gengar

Which special PS2s are these? I've never heard of them. Are they available from typical tire retailers?

Overall, the point about street tires (even max/ultra perfs vs. compounds) is correct - they make a huge difference on the track. I always hear drivers at Spring Mountain talking about how their compounds shave 3-4 seconds off their lap times around the typical course layout which is only 2.2 miles.

05RollaXRS

I just read it that Ferrari offers optional Pilot PS2 tires, which were custom built for the 458 Italia. The standard tires are the same Bridgestone S001 tires custom built for the 458 Italia, just like Lexus had Bridgestone make those for the LFA.

There are standard PS2 tires available in all tires, however, for a car like LFA the standard PS2 tires may even be detrimental to track performance, which is why Lexus is building special S001 tires bearing LFA's name on the tire.

It just so happens, Ferrari has been supplying all the 458 Italia to journalists with the optional PS2 Pilot tires rather than the standard Bridgestone S001 tires.

Now, the Nurburgring edition specs include special custom built semi-slick tires (not sure, which brand) for the LFA Nurb' edition, which I am sure easily could be transplanted to the standard edition. I think Nurb' edition could still be street driven easily.

TF109B

So far I don't think the LFA has it's special tires on it yet. I don't think those tires will be on it until the production car hits. From what motortrend has said at least that seems to be the case. I didn't say the exact name of the tires the 458 was wearing because I didn't want to say the wrong one then someone criticize me for not knowing what I was talking about. I just know that they have a special compound of tire that's close to what their racing slicks wear. Racing compounds are much much better than street tire compounds. So while the 458 is wearing tires that can be considered close to race tires, the LFA is probably wearing tires that are sport tires but closer to street tires. Am I correct in my assumption?

05RollaXRS

I think I might be the first one to get this feeling.

LFA has undergone design changes. Look at this picture and the two circled areas. For one, LFA's headlight design has been changed from what it looks like to me. Looks like the side edges have something different for design. Ride height seems to be lower than before as well.

Secondly, a new diffuser has been added to the lower front valence:

LexusMan77

Sorry I fail to see any design changes either to the headlights or the bumper diffuser. The headlight differences that you see might be due to the difference in camera angle of the two comparing photos. As for the diffuser, it was always present even in the past concepts. The lower ride height is difficult to be certain because in that last photo the car is cornering so it creates the illusion that it is lower.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

^^ Their have been NO new design changes to the headlights..

And that front diffuser has been there as I saw it in person on the Original Matte Black, then White and now Pear Gray LFA

Ride Height might still be tweaked to meet DOT standars for USA, but the Yellow LFA which arrived in August seems to be a 99.99% production spec LFA for the USA.







^^ Agreed.....

Just like the IS-F comes with only 2 choices for OEM Tires.
They are either Bridgestone RE050A's or Michelin PS2's, which are built to Lexus Specifications for the IS-F....
(you can even see the different part #'s on americastire.com)

Usually you get what it comes with on the F, but for the LFA I am not sure if their will be a tire choice between brands...

Reason why I say this, is manily because we haven't seen a different tire on one yet......

Example: these S0001 tires were manufactured approx the last week in June 2010 and were installed on that LFA pretty quickly.



Regards,

Joe Z

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i absolutely agree with you. if lexus has a better contract with michelin or any other companies to come out with better tires, i am all for it. heck, i have ps2 on my m3 and i know very well what those tires are capable of. and the many variants of the ps2 for specific vehicle applications (m3 has their own ps2 you can't get anywhere else except bmw dealership, and i have read about ps2 specially designed for veyron high speed, all aside from the traditional ps2 you can get from tirerack).

though technically ps2 are still street tires imho considering how they are commonly seen on normal street cars. so if anything, lexus contracting bridgestone for the special tires which ended up not performing as well, that can be the problem.

although at the same time, i wonder all s001 tires are more or less the same with some minor tweaks for each vehicle. i know bridgestone "specially designed" these tires for the lfa, but how special and different, i don't know.

so apparently ps2 is an "option" on the 458 (from what i read, if i understand correctly) so i guess it makes sense they choose to use it on the 458, if it gives better performance. now is there another test with 458 on the s001? that might be a better comparison on time. coz' fact is, we don't know how bridgestone has tune the s001 for the lfa and how much more room tires can go. again i am not saying different tires won't help (in fact i think they probably will), but there is nothing solid to say about how much time it can gain.

like my reply to 05RollaXRS, i am not sure if i agree ps2 is closer to race tires at all, when compared to s001 or even the bridgestone re11. ps2 are max performance street tires the way i see it. they can be found in so many cars like m3 and isf.

now since i have some experience with ps2 on my m3 (and honestly not much experience with s001), but if you are telling me the ps2 is like race tires and the s001 is far from the ps2 performance, then i can only say lexus is doing a very stupid job on the tires (which i am a bit too surprised to believe)

LexFather

PS2 is max performance street tire. Its on my 2GS and 3GS. Note that Porsche will send 911 GT cars with PS2 Pilot CUPS to reviews, which are some of the best track tires out there. The added grip is incredible in the dry (not a wet tire at all). I believe the old M3 CSL used them as well which gave it incredible traction but again, useless in the cold/wet.

Not sure why Lexus went with Bridgestone here but I am seriously thinking they wanted Japanese tires on their Japanese halo. That is purely speculation and just my thought.

I thought the tires on the LFA were specifically designed for the LFA?

Also just b/c an exotic has Michelin PS2 that does not mean its the same tire you get at the Tire Rack . Michelin names them PS2 but the tread pattern is actually different on these exotics as they work with the brand to make the best tire for the car. I know this for a fact with PS2 equipped Ferrari's. Its not the same off the shelf tire as a normal PS2.

05RollaXRS

You hit the nail right on the head.

All GT cars by Porsche (GT2, GT3, GT3 RS, GT2 RS) are delivered to the journalists with Pilot Cup + tires for maximum dry traction on the track and best lap times.

That is also correct, these PS2 tires are custom versions for their respective brand and model. For example, I read the 458 Italia PS2 tires are very similar to ZR-1 PS2 tires that are using special tread pattern on the outer shoulders and have R-compound from the Michelin Pilot Cup + tires giving it the best lateral grip for maximum cornering speeds without having to compromise on the wet traction.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

Yes, thats what I have been told as well...

As I showed, that set of Bridgestone S001's were made end of June & begining of July and it was installed pretty quicly on the Yellow LFA, which landed here state side in August.

Maybe one of the members who has an LFA order sheet can confirm for us if there is or was ONLY the ONE tire brand choice.

Joe Z

gengar

I was not presented with any tire option during my order.

It's certainly not on the order sheet, although it's true that many options weren't (e.g., the multitude of sections of interior allowed for color customization, audio system delete, etc.).

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yup, tires on lfa are specifically designed for lfa. that's why in the very beginning batch, the tires have zero markings of any kind on them, coz' it was still under NDA. that's from a trusted source with lexus, unless that resource is incorrect

and you are absolutely right as well on the name ps2. the stuff from tirerack is generic, but they have tons of variants (and can vary by quite a bit) for different cars. as i mentioned, my m3 actually have special ps2 and you can only get them at bmw dealership. and i have also read that veyron ps2, and obviously that's very specially designed to go very high speed (also shown in price tag i guess, hahaha)

so i am pretty sure the ps2 on 458 are different, but they are still street tires

rominl

iTrader: (4)

did they say anything about having more potential options down the road (if become available)?

05RollaXRS

Given this picture here, LFA was running fabulously in 'Battle of the supercars' with launch control system.

The launch control system was giving AWD like launches without any wheelspin in contrast to the neutral-dropping, which seemed to be a disaster. I wish they had re-done the 0 - 1 mile race again using launch control system.

They had video VBOX to measure all kinds of information 0 - 60 mph, 1/4 mile, 0 - 125 mph etc., I wish someone tests this yellow LFA with full launches and I am sure it will be 11.2 - 11.3 secs@ 128 - 129 mph for the 1/4 mile of the LFA. That will start making people realize LFA is one of the fastest supercars in a straight line as well:




The money shot:

TF109B

All the haters don't realize that. You really don't need 1000HP to get good acceleration. 500HP is enough to get you below 4 seconds to 60 as evidenced by the Ferrari F430. I just think it's amazing that in those euro mags they can hit these tremendous times in cars like the 458 and 911 and Gallardo, but come along the Japanese guys, the GTR even with launch control... 4.1 or 4.0 to 100kmh? That's just stupid wrong. There's no difference between the launch control on the Euro car and the American car, yet in America magazines hit 60mph in 3.7 or 3.8 WITHOUT using Launch Control! And that's just the GTR. Now the LFA comes along and it's the same thing. Motortrend can stop from 60mph in 94ft! But see those Euro mag tests? 100kmh braking is well over 33meters, which is closer to 110ft. That's what concerns me about those Euro mags. Either they bias their driving or they just can't figure out how to drive anything that aint European. That's the way it seems.