brittho

Hello all,

I have a 2002 ES300 and in the next 10K miles it will need new tires. The Michelin MXV4plus tires are on it now. Origionally it came with the Turanza ER33's.

I did a search for a similar topic but nothing much surfaced. I am running on stock wheels and tire size which is at 215/60/16 so with that in mind what is your favorite tire so far that you would recommend to others?

Thanks in advance!

Britt

kdogg

As far as stock size, I would recommed the Yokohama YK40's. They are inexpensive and very quiet. Also very nice tread pattern.

brittho

Hey kdogg,

My local tire store sells a YK420. Is this the same tire?

Britt

IS0LD0UT

iTrader: (1)

stick with the Michelin MXV4plus. These tires rock.

Pheonix

Goodyear > Most.
Goodyear owns most other people
Goodyear > people they don't own

maniax

iTrader: (3)

I've had continental contixtreme contacts, some kumho tires, some goodyear assurance and i'm running pirelli pzero neros.

I've found kumho tires to be the worst of all. stay away from those. NO TRACTION in the slightest snow whatsoever even tho they're consider ALL SEASON. dangerous!

Goodyear assurance seems to be very good altho i havent tested them in the snow yet.

The pirelli's pzero low pro's im running right now are good. The dry traction is excellent and wet traction is good too but snow performance is not so great. only works in light snow.

The continental contiextreme contacts is what i recommend. They're ultra high performance all season tires and they're cheaper than pirelli's or michelins. I've push these tires to the edge and they're excellent. The snow traction is better than most A/S tires. The tire tread pattern is the most aggresive. I love these tires and it's definietely my top choice.

gmac1337

I have the same Continental tires and they are really good. The grip on snow is amazing. Also the dry and wet traction are really good, much better than my stock Dunlop SP4000. I switched to Continental's becuase they had good ratings from Tirerack.

kdogg

Yes those are the ones. I meant YK420 not Yk20. This is what happens when I type while doing other tasks. In any case, they are very highly rated and you will not regret purchasing them!

flipside909

Hi Britt,

It all depends on your driving style and what you want to get out of the tire. Do you want a high mileage tire with low rolling resistance or do you want a tire that has decent mileage and good handling characteristics? I'm Biased to Michelin...but there are other great alternatives out there. If you want the quietness...Energy MXV4+ is the way to go (and is OEM for many Lexus models). Michelin's latest tire is the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S. Michelin's are a bit pricey than most but they are amongst the premium tire manufacturers out there.

dallison

i just bought a kuhmo for my 99 and they seem to work out very well, they also look decent on the car


http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....e1=yes&place=0

timoc42

I agree with him... I had the Contis when I had my ES. Highly recommend them...I changed from the Michelin Energy which came with the car, and I felt the car had more grip, in wet, dry and snow.

One downside is that I feel it is a little bit more noisier compared to the Michelin.

andy.e

I have the Turanza ER33's on my '04 ES330 and they're quiet and nice handling. I recently put a set of Turanza LSH's on my stock '93 SC300 and they are also very quiet and provide sufficient grip for regular driving in that car (everyday driving in the SC is a bit more aggressive than in the ES, obviously).

Overall I think the Turanzas are a good combination of price and performance. I like sticking with something close to stock because I figure the factory's tire evaluation process was way more rigorous than mine could ever be.

Michelins are very nice tires but they're more expensive and it's not clear to me that you're getting any incremental benefit that's measurable in everyday driving.

brittho

Hey thanks everyone for the different ideas for tires!

My ES does not have traction control so a good tire for wet weather is important as well as dry. I live in Frisco,TX which is north of Dallas. When we get snow here everyone stays home. haha. I am not too agressive of a driver but driving in traffic requires you to buy a tire that handles decently. After reading the reply's here so far and reading the reviews on the TireRack site I must say that all of the tires mentioned here so far look like winners for the exception of the Kumho's. I've had them in the past and the treadwear was just unacceptable. I only got 15k out of a set on a 4 door Ford Taurus that had no alignment issues or anything. The set before racked up 50k and the set after lasted for another 50 so unfortunalty I have blacklisted Kumho's for the moment. If the price is right though...you never know. ;-)

lexusk8

Here are the tires I have gone through with my ES's:

1996 ES300 - Toyo Proxes TPT, 205/65/15 (~2-3 yrs)
2001 ES300 - Toyo Proxes TPT, 205/60/16 (~4 yrs); Bridgestone Turanza LS-H, 205/60/16 (current set)

As you can see, the Toyo tires are one of my top choices for the ES. Everything about the tire is good, and the excellent tread pattern tops it all off. No problems with them whatsoever. I made the switch to Bridgestone because of 2 reasons: It was time to move to another brand, and I heard great ratings on the Turanza lineup.

Osiris_x11

Why not put ES100 on your ES300?!?

Yokohama AVS ES100...