mattsrs

TLDR; stock Bridgestone tires are garbage! Change them if you care about comfort and road noise

I have had a 22 ES350 UL for the past 2-3 weeks coming from a 21 300h Lux and immediately noticed more road noise and harshness on road imperfections. My new car (ES350) came with Bridgestone Turanza El440 and the previous 300h had Michelin eco saver A/S on them. After doing lots of research, ended up choosing Pirelli P7 AS Plus 3 as probably one of the best tires out there for comfort and noise. They were replaced today and I took a ride and the difference is night and day! Basically there's no tire noise on smooth pavement. Even with music/radio off, I hear wind noise and engine noise and nothing from the tire. It also a lot more comfortable over bumps and small road imperfections. I am shocked that Lexus delivers cars with that garbage of Bridgestone tires as they are shooting themselves in the foot! Spent around $870 total including replacement labor and to me it was worth every penny.

UltraLux22

Just curious, did you keep the stock 18" Noise - Reduction wheels? Tire size the same?

mattsrs

Good question. Yes I kept the original 18" NR wheels no changes there. Just changed tires

UltraLux22

My region uses the Michelins. I've read elsewhere with someone voicing displeasure with the Bridgestones. Interesting. Tire noise aside, did you perceive any changes in driving/handling characteristics?

LexFinally

Lots of recent threads on this, BTW.

mattsrs

Ride comfort and smoothness on bumps is much better and didn't notice difference on handling. There's some objective data about this Pirelli tire here: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=283

toyotaman7

I had this issue with my RX that came with Bridgestone Ecopias. They were loud, poor traction and luckily worse off really quick. Replaced them with Michelins and the car is much quieter, ride and handling is also significantly better.

I will not chose another set of Bridgestone for any of my cars.

glamglam

What region are you located in? Do you know what types of tires that my region up here in the northeast uses?

mattsrs

I wonder about that too! I thought nowadays car manufacturers put All Season Touring tires on everything except Porsche and some sport cars that would use performance summer tires.

ESh

Mine came with brand new Michelin Energys and I don’t like them. I think they make a lot of noise.

Also, I am not able to find any web page that compares this type of tire with the other All season tires.

mattsrs

My Hybrid also had Michelin A/S Energy saver. I think they most likely fit Hybrids with Michelins and ES350 with Bridgestones. Tire Rack is a good place to find road test results and data from verified customer reviews. From my research, the new Pirelli P7 AS Plus 3s are the way to go if you want something well rounded with focus on quietness and comfort.

LexFinally

Again, this has been discussed in greater detail in other recent threads, and I encourage the curious to find them. I'll just repeat that while the Pirellis are well rated overall, they are not the best choice for some drivers in northerly climes because of their ordinary snow performance.

mattsrs

I came across the poor winter performance reputation of Pirelli but it is something they tried to address with the new compound and thread design of the P7 Plus 3 that came out a few months ago. Below is wet test track results compared to other leading tires in this category. Tire Rack says they will add snow performance results after winter so curious how that will turn out

ESh

I would put Michelin Primacy 4. I have them on a 2007 ES and they are quiet and comfortable.

UltraLux22

My ‘19 350 Lux. had Michelin and my 22’UL 350 has the Michelin A/S Energy saver.