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Michelin AS4
245/40/19 & 275/35/19
The tread and section width are significantly wider than the OEM Bridgestones (which run narrow).
The wheels are exactly this: https://www.vmrwheels.com/post/lexus...te-graphite-19
I would prefer an additional -1 degree of camber in front. The rears are fine.
I did a few compression tests and there's no issues with clearance to the fenders. They do get close to the fender liner under near max steering lock, but it clears with ~1mm, which is plenty.
My tire dealer who is a straight up guy with me gave me some contradictory advice to what I read on the forum here and elsewhere about tires. I was looking into the tire size mentioned just above, 245/40 and 275/35. He strongly recommended not departing from factory spec sizes, citing shifting changing points and anti lock braking as significant reasons not to change tire size. He said the Michelin ae going to grip better than the Bridgestone regardless, while still keeping the stock size, because they are a softer compound. The better grip is all the car needs and not the added long term strain on the tranny and the calibration loss for the anti lock brakes with a bigger footprint tire. I know it to be true you get better grip and more wear from softer compounds. I am now stumped. What say you folks?
My tire dealer who is a straight up guy with me gave me some contradictory advice to what I read on the forum here and elsewhere about tires. I was looking into the tire size mentioned just above, 245/40 and 275/35. He strongly recommended not departing from factory spec sizes, citing shifting changing points and anti lock braking as significant reasons not to change tire size. He said the Michelin ae going to grip better than the Bridgestone regardless, while still keeping the stock size, because they are a softer compound. The better grip is all the car needs and not the added long term strain on the tranny and the calibration loss for the anti lock brakes with a bigger footprint tire. I know it to be true you get better grip and more wear from softer compounds. I am now stumped. What say you folks?
My tire dealer who is a straight up guy with me gave me some contradictory advice to what I read on the forum here and elsewhere about tires. I was looking into the tire size mentioned just above, 245/40 and 275/35. He strongly recommended not departing from factory spec sizes, citing shifting changing points and anti lock braking as significant reasons not to change tire size. He said the Michelin ae going to grip better than the Bridgestone regardless, while still keeping the stock size, because they are a softer compound. The better grip is all the car needs and not the added long term strain on the tranny and the calibration loss for the anti lock brakes with a bigger footprint tire. I know it to be true you get better grip and more wear from softer compounds. I am now stumped. What say you folks?
A bit of a long response but if folks care, this could be of interest.
The tire dealer is not wrong that the car's systems and components were tested, designed, and approved for what the car ships with. Modifying those components will have impacts to related parts and systems. How significant those impacts are or the compromises you as the owner and driver are willing to adapt to or put up with, is a personal question. What a mechanic or shop should legally advise you versus what a mechanic would do themselves are often contradictory.
None of us on the forum would be in any hot water if we told you something detrimental to you, your car, and others on the road.
I can share I have not experienced any issues since making the change and have taken the car out on a few full throttle runs, backroads, and have had ABS, Traction, and Stability control intervene. They are functioning in similar ways to the factor wheel and tire setup. The grip threshold is higher, but the intervention is not unnatural. I don't believe the added grip is adding too much more stress on the related components to cause premature failure, however, if a wheel bearing or a suspension component were to break (or more extreme examples that could include an accident), Lexus could point a finger to the fact that a non-factory size of tire was used and could get out of warrantying a related component or have evidence to place some/all the blame on an 'improper' modification that altered the performance of the vehicle as originally designed.
Separately, since 2018, I've participated in 30+ HPDE events at tracks like Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway, Thunderhill Raceway, etc. If you modify the tires and/or brake pads of the car and you're driving the car at or above their limits, but choose to keep safety systems active or partially active (such as stability control), those systems could act erratically and cause the car to behave unsafely. They were not programmed to be motorsport systems and cannot be recalibrated to account for more brake bite and significantly more tire grip. ABS, generally speaking, is not an issue as long as you aren't severely messing with the tire diameter ratio front and rear. What you can take away from this is, if you ran a significantly grippier tire and you were faced with an adverse driving situation where evasive action was required, the stability control may not function as desired and could be less effective at preventing an accident - or worse - create a condition that would make an incident worse.
Much of this is overthinking the situation and 99% of people in the forums will scoff at all of this. Such is life.
Thank you for responding. By the way, I like your car and the tire size you went with. Will likely do the same when the time comes. Appreciate your response to the above.
I went with Conti DSW06+ in 245/40 & 275/35 on stock wheels, chose the DSW06+ due to weighing significantly less than the Pilot AS4’s……Overall pretty satisfied with the DSW06+, though I’m perceiving some high speed sidewall flex in the rear, the 275/35 DSW06+ may need a 10” or greater rim width.
Thinking doing the same setup you are running. Any rubbing issues? Are running spacers? Thank you.
I’m stock suspension with no spacers. No rubbing. I found the rear tire pressure needs to be 2-3 psi higher to not squirm on the rim. I burned through the rear wet & snow traction in about 15k miles. I put new rears on for winter in December.
02-01-23, 05:22 AM
What say you folks?
