Recommended Tires And Monitoring System

[Golden Pineapple]

I am about to change my tires on my IS350 (18" rims). The stock tires are great, but I haven't tried out others. Any recommendations?

Do you change your tires at the dealership? I read the manual, and it mentions the tire pressure monitoring system has to be "re-configured" when the tires are changed. This sounds like an opportunity for the the dealership to bite a huge chunk of your wallet. Is this necessary? What are some alternatives? Also, do I need to get new sensors? Other postings seem to indicate that in order to change tires, new sensors are needed. Is this even true?

[Roger Silvey]

Golden Pineapple--I'd recommend you check out your local Good Year Tire store. They are tire professionals and they know all about tires and the sensors. That's where I go for my Lexus SC430.--Roger

[bartkat]

I am about to change my tires on my IS350 (18" rims). The stock tires are great, but I haven't tried out others. Any recommendations?

Do you change your tires at the dealership? I read the manual, and it mentions the tire pressure monitoring system has to be "re-configured" when the tires are changed. This sounds like an opportunity for the the dealership to bite a huge chunk of your wallet. Is this necessary? What are some alternatives? Also, do I need to get new sensors? Other postings seem to indicate that in order to change tires, new sensors are needed. Is this even true?

If you're using the original wheels, then the sensors can stay with them and there shouldn't be any problems.

[Gaugster]

I am about to change my tires on my IS350 (18" rims). The stock tires are great, but I haven't tried out others. Any recommendations?

Do you change your tires at the dealership? I read the manual, and it mentions the tire pressure monitoring system has to be "re-configured" when the tires are changed. This sounds like an opportunity for the the dealership to bite a huge chunk of your wallet. Is this necessary? What are some alternatives? Also, do I need to get new sensors? Other postings seem to indicate that in order to change tires, new sensors are needed. Is this even true?

The 're-configured' that you mention is actually a very simple DIY process. Whenever the tire pressure is adjusted the manual states that the new tire pressure settings should be learned by the cars monitoring system (TPMS). It doesn't matter if you have new tires or just have added air to the old ones. Using the toggle/selction switch on the dash, you can have the car record the current air pressures for each tire. The car will use this measurement as a baseline to determine if a tire has a problem later on down the road.

This is needed more in climates that have lots of temperture extremes. Like going from a warm garage to a sub-zero road. This give the system a better chance to aviod false warnings.

Regards,

[Randy&Bonnie]

..

[IS.Canadian]

Well Randy, I totally understand where you are coming from. A lot of shops in town actually charge more to deal with cars with TPMS, because they have to take more care when doing tire changes. I would feel more comfortable taking it to Lexus, but expect them to charge you more for the tires as well.

One alternative would be buying your tires somewhere else and have Lexus do the install. So if they bust the TPMS or whatever else, it's their responsibility to fix that.

By the way, the Bridgestones are awful on snow. I have that on my IS250 AWD, and I am really thinking about getting something else. I was driving to a friend's house, and with not much snow on the ground, I lost control turning left. Heck, I was going only maybe 20 km/h too. I hit the brakes, but it was still sliding forward. Fortunately, I was in a residential area with no cars near. *sigh*

[Manolo1]

Bridgestones bad on snow? That is too general a statement. Which Bridgestones? For sure they were not the latest Blizzaks which are top rated...

As far as new tires for your IS350, without a doubt there are a few top choices:

#1 Michelin Pilot PS2

-Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position or Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position

-Pirelli P-Zero

-Yokohama ADVAN Sport

-Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3

and your best website to compare brands, etc. still is Tirerack.com

They can ship tires to a nearby recommended installer that will do as good a job if not better than your Lexus dealer.

[Manolo1]

perhaps you may want to try your nearby Costco:

Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 255/40R18 Ultra High Performance

$305.99 (Shipping, Handling, Installation, and Disposal Included in Price)

Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 225/40R18 Ultra High-Performance $246.99

[Randy&Bonnie]

..

[Motoracer]

One word of caution about tire pressure sensors. Living near Boston the first thing did for my '07 IS350 was buy aftermarket 17" wheels and Bridgestone Blizzaks for the winter at Direct Tire, which is a generally reputable shop. All went well until I had to put the summer wheels/tires back on when the TMPS "check system" warning came on. It turns out that the TMPS codes for Lexus are proprietary and unavailable to non-Lexus shops, and I had to go to Lexus for a service visit in order to wake the sensors up. The car comes with capacity to store two sets of codes that you can easily switch between, but sensors seem to fall asleep when the wheels are stored and have to be reset by the Lexus dealer. Same thing happened when I switched off for the next change of season.

I complained to Barry Steinberg at Direct Tire that they gave me now warning of this when I bought the wheels and tires from them. He said they are trying to get a law passed in Massachusetts to force Lexus (and other OEMs) to make the codes available. In the meantime, he offered to take the car in to Lexus for me, absorb the cost, and give me a loaner car, so I have no complaints about Direct Tire. Just one more thing to think about if you decide to swap wheels and sensors.