Tyres for a 1999 LS400

[Fringfordjohn]

Hello everyone, As an avid reader but only an occasional contributor to this forum could I ask for some advice. I need some new tyres for my 1999 LS400 with the standard 16 inch wheels, and the recommendation on this site has recently been for Falkens, although from what I read on here they seem to be getting hard to find.  I have found a firm on the internet with the unlikely name of Tyres-guru, and they claim to have stocks of Falken ZIEX ZE310 ECORUN 225/60 R16 98W, which are available now. Is this the tyre that you have all been using? As I have to change the tyres anyway, I was hoping for an improvement in the tyre noise level in the car, the Goodyear tyres that I have now always seem to me to be a bit noisy, certainly tyre noise is the dominant sound when driving, but this may only be because the rest of the car is so quiet. These particular Falkens claim a noise level of only 67 dB which is quite low compared with other makes that I have looked at. So shall I go ahead and buy these Falkens, or does anyone have any better recommendations. Any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks, John Reader.

[ambermarine]

Hi John

I used Falkens for ten years and had good service from them ,but as you say difficult to find .That was the reason I moved to Bridgestone Turanza ER300 ,they have proved exceptional in all respects 

I got mine online and they came direct from Germany at no extra cost.

[runsgrateasanut]

I started using Maxxi's on my W140 Merc ten years ago which was unusual in those days, and when I bought the Lexus they have been my preferred choice the last four years. Nexens did not wear well.

 

[GrahamG]

With any cheap/rare tyres you find on offer you might want to ask date of manufacture before buying.  All tyres have the week and year of manufacture in a panel on the side wall.

[Malc]

I thought Falkens this size had long since disappeared from manufacture so take care on the dates .....  so long as you finish using them within 10 years you should be ok whatever.

I'm now on Maxxis  ' all seasons '   now and even they are getting challenging to source ....  about £100 a corner ' all up ' I paid last October for a pair to make up the new 4 I now have.  These seem to wear very well and noise levels are ok AND they seem to have great grip too, better than any I've had for a long time.

They are NOT the summer nor the winter tyres BUT ' all seasons '  ............  take care with whats available

Malc

[royoftherovers]

4 minutes ago, Malc said:

I thought Falkens this size had long since disappeared from manufacture so take care on the dates .....  so long as you finish using them within 10 years you should be ok whatever.

I'm now on Maxxis  ' all seasons '   now and even they are getting challenging to source ....  about £100 a corner ' all up ' I paid last October for a pair to make up the new 4 I now have.  These seem to wear very well and noise levels are ok AND they seem to have great grip too, better than any I've had for a long time.

They are NOT the summer nor the winter tyres BUT ' all seasons '  ............  take care with whats available

Malc

I am delighted with my Kumho tyres (all weather ) which were similarly priced to Maxxis 2 years ago.

[Guest]

Maxxis Premitra HP 5 top tyre for the LS and great value for money. Top rated tyre for mid price cannot go wrong.

[GEN]

I have been using Vredstein winter tyres (currently Winter extreme with snow and mud markings) all year round for  at least ten years : good road holding, relatively quiet and they are usually under £ 100 (between 80-96) delivered directly to your door or favorite garage or you can prepay for fitting and use one of their garages.  I couldn't recommend these tyres enough. The only drawback for those traveling to Germany is that these tyres are restricted to a maximum speed of 130mph!

P.S. Should you decide to try these be aware that they make the same tyre for SUVs which I haven't and I wouldn't buy. 

 

[Cotswold Pete]

I am using Maxxis on front, Nexen on rear (due to replace in 1500 miles).

Nexen have worn really well, around 35K miles, only just had Maxxis

On tyre noise, I think the issue if the cabin is quite, and the road isolation is not quite as good as with modern cars, and some road surfaces just make most tyres sound noisy.

Did a 500 mile run down from Scotland yesterday, and the noisest section of motorway was from Twekesbury to Cheltenham, and i know from experience in a colleagues Golf that onthat section her car sounds okay but that makes me think this might be because the overall cabin noise a bit higher so it masks the difference on  motorway surfaces.

I do think Falkens were slightly better, but no longer made to fit LS.

 

[ambermarine]

There is a site online that sells virtually every tyre mentioned in this post subject including Falken that fit the 400.

https://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/car-tyres-225-60-16.html?partnerDomain=adwords.google.co.uk_tyres_225_60_16&gclid=Cj0KCQjws5HlBRDIARIsAOomqA2WMGI6zWGualLMpOLZ7E7YNgLllSjZ_3O4PfnOLdBQLLvl0u1uM9IaAhBREALw_wcB&xtor=SEC-24-GOO-[tyres_Tailles]--S-[tyre+225+60+16]&xts=223987#js-pag

[Fringfordjohn]

Wow, Thank you all for your comprehensive replies, I'm staggered by the response. Thank you also to ambermarine for the link to a most useful site. I will now email both the original site, and the site recommended by ambermarine and ask if they can tell me the date of manufacture of their Falken tyres, and if I don't like the answer that I get I will choose an alternative from the ones recommended here. Many thanks again for all your help.

[Fringfordjohn]

Hello again, just to let you know the conclusion of this, I followed the link given to me by Ambermarine, and on that site I found Falken ZIEX ZE310 ECORUN 225/60 R16 98W tyres available at £88.40 each including VAT and delivery. Bearing in mind the very valid comments above about the age of obsolete tyres, I emailed the seller and asked if they could tell me the what the date stamp was on the sidewall of these tyres. Not surprisingly I didn't get a direct answer, but I did receive a reply stating that all their new tyres were less than two years old, so I took a chance and ordered four. When they arrived I was pleased to see that the sidewall date stamp was 0319 which I assume means that the tyres were manufactured in January 2019. If this is correct then the tyres were only three months old when I bought them.

My local garage fitted them for me, and I'm happy to say that smoothness and quietness of the ride is much improved over that provided by the previous Goodyear tyres, so a win win situation for me. Once again, thank you all for your help and advice.

Kind regards, John.

PS. As an aside, the proprietor of my local garage, who collected the car from my house in the morning and returned it in the evening commented how much quieter and smoother the car was on the return journey with the new tyres fitted. So unsolicited testimonial.

[Malc]

Excellent result ......  so how much for the fitting, balance and old tyre disposal ?

Malc

[Fringfordjohn]

Hi Malcolm,

The total cost including fitting, new valves, balancing and old tyre disposal was £50. This also included picking the car up from my house and delivering it back in the evening, although this was no big deal as the man only lives 200 yards from my house, so he just used my car to get to work (six miles) instead of his own.

Well pleased with the result, and as I have also just had the cam belt replaced and a new water pump fitted by Lexus Milton Keynes, (rather more than £50) and as the car has only done 41000 miles from new, I'm now looking forward to several more years of trouble free motoring.

Cheers John.

 

[Malc]

at least another 100k miles before much else needs attention I would think 

Malc