Teadrinker

Have a 2nd gen AWD IS 250. The previous owner had two sets of 17" rims. Currently the winters and summer are 245 45 R17 tires. Previously I have always gone with a narrower winter tire. I live in Toronto and the car is my daily drive around the city and on the highway.

Have read some comments on that 225 is the size to go for. Is this correct? Are 225 50 R 17 or 225 55 R 17 better?

Which brand tires are best on the Lexus. Nokian R3, Michelin x ice, Bridgestone Blizzarks? Looking for the best winter tires for the vehicle.

Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

primavera

I've had 225/50/17 General Tire Altimax Arctic 12 and Pirelli Ice Zero Asimmetrico 215/50/17.
Altimax were one of the scariest tires I've ever had. When they warmed up the car felt very jell-o like, unstable and almost hard to control at highway speeds. I don't know what was going on, maybe 225/50 was too wide for 7 inch rims?
I decided for narrower size that fits better on 7" steelies, so this time I went with 215/50/17. Pirelli Ice Zero Asimmetrico turned out to be fantastic tires for city and highway driving. They are a little bit noisy on certain sections of the highway but perform very well and the price was quite good.

Lots of online reviews for tires you're interested in. Just do your research but to me they all seem like a solid choice.

Having said that 225/50/17 and 215/50/17 will fit great without issues. 225/55/17 with taller sidewall might cause occasional rubbing at full lock.

Good Luck

Oro

225/45-17 is the stock size for your car, and fine for both summer and winter. 225/50-17 is the stock size on a GS of that gen; I run that for summer and winter on it. The tires you have are quite a fair bit bigger than stock fwiw. 225 is a good fit on a 7.5” rim ideally; but there’s wiggle room on rim width and it’s not a crisis.

There are A LOT of excellent snow tires available these days, across many price points and brands. Nothing is car-specific; you can read up and decide. Any good snow tire, when “warm” - e.g., over 70 degrees outside temp - will feel like jello at highway speeds. It’s what the soft winter compound does. That’s one reason to remove snow tires promptly when it warms up. The other reason is higher temps cook the softer compound and wreck it for future winter use.