Back Skipping Out

[Paradroid]

I've only had my IS200 Sport for 3 days and the back has skipped out 3 times already! Admittedly the weather has been unbelievably wet, and every time it's happened it's been slight - no opposite lock required, but I'm still wondering if it should be like that.

The rear tyres are one Dunlop Sport which is due for replacement, and one Semperit which has plenty tread left. Every time the back has lost traction, the weight of the car has been on the Semperit, not on the worn Dunlop Sport.

Would some tyres improve it or is the IS200 set up so that it loses grip at the rear, to help handling?

Does anyone have any tyre recommendations? Looking for quality but not the absolute top of the range.

Does anyone rate the Semperit tyres? There are two on the car with plenty tread but they are not on the same axle. I guess I'll move them so they are both on the front and get new rear tyres?

[redz_UK]

personally never heard of semperit..

many members swear by the falken fk452's... i have these and am very happy, 15k miles and still like new..

if you have never driven a rear wheel drive before, it does take a while to get used to the handling and if you find that its a but twitchy at high speeds then a trip to the Doc at WIM is needed to sort out your geometory..

[Chris.S]

Semperit's are budget tyres, you'd be better off replacing the 2 rears with a more well know leading brand tyre

[MacRS200]

First off IMHO it's not good to mix tyres on an axle, they will be different which makes the grip different depending on which way you are cornering.

The fact that it seems to be when you load the Semperit tyre could be down to a less grippy tyre or that you have uneven camber on the rear wheels. That side could have less negative camber promoting a bit of "drift" to that side. Get 2 new tyres and take her to the Dr for a check-up.

As for tyre choices, favourites on here are Falkens, as said above, or Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3, there are loads of threads on here about this one. I just changed my fronts from F1's to Nexen N3000, similar tread pattern and a lot cheaper, so far very happy with them.

Hope that helps :D

[Chris.S]

im running a full set of Nexen N3000 and i cant fault them so far

[Guest inicol63]

I total agree with MacRS200 you should never mix tyres .

Also take a look some tyres are directional tyres so they can only go on one side of the car.

Get them changed as soon as poss as you don't want your new car getting damaged.

Other than that i hope your enjoying your car....

Ian

[Y2Kanjar]

When i got the car 1st i had the same problem...... but it was me going to to fast.....lol

[Paradroid]

Very informative, many thanks :)

I'll go and price up a pair of new tyres based on the recommendations above.

The Semperits will probably have to stay on the car for a while due to finances. It would be better to have them on the front and better tyres on the rear, right?

[H13 BBO]

Just switched from " Michelin Pilot Sports " ( which i just could not fault )

to Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's of which i got a super duper deal on .........

personally i always think it is best to get the best tyres that you can afford & go for a trusted name

but that's just my personal opinion ... :shutit:

[Abbas]

When I first bought my IS200 the back end would slide out like it was on ice this happend only on the parkways at high speeds. It turned out it was the wheel alignment/geometry... When I had it adjusted the technician commented on how much the rear was out of alignment.

[DJ Wozza]

When you have new tyres fitted, they should always be on the back of a car. Period.

You don't mention if your car is Manual or Auto, wether the Traction Control was switched on (normal) or off,

and what speed you were doing or what gear/engine revs. The Semperit Tyre (as stated above are budget a brand)

is possibly the culprit, and with 2 different Tyres on the axle in the wet. I would suggest ultimate grip from the rear

is quite greatly reduced. I would suggest as soon as you can afford to, replace the rears with Falkens or the Nexens

mentioned above.

Also you car may well need the chasis calibrating to the correct positions. It's a long story but basically the IS200

has handling issues/front tyre wear on inside edges, and needs to be set up properly by a specialist to the correct

positions. Do not under any circumstances go to a fast fit type centre and ask them to do the trackig on your car,

as this will be set only to the information supplied by Lexus. The information is wrong. The updated positions were

written by Tony Bones of Wheels-InMotion (WIM) and you car will benifit greatly from a proper set up.

He has done over 300 full geometry set ups on IS200 and does really know what he is talking about.

See here for last weeks meet and further information.

[spikes]

all cars have less grip in the wet so it would help a lot to slow down and be less heavy footed on the throttle in the wet :winky: :)

[Scorps01]

but it was me going to to fast.....lol

Dont be silly its an IS.

Just get some decent tyres on and it will handle a lot differently....im running on Eagle F1's.

[WylieCoyote]

Yes tryes make a difference but you can't ignore one thing - if the back end slips out, you're driving irresponsibly - period.

No blaming the road conditions, no blaming the tyres, it's your fault.

[Andy-R]

I've got the Falken FK452's all round no probs with them, probably is a tyre issue if your fronts are better and the same as each other then swap em over also while you get used to driving the car use the snow button in the wet to kill abit of the power, if your after new tyres Camskill.co.uk very cheap for whatever your looking for and delivered to your door, the only thing is you have to get them fitted but thats not much.

[Parthiban]

It's definitely the tyres, make sure you get some good ones on and change both the tyres on the rear. I've got Goodyear Eagle F1s on and highly recommend them for grip and road noise.

Also get the geo checked as this can make quite a difference as well.

[Paradroid]

Yes tryes make a difference but you can't ignore one thing - if the back end slips out, you're driving irresponsibly - period.

No blaming the road conditions, no blaming the tyres, it's your fault.

What a load of ********. Did you see the rain and standing water on the roads on Friday night? And I had to go out at 12am so it was plenty dark enough. It had been raining torrentially all night.

I turned round a mini-roundabout, foot wasn't even on throttle and the rear of the car skipped about 1-2ft. No opposite lock required to correct.

Still driving irresponsibly? Funny how I could drive at the same speed in my ZS180, in the wet, and not have any funny moments like this.

Anyway, back on topic.

Wozza, it's a manual, traction control turned on, no throttle, third gear, turn from single carriageway into dual carriageway so not full 90 degree turn. As above, it only skipped, didn't snap out or anything. Would have been fun except I'm new to the car :)

I went rummaging in the boot earlier this evening. As well as water and rust (nice one Lexus) I found my spare alloy tyre, and that was full of information. Worn so badly on the inside that metal wires were sticking out of the rubber.

So, it would seem that I do need to get the geometry sorted...

[DJ Wozza]

....I found my spare alloy tyre, and that was full of information. Worn so badly on the inside that metal wires were sticking out of the rubber.

So, it would seem that I do need to get the geometry sorted...

Thats probably why you have one worn Dunlop & 3 Semperit. Trying to sell the car and hide the tyre wear, cost cutting :tsktsk: couldn't

even buy a set of 4 cheapies...

The Geometry will make a massive difference. Talk to Tony @ WIM & he will be happy to give you the info you need to

supply to a Specialist Geo centre. Remember full Geometry is not just a tracking check. The IS200 has a complicated chasis that

does require carefull setting up by a specialist, but once done (and on good tyres :winky:) is quite stable & rewarding.

Good luck with it :D

[redz_UK]

Yes tryes make a difference but you can't ignore one thing - if the back end slips out, you're driving irresponsibly - period.

No blaming the road conditions, no blaming the tyres, it's your fault.

bit harsh towards the newbie...

same thing happened to me first time out in the rain..

i think the spare says it all.. go see the doctor will be the best investment you make on your new car!

[Tony-Bones]

Oh dear.... Reads like an advanced version of the historic problem that's plagued the IS...... The spare tyre speaks volumes.

I won't drone on to why the car broke away but i would suggest you follow members advice regarding the Geometry and tyres.

As you may or may not know the OEM Geometry positions are wrong!!... I re-wrote these some years ago and these new positions are available here in the clubs knowledge base.

[Andy-R]

I see your from up this end somewhere so a trip to WIM may be a bit far to go but if you ask Tony or do search on here you can get the correct GEO settings, then you just need to find somewhere local with enough talent to set it up, not sure where's best but if you PM Annees i'm sure Geoffers told me he gets his done in Burnley or somehere and when they did his they went on the phone to the doctor and he talked them through it all, i'm sure WIM will be able to confirm is this is correct or not :)

[DJ Wozza]

.......... if the back end slips out, you're driving irresponsibly - period.

No blaming the road conditions, no blaming the tyres, it's your fault.

So when it happened to me on a patch of Deisel spilt from a vehicle, it was obviously my fault.

Sorry Keith but you are well over the top here and completely wrong mate.

Yes from a rear wheel drive car it is more likely to happen, & (from what has been discussed above)

the car obviously has Geometry issues, and badly worn & mis-matched tyre combination are certainly

not going to help either. It's not rocket science, just common sense.

Add that situation to large amounts of standing water/slippery road surface and the back can come round

faster than a council tax demand. Obviously you should be more careful in the wet, but as the saying goes

"let him who is without sin cast the first stone". I know you are someone with strict views on Road Safety issues

but the sweeping statement you made is at the very least incorrect, at worst darn offensive.

Sorry if that offends, as it is not intended to do so, but I feel I had to comment in response.

[Parthiban]

I went rummaging in the boot earlier this evening. As well as water and rust (nice one Lexus) I found my spare alloy tyre, and that was full of information. Worn so badly on the inside that metal wires were sticking out of the rubber.

Was that there when you bought the car? That's not normal, I'd get it checked out, has it been rear ended and repaired at some point?

[muddyell]

Aint had mine long either but personally i love it when the back end kicks out

Some of you are sayin about havin the same tyres all round due to tread patterns etc but when i had a tyre changed on mine the guy and the garage said it doesnt make any difference and that there was no point in changing the other one too

[Paradroid]

@andy-r, yes I see you're in Skem, I'm just down the road in Wigan :)

I've been thinking I need to go to WIM, but just checked and it's a 400 mile round trip unfortunately. Thanks for the info about the place in Blackburn that's much closer, I'll give that a go.

Was speaking to a mate today from Skem who's found a really good place for tyres in Wigan, so I'm going to go there in the next week or two and get two new tyres on the rear. Just need to wait for pay day really!

@Parthiban - water in boot not that unheard of actually on the IS200, there's threads on this forum. When I say rust it's just a bit of surface rust on the inside of the boot, because the metalwork is just painted and not lacquered. It's going to need sorting though, will have to get my missus to fire the hose pipe underneath to see where it's leaking in!!!!

Cheers,

Dorian