Wheels - change down?

[Shahpor]

Before this get really out of hand, can I just say that tyres seem to be a very subjective topic. 🙂

Ultimately, I believe that you can't really go wrong with any premium tyre but everyone has their favourite; indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if you asked 10 people on a forum which tyre is best and get 10 different answers!

For example, personally I didn't like the Michelin Primary 4's on mine so had them swapped for Dunlop SportMaxx RT2's, which I had on my old IS and thought were very good.

[Las Palmas]

3 hours ago, Hugh R said:

Not necessarily!  Very drawn to Goodyear 5's as sooner or later front will need to be replaced.

If we drive long enough in a car it will need new tyres. Not only front.

Have had powerful cars. On front wheel drive all 4 same size and same brand. On 4-wheel drive same. On rear wheel drive (powerful is different to different people) with abundant power/weight rear tyres wider. Had a kit-car very light with 2L Porsche engine 225 front 285 rear.

[H3XME]

Said it before, and I'll say it again.

By no means you need more than 225s on the rear of an IS250. Yes, the manual says so and so. These cars are not tail happy, you don't need to overcompensate with big tyres to reduce oversteer. You will ruin dynamics, mpgs, and acceleration. 

17s or 18s, start searching for tyres on any online tyre shop and look for a decent brand tyre and low sound ratings if that's what you need. Stay away from budget ditch finders and you'll be good. No point discussing something so subjective in advance if you haven't tried any options yet. Get the car, drive it. Go from there.

[Linas.P]

17 minutes ago, Shahpor said:

Before this get really out of hand, can I just say that tyres seem to be a very subjective topic. 🙂

You are absolutely right - the best tyre is usually the best tyre to you!

But that said some characteristics can be tested objectively and that is how tyre comparisons work. Good example is Michelin PS4 - objectively it is one of the best tyres there are, that is the reason I got them on my old IS. However, from my experience I can tell that for the car with 200hp they were just overkill and overall made cars worse to drive than previous Dunlop RTs. That does not say much about PS4 - they are still great tyres, problem is that they were great in the ways which were either not important or I could not fully appreciate in car like IS250. Perhaps in the track they would pull 0.2s better lap time than Dunlop RTs, but in real driving they were less comfortable, less fuel efficient and added grip was not important as IS250 didn't even have enough grip let Dunlop RTs lose nevermind PS4.

So that is my experience with PS4... I had many Michelin tyres over the years and I would say one stand out thing for them is longevity, for normal driving they consistently have best wear without noticeable sacrifice on anything else. Comfort - reasonable. But they usually as well the most expensive for any given size and that is why one can often find better tyre for particular purpose and for less.

As well you right to say that all Premium tyres nowadays are very good and one cannot go really wrong with any brand. I agree with that in general. The only exception would be - Michelin and Continental are noticeable more expensive, Pirelli sometimes joins them at the top as well. All good tyres, but not necessarily good value for money. For such reason I tend to go with Dunlop/Goodyear - somehow they just manages to provide premium tyres for better price and their performance and longevity more than adequate for daily driven car. If I had high performance car then I would look into Michelin most likely, although Continentals are very competitive as well.

Not so good brands are Yokohama and Bridgestone - they still premium, but what they offer is just not great when price is considered. Had a lot of them especially as they are popular OE on Japanese cars, but never had one I liked. For light track use Potenza RA050 is not bad, but as road tyre is rather terrible - it is quite sticky, poor fuel economy, bad wear and noisy. Although, I heard Bridgestone is planning big comeback with Potenza Sport... Apparently should be at the similar level as PS4 at least.

[rich1068]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Ignore User button works extremely well.

[LenT]

11 hours ago, Hugh R said:

Not necessarily!  Very drawn to Goodyear 5's as sooner or later front will need to be replaced.

Could be my fault, but I’ve slightly lost the thread of this thread!

Hugh, are you still basing your purchase decision on the tyres this car has?  As I - and probably others - have pointed out, tyres will be the easiest element of the car to replace.  What you really should be worrying about is everything else!

I don’t know how experienced a car buyer you are, but overlook potential problems with bodywork, engine, transmission, seat condition and so on - and you could end up with a lemon on a great set of tyres!

If you like the darn motor, enjoy driving it - and the price is right for you - then if you don’t have it, someone else will.

To reiterate, as you can see, I have a 2015 IS250 Premier which came with the 18” wheels. Which meant that Michelin only did one of the two specified tyres.

Fortunately Goodyear had introduced the Asy 5s and they have proved to be an excellent fit as far as I am concerned.  Frankly I am not sufficiently qualified to depart from the Lexus recommended tyre sizes.  Are you?

If I had bought my car from new, I would have specified the 17” wheels, because at 76 the marginal improvement in handling offered by the.larger wheel is irrelevant compared to the marginal improvement in comfort from the smaller wheel.

But the best decision I made was to buy the x!?xing car in the first place!

I hope this helps! 😊

[scudney]

........omg 😲 all this commotion and ....... he hasn't even bought the the car yet 🤔lol 😆 

[Hugh R]

10 hours ago, H3XME said:

By no means you need more than 225s on the rear of an IS250.

This is very interesting and never having owned this car didn't know - but thought you HAD to have larger back tyres.  So, as i'm a careful, rather elderly driver who can't trust their reflexes any more (yes it will happen to you too) i think I can safely go to these 225's and probably buy the front brand of Kumho for the time being.  Although I will also weigh carefully what LenT has said.

Fascinated by all the suggestions, a great help and amused by the enthusiasm tyres can cause and also the silly byways social media can lead you down if you're not careful! 

Think it's time to call a halt to this thread - as scudney says, I've haven't even bought the car yet!  Thanks people for guiding me to make up my mind.  Over and out.

[rich1068]

Hope you haven't been scared off Hugh.

In a nutshell, fit or keep whichever tyre and wheel combination you're happy with so long as they're standard IS250 fitment. An IS250 is an IS250. 

[H3XME]

15 hours ago, rich1068 said:

Hope you haven't been scared off Hugh.

In a nutshell, fit or keep whichever tyre and wheel combination you're happy with so long as they're standard IS250 fitment. An IS250 is an IS250. 

No need to keep things standard if you can make them better or suit your driving style more 😉

[Hugh R]

Certainly not been scared off - but thanks for the thought.   

I'll probably be back to ask more once I've had a chance to see, sit in, drive the car.  One of the big problems with lockdown is travel - and there are no IS's around here simply to look at.  I really need to see and sit in an IS as I'm slightly worried by their seemingly high waistline, and although I'm tall was quite surprised at how claustrophobic a friends 2015 Mercedes A class felt.  Windows should have started lower I thought, so will have to wait and see if the same is not true of the IS.  Here's hoping!

[Mr Vlad]

See if there are any is300h near you. They're not that far apart in getting in and out of and seat height and window door heights are similar too. At least you'll get a good idea.

[LenT]

10 hours ago, Hugh R said:

I really need to see and sit in an IS as I'm slightly worried by their seemingly high waistline, and although I'm tall was quite surprised at how claustrophobic a friends 2015 Mercedes A class felt.  

Clearly you must sit in and drive it before buying.

I’ve only known one person who bought a car without even driving it and that was a business partner who bought a Saab on my recommendation.  Fortunately he loved it and enjoyed it for some years!

The first time I saw the IS250 was on the dealer’s forecourt.  It looked exactly what I was after, but it was replacing a Honda Accord which was, I discovered, about 4cms taller.  So I was worried about feeling cramped inside, and I’m shorter than your good self.

To my surprise it actually felt roomier in the front with more headroom.  Maybe the seats - which are very comfortable - sit lower on the floor pan.  It also felt wider, although it was actually a couple of cms narrower. 

I should add that the seats have three ranges of adjustment and the steering wheel two. My BiL is just about 6’ and finds the back cramped but the passenger seat is adjustable enough to give him the head and leg room he needs.

So it’s  true that some taller folk may feel the back is less spacious - but I don’t sit in the back!  And neither will you!

My very first impression when getting inside was that this is a very pleasant place to be.  And I still get that same feeling every time I do it.

[Orku5]

Front: 225/45 R18
Back: 235/40 R18

wheels: Mazda RX8 with spigot rings (I guess some hate comments will be incoming 😂 )

apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol';">Look good, are lightweight and was a cheap good upgrade.

The car came with 245/45 R17 on all four. Going narrow and a bit larger the whole care feels now a bit more nippy.

Tires I went for Michelin. Used to drive BMW for years, so I'm used to Continental and Michelin.
On my Mazdas, they were RWDs I used Toyo tires - was actually considering Toyo/Advan again but the prices put me off...