IS 350 = new tires every 10,000 miles?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Right on the Lexus web site it says,

"Tires fitted with 17- or 18-in wheels are expected to experience greater tire wear than conventional tires. Tire life may be substantially less than 20,000 miles (17-in) or 15,000 miles (18-in), depending on driving conditions."

Are you kidding? Does that mean if you get the Sport Package, which comes with 18" wheels, and you drive the car like it is meant to be driven, you are going to get about 10,000 miles per set of tires?

Just taking a look at the tirerack website, it looks like it is $925 just for the 4 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tires, then you have to have them mounted, balanced, etc.

Oh, and don't you need a full 4-wheel alignment every time you replace the tires since they are different sizes front and rear, and I think you can't even rotate them side to side?

Are you going to have to spend WELL OVER $1,000 every 10,000 miles for new tires for this car, as if it isn't expensive enough to start with?!?!

Oh, and since these are SUMMER performance tires, at about 10,000 miles are you going to be slippin' and slidin' whenever there is the least bit of rain?? Do you need to change them at even lower miles?!

I drove the IS 350, I love it, but I do real estate and put over 30,000 miles on my current car last year. If I buy this, do I have to budget another $3,000-4,000 just for tires every year????

Reply to
jpSETI
Loading thread data ...

Why should this be so surprising?

We heard the same thing from Acura NSX owners, too. Well, folks, this isn't the family sedan. It is what it is. They're telling you this, too. It's all part of owning the car.

You don't get the IS350 with sport package and 18" rims and then put $30 Chinese tires on it and expect them to last 60K miles.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

I'm sure if you can afford a $45K+ vehicle. Replacing tires shouldn't be a problem.

Reply to
Nad1370

30 years ago I used to go to a mechanic who specialized in Rolls, Bentleys, etc.and who graciously worked on my Datsun. He had a sign in his office that said

You drive like a sport, you pay like a sport.

that about sums it up

Reply to
Mark Klebanoff

As much of a downer as this tire issue may seem, it IS reality when dealing with sport sedans of this nature. Unless you're willing to shell out the extra cash for expensive tires every 10,000-20,000 miles, depending on how you drive the car, then the IS250 or IS350 certainly isn't the car for you. The same held true for the IS300 as well.

Since you are a real estate agent, I wouldn't even consider the IS350 as your primary 'work vehicle'; mainly due to the "greater tire wear" issue. Anyone that is operating anywhere NEAR a tight budget should NEVER consider a car of this nature. It just doesn't make good financial sense at all. These types of cars have escalated in total cost of ownership to the point where you need to have lots and lots of disposable income to justify buying one. UNLESS the buyer is in serious denial about their debt-to-assets ratio. Which in America today, many people fall into this category. Not everyone out there that you see dressed nicely driving a high-end vehicle is rich. Nor are a lot of the people that reside in very expensive houses. To the contrary, there ARE plenty of people in America that have done extremely well for themselves, and they can pull off the extravagant lifestyle quite easily with no sweat whatsoever.

To the original poster, I am in NO WAY preaching directly towards you. All I am saying is that it's just ridiculous to throw away so much money on tires unless you've just got beaucoup wads of cash saved, invested and lying around to play with.

Ron M.

Reply to
Ron M.

FWIW, my IS300 came with 17" Dunlop 9000 performance tires. I got

27,000 miles on them, and they still looked very good. In fact the tire shop asked me if I really wanted to get rid of them. I suspect that I could have actually gotten 35k miles from them, although I did note some fall-off on wet road traction. When the tire were new I could take wet corners and have the car hold the road at speeds that actually scared me, and after 27k miles, they would slide just a little at that point.

The website ad on the IS300 said the same thing about the 215-45ZR17 tires-- you might not even get 20k miles from them.

I didn't normally drive like a racer boy, so if you're driving is reasonably normal, or even a bit aggressive, I suspect that the admonition about poor durability is put there by the lawyers more than by the engineers. If your experience is like mine, you won't get "passenger car" wear (ie 50k miles) from them, but you may well get 30 or even 35 from them.

Reply to
Mark Klebanoff

My IS300 had the same warning on its window about the 17" tires. In the end they went about 35K. I drive aggressively but smoothly and don't spin the tires up if I can avoid it. The tires were rotated every 5K and pressure was husbanded tightly.

Reply to
Jeff Bertrand

The Bridgestone Potenza 215/45ZR17 summer performance tires that came on my

2002 IS300 only lasted about 22,000 miles. I rotated them every 5,000 miles and kept them properly inflated. Also, I didn't drive the car very hard either. Sounds like the Dunlops that came on Mark's IS300 are a much longer lasting tire than the Bridgestone Potenzas. I replaced the Bridgestone summer performance tires with a set of all-season Pirelli PZero Nero M&Ss. So far I like them really well. They're more smooth and quiet than the OEM Bridgestones were.

Ron M.

Reply to
Ron M.

I had the Potenza RE040s on my car that went 35K. I've fitted a set of Michelin PE2 Exaltos in the 225/45 x 17 size and generally like them. They have a softer turn in than the Bridgstones had, which I don't like but they rider nicer and more quietly, which I do like. Good grip in the wet.

Reply to
Jeff Bertrand

The tires on the IS 350 are different sizes front to back, so no rotating that way.

And I belive they are unidirectional, so no rotating side to side.

Can you really rotate these tires. At all??

Reply to
jpSETI

Dude The factory tires are very sticky. To obtain that kind of performance, Lexus opted to put a soft-compound tire on the car. I do usual driving in my IS300, with occassional agressive cornering and maximum acceleration, but my tires are at 22,000 miles and are still OK. Just rotate them as the ower's manual instructs and drive normally. If you don't like the tires, switch to some that last a little longer, but will give up some grip -- probably OK unless you are triggering the vehicle stability threshold on a regular basis.

Reply to
Jeff

Noted: The new IS350 has different size tires front-to-rear which makes it tough to rotate the tires.

Reply to
Jeff

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.