About Changing Tires And Wheels On Es350

[collider]

Hello everybody,

I am new to the forum and new to Lexus. Before posting I browsed the forum but could not find an answer to my question.

I am thinking of buying ES350 (My Acura TXS is coming to an end). I like the exterior and the interior of the car. I just love it. ES 350 has everything I'd like to have in car but the only thing - I'd like to have a little more stable and sporty ride. Something like German cars provide.

For this purpose, I am thinking about changing the original wheels and tires for wider tires and steel wheels. I closely examine every ES350 I see on the road but never seen a single one with swapped tires or wheels.

May be somebody has experience in that? Any opinions and experience about such a swap would be asppreciated.

Thank you.

[OLDSCHOLEVO]

Hello everybody,

I am new to the forum and new to Lexus. Before posting I browsed the forum but could not find an answer to my question.

I am thinking of buying ES350 (My Acura TXS is coming to an end). I like the exterior and the interior of the car. I just love it. ES 350 has everything I'd like to have in car but the only thing - I'd like to have a little more stable and sporty ride. Something like German cars provide.

For this purpose, I am thinking about changing the original wheels and tires for wider tires and steel wheels. I closely examine every ES350 I see on the road but never seen a single one with swapped tires or wheels.

May be somebody has experience in that? Any opinions and experience about such a swap would be asppreciated.

Thank you.

sure you can change the wheels, but why would you want steel wheels???

[Lexusfreak]

Welcome to LOC Collider.

I would caution you to not put 'steel' wheels on any vehicle that is factory equipped with alloys (steel wheels are much heavier than alloys & you will cost yourself bigtime in handling, unsprung weight, fuel economy etc).

Why exactly do you think that you will get more of a 'German' type ride if you switch to steel wheels?

My best suggestion is to upgrade to a larger alloy wheel (perhaps an 18 or 19" Lexus alloy) with higher performance tires. That will help alot to accomplishing what you want to do......but remember that is not really the ES 350's mission as it's a FWD car to begin with. If your looking for better handling & more overall performance in a sports sedan, I suggest you give the IS or GS models a try. ;)

[jbeidl]

Hello everybody,

I am new to the forum and new to Lexus. Before posting I browsed the forum but could not find an answer to my question.

I am thinking of buying ES350 (My Acura TXS is coming to an end). I like the exterior and the interior of the car. I just love it. ES 350 has everything I'd like to have in car but the only thing - I'd like to have a little more stable and sporty ride. Something like German cars provide.

For this purpose, I am thinking about changing the original wheels and tires for wider tires and steel wheels. I closely examine every ES350 I see on the road but never seen a single one with swapped tires or wheels.

May be somebody has experience in that? Any opinions and experience about such a swap would be asppreciated.

Thank you.

The ES350 is for the crowd that likes a very smooth and quiet ride and does not care about sporty handling (like my wife). I believe that the IS250 and IS350 have more appeal to people seeking better handling. I had my wife drive an IS250 before we purchased our ES350. She thought the IS was a little too small coming from an ES300.

You may want to drive both an IS and ES before you make your purchase.

Good luck,

John

[collider]

Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your replies.

About IS. I've been driving Acura TSX for about 4 years. Ourtide and inside the two cars are very much alike, at least in my opinion. I wouldn't like to have a car so much similar to Acura though I am quite happy with the Acura. Besides, I'd like to have a full-size sedan.

I am sorry that I did not explain myself properly. I am not a sport-type driver otherwose I go for BMW or something like that.

The whole idea comes from the fact that I don't like the look of the standard ES350 tires and I don't want to go for the highest upgrade package that suggests better wheels.

So, if to replace the wheels, why not to get a little more grip of the road? That was the whole idea.

Higher performance tires - that is what I probably need. But will there be any effect if those will be a little wider tires than the standard ones?

I test-drove GS450 (Hybrid) and had the same desire to install tires that would make it a little more stick to the road. I believe there is no other way to change the ride of the car.

Thank you.