the Dunlops...

This is not a criticism, as I am delighted with the Dunlops, they are silent runners, wearing well and even and in my opinion were worth the money.

How come the major change of mind?

[passman53]

I have replaced Bridgestone ER300 with Kumho Ecsta KH11 on my Mk 4. They certainly produce less noise and I am quite happy with the grip they provide. My previous car was sold to a neighbour and he had a set of Federal fitted, I cannot believe the difference in noise although he reports the road holding as excellent. The noise is (I assume) dependant on the tread pattern with the more traditional ribbed design being quieter than a block or Arrow pattern.

The kumho cost me £70 each, fitted and balanced, from a local tyre company-I have 16" wheels so I assume 17" would be dearer.

One thing the tyre fitter warned me of was that the grip would not be at its best until 3/400 miles had "bedded them in", I must say he was quite right. I've now done 2k with them and would certainly buy the same make again.

[Haylands]

Hi Haylands, interesting to read your current dilema with tyres. You have been such an advocate of the Dunlops in so many threads in this website that based on your apparent knowledge and great reviews I went and spent silly money getting the Dunlops...

This is not a criticism, as I am delighted with the Dunlops, they are silent runners, wearing well and even and in my opinion were worth the money.

How come the major change of mind?

Hi

Yeah I know what you mean, I looked into the "tyre" thing long and hard and came to the conclusion that the tyres that Dunlop had designed specifically for the 430 would be the way to go, they are quiet, the correct rating, still available and not that expensive. I would still stand by the decisions I made if it wasn't for the fact that these cars seem to "eat" tyres, they scrub the edges off the front and grind down the rears...

The Dunlop’s I have on the front are excellent and I'm real pleased with them, they are just what I thought they would be...

However with hindsight I may have opted for a cheaper tyre or one that lasted longer and put up with some road noise, I think the Maxxis it had when I bought it were just too cheap and the noise was excessive, but there must be something in between.

So I am sorry to have LED you down this path, the Dunlop’s are excellent tyres but are they good value?

Of course it could be the way I drive, I don't hang around, what’s the point of nearly 300bhp if you are not going to use it, and now its on LPG its cheap enough to play now and again...

Pete

[c3kcp]

Hi Haylands, interesting to read your current dilema with tyres. You have been such an advocate of the Dunlops in so many threads in this website that based on your apparent knowledge and great reviews I went and spent silly money getting the Dunlops...

This is not a criticism, as I am delighted with the Dunlops, they are silent runners, wearing well and even and in my opinion were worth the money.

How come the major change of mind?

Hi

Yeah I know what you mean, I looked into the "tyre" thing long and hard and came to the conclusion that the tyres that Dunlop had designed specifically for the 430 would be the way to go, they are quiet, the correct rating, still available and not that expensive. I would still stand by the decisions I made if it wasn't for the fact that these cars seem to "eat" tyres, they scrub the edges off the front and grind down the rears...

The Dunlop’s I have on the front are excellent and I'm real pleased with them, they are just what I thought they would be...

However with hindsight I may have opted for a cheaper tyre or one that lasted longer and put up with some road noise, I think the Maxxis it had when I bought it were just too cheap and the noise was excessive, but there must be something in between.

So I am sorry to have LED you down this path, the Dunlop’s are excellent tyres but are they good value?

Of course it could be the way I drive, I don't hang around, what’s the point of nearly 300bhp if you are not going to use it, and now its on LPG its cheap enough to play now and again...

Pete

[Hunt.trophy]

Hi Haylands, interesting to read your current dilema with tyres. You have been such an advocate of the Dunlops in so many threads in this website that based on your apparent knowledge and great reviews I went and spent silly money getting the Dunlops...

This is not a criticism, as I am delighted with the Dunlops, they are silent runners, wearing well and even and in my opinion were worth the money.

How come the major change of mind?

Hi

Yeah I know what you mean, I looked into the "tyre" thing long and hard and came to the conclusion that the tyres that Dunlop had designed specifically for the 430 would be the way to go, they are quiet, the correct rating, still available and not that expensive. I would still stand by the decisions I made if it wasn't for the fact that these cars seem to "eat" tyres, they scrub the edges off the front and grind down the rears...

The Dunlop’s I have on the front are excellent and I'm real pleased with them, they are just what I thought they would be...

However with hindsight I may have opted for a cheaper tyre or one that lasted longer and put up with some road noise, I think the Maxxis it had when I bought it were just too cheap and the noise was excessive, but there must be something in between.

So I am sorry to have LED you down this path, the Dunlop’s are excellent tyres but are they good value?

Of course it could be the way I drive, I don't hang around, what’s the point of nearly 300bhp if you are not going to use it, and now its on LPG its cheap enough to play now and again...

Pete

Hi Pete, I didn't feel LED down any path, I was real glad that your good self was so helpful with tyre choice.

I had a good look at my tyres today after 4000 miles and they still look new, as I would expect.

I also like to use the power of the car and am always amazed that it doesn't lift off the road and fly it goes so fast. A friend of mine says I don't 'drive' I 'fly low'...

Anyway, if anyone cares for my opinion, I do indeed recomend the Dunlops, they are perfect.

By the way, bought new boot struts off eBay.com for $30 +PP and fitted them today. Perfect. Lexus quoted me €600.00 to do the job.

[JellyBean]

Chris.

So who knows of a cheap quiet tyre?????

Pete

FALKEN tyres certainly seems to be worth considering. Apparently, they are made by Dunlop. I may buy a couple in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, on the subject of lesser-known brands, we had two NEXEN tyres fitted to my wife's car - a VW V5 Golf. They seem absolutely excellent and are VERY much cheaper than the two Michelins that were replaced. We are not all racing drivers, of course.

[GoldfingerLS]

Guys tyres wearing out in just 4k miles or even 11k miles does not seem right to me for the LS. Are you sure the tracking alignment is setup properly ?

I got Dunlop SP Sport D8z replaced on my Mk4 LS400 23,000 miles ago. Most of my mileage is around town milage which is very heavy on tyre wear compared to motorway miles. My front tyres still have minimum 4k or 5k miles left on them (provided i keep them at the front) and my rear tyres still have approx 10k left on them (provided i keep them on the back). I had the tyres supplied and fitted by Elite in Rainham and had my tracking done by them twice over the last 3.5 years and although their tracking is expensive the tyre wear, handling and alignment even at motorway speeds as been nothing less then perfect.

I agree with Haylands - the front tyres do wear faster on the outer edges on the front . This is probably due to 2 reason:

1. the LS has a lot more body roll being a bit of a boat so i always take corners and round abouts quite slow as it also helps take pressure of the control arms and ball joints aswell.

2. The LS has a very tight turning circle and the front wheels have a lot of KPI angle on them so the more lock you put on the faster outer edge wears. Again just try to go as slow as practically possible when u got near full lock on.

To balance this out, last time i had my wheel balance done i asked elite to re-fit the front tyres so the inner edge on the outside and outer on the inside.

All in all i'm very pleased with the life of the SP sport D8z. :)

[alanr]

Goldfinger makes a couple of very valid points concerning tyre wear on the front of the LS. The king pin inclination is quite pronounced on full lock on these cars, and this will result in accelerated wear to the outer edge of the tyres. This is not exclusive to Lexus - many cars have pronounced KPI at large angles of lock, and this is a function of the suspension/steering design, and not necessarily a result of poor tracking and alignment. However, an occasional alignment check is invaluable, especially if there is doubt about the car's tyre wear, and if investing in new tyres.

I run Dunlop D8Zs all round, now done over 26 thousand, and still some mileage left in them, but not much. There is about 3mm left on both back tyres, and the fronts are approaching the time for change at about 2mm. Like Goldfinger, I have had the front tyres swapped round (inner to outer) about 10 thousand ago. I did contemplate putting front wheels to the rear some time back, just to try and even out the tyre wear, but I never got round to it, and all tyres are still on their original corners on the car.

My motoring is a 50/50 mixture of town and motorway, I drive gently in town, but don't hang about on the motorway. I have read these threads regarding tyres, and must admit to being tempted to changing to a different (cheaper?) tyre when the time comes, but have a sneaking suspicion that I might end up sticking with Dunlops - sometimes it's better to stick with the devil you know.

BTW, swapping front tyres inner to outer is a non-starter with many modern tyres due to their assymetric tread pattern. Some tyres are also uni-directional. The D8Z is a bit old fashioned in that respect, and can be swapped round.

Regards to all

Alan

[TeesLS460]

Just just changed all 4 of my Dunlop SportMaxx 245/45/R19 tyres at 9500 miles on my LS460, due to having lit up the rears after turning off the traction control, and the fronts being worn at the shoulders due to my hard cornering.

I replaced them with Bridgestone tyres (the Dunlops were on back-order apparently) and the ride is even smoother and quieter than before.

I would note however, that the LS460 (maybe all LS's) is pretty sensitive to tyre pressure variances between tyres. Probably because the ride is normally so smooth that you tend to notice anything that is less than silky.

[chrisfs]

Thanks, all who have made suggestions so far.

Tees, which Bridgestones are you using?

Chris

[TeesLS460]

The Bridgestones on my LS460 are marked Turanza ER33, also in 245/45/R19, rated 98Y. Cost £740 for the set including fitting/balancing etc.

[Matrixabc]

I just put some dunlop sp270's on the front of mine, I wanted to fit pilot sports but could not justify the price difference, £220.00 for the dunlops or £320.00 for the pilots.

I had the sp270's on before, and they were a bit noisy, this must have been due to the low tread, the new ones are very quiet, but this seems to Dependant on what type of road surface you are on, I also noticed that they are much quieter when it is warm.

I also had wear on both outer edges, I assumed this was due to under inflation? unless he had the tyres re-rimmed.

[Glenn007]

Hi Chris

I have Bridgestone ER33's on my LS430. I bought the car with 23k kilometres on it and now have 36k on ths clock and the tyres still look like they'll do the same again. I actually suspect that the tyres are the originals that were on the car when bought as the same tyre is on the spare wheel which has not been used! The road noise is a touch louder than the Dunlops I had on my previous LS400 but it's minimal and to be honest I could be imagining it! I also had a set of Pirelli's on my LS400 at one stage and found them to be equally as quiet and lasted longer than the Dunlops.

All in all I'll probably stick with the Bridgestones when I need to change...

Hope this helps.

Glenn

I have joined in the occasional debates on here in the past about the best tyres for LS430. When I got mine last November, I put on 4 new Dunlop Sport SP270's which I think were the original spec for this car.

The two rear ones are now almost illegal at 2 to 3 mm, only 11,000 miles on! Surely I should expect more than that? I'm no boy racer, but I do a lot of motorway miles, at fairly high speeds. The wear apparently is fairly uniform so no indication there of anything unusual.

Second question is the old one: what to get next? With that kind of life, I'm a little wary of the SP270 again. They have been smooth enough but not especially quiet in my opinion. Very quiet on a good road, not that quiet on the many poor roads we have to drive on in this country. Maybe it's just the roads?

Lexus also recommend Bridgestone, not sure which one but I don't think there has been a very favourable impression on here. On a previous Saab I had Dunlop Sport SP01's and they were great, smooth and very quiet, I noticed an immediate difference when I put those on the Saab. I think they can be fitted to the LS though not sure if they are actually still available, and quite pricey in LS sizes.

Old subject I know, but any other thoughts? Is there any new thinking on this based on anyone's recent experiences?

Thanks for your advice!

Chris

[chrisfs]

In the end, I thought I might try the Bridgestone Turanze ER33 (EOMs on the newer 430s I understand). Or maybe the Michelin Pilot Sports.

But after all that, it seems they don't come in my 430's size 225/55/R17!

So it's back for more Dunlop 270s at the weekend. I'll see if I can make them last a little longer this time. I reckon Pete may be on to something with this wheel spin thing because I have mine almost permanently on Sport ECT setting.

May see if i can cope with the more languid Normal setting for a while. Or maybe not . . .