ra123

I recently purchased a 2016 IS 350AWD F sport and I am finding it hard to find affordable winter tires. I checked tirerack and they have the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 which is very expensive. I was comparing that to all-season options such as the BFGoodrich G-FORCE COMP-2 A/S which are almost half the price and reviews state similar ratings for snow/ice performance.

I live in Buffalo so snow gets pretty bad here. Although this year has been lucky for us without there being any precipitation. I have stock Turanza tires on the car which seem to have bad reviews.

Should I invest in the winter tire or the excellent all season? I drive mostly on local roads and my commutes are short.

Also the dealer is trying to sell me on some Blizzaks. Any input would be appreciated.

jw111

I would say either the Blizzak WS80's or the Michelin X-ice XI3 would be a pretty good choice for the money. I think on TireRack there's a $70 rebate for the Michelins too.

J3ffrey

Advice:

- NEVER get tires at the dealer... never ever ever!

ra123

Is it because of the cost?
I am trying get xpel installed on my car and it happens to be pretty expensive in my area. Going with the dealer may save me money.

Taideee

well honestly dealers sometimes does charge a lot more but also they don't do as good of a job on certain things.

XPEL... is your dealer using precut ones?


As for tires, best for winter is blizzak IMO

I personally prefer all seasons
(then again... I was driving in 4 inches of snow in a BMW with Summer tires before)
but Snow tires definitely give WAY better traction


I never had issues with my Audi in slow (Pirelli P6 and Pirelli p7 all seasons) in around 3-12? inches of snow

Never did a snow run with my lexus yet :P

Snowrydr01

I got bfg ice wrt for 136 each and 160 mail in rebate from tire rack. With the cheapest wheels they were at my door mounted and balanced for $1k before the rebate. They aren't as good as the wife's blizzaks but they work infinitely better then her all season conti dws that are good enough for me to be on my 4th set for our boring cars

Snowrydr01

I have a buddy in the tire testing equipment industry and he says the same.

Production line gets a spec, tire rack gets b spec, local tire dealers get c spec, car dealers get d spec. They are all in tolerance but how close to perfect varies. It makes sense that the people that move the most have the best leverage and get the higher priority

J3ffrey

What is xpel?

And who is production line?

So tire rack gets better tires than local dealers?

Taideee

XPEL is a Clear bra brand a PPF (paint protection film)

Clear bra is essentially a film that goes on top of your paint to protect it from physical and solar damage.

There is also nanocoating like Ceramic pro, gtechniq, etc

ra123

I had Pirelli on my Acura RL and they were amazing. Are the stock tires on the Lexus IS 350 (Turanza) really as bad as people make them out to be?

Taideee

Generally michelin is a great brand but the stock tires are of horrible quality. Initially they drive great but I believe it only lasts 8000 ish miles. So I guess these are just a cheap OEM tire? the reviews on tirerack is like 3 or 4 out of 10 for like all categories

2015isboy

I have a Rear wheel is350

Can I run 225-40-18 all around for a staggered set up?

Currently back wheels are 255 35 18. Wheels are a bit bigger than front.

computerwi

The stock Bridgestone Turanza EL-400s are average in snow, but terrible on ice. In New York, I would dish out money for a proper set of snow tires. I have the PA4s and they are great on dry pavement but not as good as the Xi3 or WS80 in snow. Since the PA4s are performance winter tires, there is some trade off.

I'm with @J3ffrey on not getting the tires at the dealer. In Canada, most tire shops will offer better pricing and a road hazard warranty. At Costco, there is also lifetime free balancing and wheel swaps (if you have a dedicated set of wheels for the snow tires).

ra123

I can't find winter tires that are the exact specs for my rims. I have stock rims. It is a staggered set up. They are 18 inches and tire rack does not suggest any Winter tires. It only has 17 or 19 recommended tires

gocubs08

I just put a set of Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 All season high performance tires to replace the stocks. Last winter my car was amazing in the snow and that was with the crappy stock tires. So far these tires are amazing! Ride quality and handling feel better and wet traction is by far improved over stock. These cost me under $700 from Tire Rack and I cant be happier. It has not snowed yet but from the reviews I have read these perform pretty good!

I really dont see the need for snow tires unless you live in Canada or Alaska when you have a good set of All-season tires on your AWD. My last vehicle was an 08' IS350 and snow tires were required for me to get around.

cheers!