I bought a 2011 es 350 two falls ago. It had the stock wheels on on it with worn out tires. I then bought stock size winter tires. All great at this point. In the spring I put aftermarket wheels an tires on it, however I put 18 in wheels and tires on. Same circumference and about an inch wider. Still all seems well. Enter massive pothole on the highway, I then had to replace 2 tires and a wheel. Now, I notice when I put the summer tires back on this spring the car is just about un drivable. It pulls to the left mostly except when it jerks right. I have had three alignments and a full inspection. Just wondering if anyone has had problems running slightly larger tires on their es?
Or on another tack similar damage off of a pothole accident? Currently the car has 160000km on it (100k miles for mybamerican friends)

 

You are saying they ruled out any other suspension damage during this inspection etc. That these Summer tires/wheels drove okay before the pothole incident.

You need to get your Summer tires and wheels inspected including balance and runout etc. You could have a damaged or defective tire or wheel. Defective tires can have belt steer which causes your symptoms.
What brand and model tires? Any warranty? Or they could have been damaged too by the pothole.

Also, what are the specifications of these new wheels? Center bore? Is it the original 60.1mm? Offset? Is it close to the original? Width? Something totally incorrect for the car could cause problems.
What exact size tires are you running?

 

Hi.
Stock wheels and tires are:
215 55r17
Cb is 60.3
5x114.3 17x7"
And a 34 to 48mm 0ffset

I'm running in the summer:
235 45r18

CB IS 72.62mm

18X8" 5X144.3
Offset 40mm.

I wonder if they missed the spacers.

I will look into this.

Thanks!
Rookie mistake.

 

Also, I had a friend who bent her rim on a pothole and I told her to call the city and have them reimburse her, which I’m pretty sure they did. Not sure what to do for highways, but somebody (not you) is to blame for that I would think.

 

I looked into it pretty heavily before I put them on(I'm like that), somehow I missed the center bore. I think my next step is to see if there are spacers there.

 

That is your problem.
Did you ever have bore size adapters? Or are you stating that they were lost by the tire or repair shop?

FYI the stock center bore is 60.1.
It is not 60.3
This is a standard Toyota/Lexus thing and why you can easily swap wheels among many different Toyota & Lexus models..

 

I pulled the center caps on the wheels and they all had spacers. Before I give up I had thought about just picking up some stock camry wheels just to see if that fixed the issue.
also the bore size issue is a typo on my part, it is 60.1

 

You can use wheels from a Camry, Avalon, ES350, RX350, Highlander, and Sienna as all are built on basically the same front-wheel drive platform, share suspension design and have almost exactly the same wheel specs. It does not matter about model year either!
There are many of them for sale on eBay and probably your local Craigslist.

 

I plus-sized my wife's Avalon once and regretted it. Low profile tires and wheels are simply more prone to the symptoms you described. After my wife destroyed a few tires and wheels on potholes and curbs, we back to the stock set up, and never looked back!

 

If I were you I'd go to 16's. There you'll have the most comfortable ride you can imagine.

 

It may be that you have the wrong size adapters on your aftermarket wheels or that one is damaged.
You need to pull one off yourself and check the fit of the bore size adapter (what you keep calling a spacer) to see if it fits perfectly on the hub bore ring and also inside the wheel hub.

I had a set of wider aftermarket wheels with bore size adapters on a Honda many years ago and they were super sensitive to balance issues but were okay once properly balanced by someone who paid attention to what they were doing. I only had vibration and shaking steering wheel issues, nothing like you describe.

 

Or, keep the same wheels and/or wheel size, and go with a little bit wider tire. The larger sidewall will also help protect the wheels from potholes and curb-rash.

 

I chose to mount bigger tires for winter.
Extreme weather conditions always demand anticipation for every actions.
Orienting the car toward your goal earlier than usual to set the suspension equally, for best contact pressure.
Avoiding steering late.
Increasing following distances, allowing more braking distance no matter if the tire size is bigger, no matter if there is a slight need of extra brake pressure.
Slow acceleration to avoid slips, specially on corner streets where spinners turns the road into black ice.

So i decided to go with ground clearance and more control on acceleration while on slippery ground, Cars is always less nervous on taller rubber.
If you are used to apply brakes too late, bigger tires will lock and slide more rapidly and surprise you. But that is you, people who race to red lights or tailgate other drivers while on the phone.
Bigger tires means more careful braking, means more awareness.

The tires don't rub inner fenders on a balanced stance. I didnt test if tires rub when wheels are fully turned and the suspension squashed. But i turned the wheel to full lock.
If it does rub when suspension is compressed, i'll hear it or i'll see the rubbing marks, and i'll adjust my approaches while parking, going for a bigger arc instead of going full lock too fast.
But will I really try to squeeze my car in very tight spots? Nope i'll go park farther, away from possible dents.

The car feels good, sitting higher compared to 215/55. It drives better than with my old 4seasons/summer Michelin. Really better.
The torque of the engine is put to use for a few seconds on gear change. I prefer that tone, i prefer driving on torque than on horsepower and that bigger diameter really hit the spot. The car feels better.










Dont ask if i bought non-standard size steelies. I bought the cheapest crap made in china, sold at ok tires.
I went from 215/55r17 to 215/60r17

Have a good winter,
Drive to road conditions