kinjiru

I'm about to buy my 3rd set of tyres for my IS250. The first were the OEM 16" Bridgestone RE030's. They were *BLEEP*e! I didn't feel that they rode particularly well, were loud and wore out very quickly. I went to Kumho KU31 Ecsta SPT's (note that there are many different types of Kumho Ectsa's out there). I specifically ordered a set of these after doing lots of research particularly from www.tirerack.com which do independant reviews. I personally think that the Kumho's are great value for money. Are they the best handling tyre out there? No. But they don't cost $600 a corner either. For a price of around $150-200 each, I think they are fantastic. I think Australian tyre companies do a great job of confusing people. I've learnt that when buying tyres you have to compare the category that they are in. www.tirerack.com do a great job segmenting tyres into different categories. Here are some of the categories from that site: 1. Track & Competition 2. Extreme Performance Summer 3. Max Performance Summer 4. Ultra High Performance Summer 5. High Performance Summer The full list of categories is here: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/tiretype.jsp The Kumho's I bought were considered "Ultra High Performance Summer". Summer tyres are fine for Oz, because we don't (typically) need to drive on snow. So guys, if we are comparing tyres, we should ensure that we are comparing tyres in the same league. Otherwise it's a case of apples and oranges. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. I'm happy enough with my Kumho's to want to buy another set. Here is an independant review just completed last month, for tyres in the same category: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=131 Note that the Yokohama S.Drive narrowly beat the Kumho KU31 in this test. However (because I have just started looking at possibly buying a set of Yoko's) the price seems much more ($385 - I've only tried one place as yet so maybe I got quoted a rip off price). Given that the Yoko's are only marginally better, and in fact got beaten by the Kumho's in previous tests (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=97), at that price difference, I'm going for another set of Kumho's! A long, but hopefully informative post! :)

I have a friend who put a set of Superturismo's on his charcoal IS250. Looked fantastic - Seriously HOT! He got a pretty good deal from www.tirerack.com, and even combined with the shipping cost from the US and a set of rubber, I think he still got it cheaper than what you have been quoted. But definitely a thumbs up on that wheel choice! :D

Further to my last post: Serviced my IS250 last week and got a loan Prestige IS250. After a good couple of years on my 18" Kumho's, I was surprised at how much tyre roar there was from the stock 16" Bridgestone RE030 tyres. I tend to talk on my phone a lot as I drive (Bluetooth) and I was shouting to be heard over the tyre roar. (And no, I didn't go into it expecting to compare tyre noisyness - I was actually meaning to compare tyre roadholding!!)

I bought my car in Chatswood and have serviced it there for 3.5 years. Justin (service guy) and Sid (service manager) are great! I remember one time, as I was picking up my car, I saw a GS there and commented that it is a nice car and I wouldn't mind driving one. Some 9 months later when I service it again, Justin arranges a loan GS300 for the day for me and says "I remember you mentioned that you wanted to drive a GS". Now THAT's customer service. All I can think of is that he must have entered it into the system after we spoke. No one's memory is THAT good!! Sid is also great - a car enthusiast as well. He's the kind of guy that you could spend 15 minutes (and I did) talking to about cars in general (non Lexus included). Also the recently departed sales manager Daniel was great too, but he's just left. Now I've got to befriend another sales person...doh!

Chatswood (NSW) lexus seemed to not know anything about the IS350. What I've heard more than once, is : 1) we are at the mercy of what ships to the UK, and since the UK don't get an IS350, neither do we. 2) It is a very expensive exercise to go through the certification (I can't remember the term for this) for a new car. Hence they need to be able to move a certain volume to justify bringing in a particular model. Having said all of that, I think Lexus Australia are off their rocker. I mean, how many IS300's do you see out there? I think it has been generally acknowledged that the IS300 is a very good car, but it didn't sell. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that interest in the model died as time went by and Lexus Oz brought it out too late. I think they are doing the same with the IS350. Why would you buy one knowing that an all new model IS will come out the following year? Would you spend $100K knowing that...because I sure wouldn't. I think Lexus Australia's strategy is deeply flawed. Also the way they have packaged the IS250 (Prestige vs Luxury Sports) means that they need to be very careful pricing the IS350. Luxury Sports typically go for around $85000 so they need to ensure that there is a price premium on top of that for an IS350, yet they don't want to break the $100K mark because it is a psychological threshold.

I've used 4 phones with my IS250 and they have all worked. I have to say I'm joining the bandwagon and saying it might be compatibility with your specific phone or even a fault with your phone. Good luck.

There are several types of Kumho Ecsta tyres out there (I count at least 14). The one I used were the SPT's, which are rated pretty decently in www.tirerack.com. Tirerack is an US site, however they have their own track and do their own tire reviews which are quite informative and non-biased (since they basically sell every brand - they aren't biased towards one particular brand or another). To the original poster, it's an excellent site if you want to compare different types of tyres. The Kumho Ecsta SPT's are not the best performing tire out there however in terms of bang for your buck, they are excellent. I can get a better performance tyre, however I can also pay close to double for that privilege! I haven't bought a set of Kumho's by themselves (since I got mine with my wheels) however I expect to pay somewhere between $200 - $250 for each of them when I do. That's pretty good for 18" "Ultra High Performance" (the category that they are rated as in Tirerack) rubber. So I guess I am agreeing with you on the "Kuhmo are a poor mans sports tyre" comment! :P What I do know is that I was completely unimpressed by the Bridgestone RE030's OEM tyres. The were noisy, didn't grip that well, and I didn't feel that they wore well. In fact, I'd say I've gotten better mileage from my 18" Kumho's than my 16" Bridgestones which shouldn't be the case. When I was shopping for tyres last, I'd call up a tyre place, tell them that I've got a set of Bridgestone RE030's and before I finished talking the tyre guy would interrupt and say "too noisy?". This happened in two places I called!

Spotted IS250 with two-tone ruby pearlescent custom paint job and some big stencilling/writing on the side of the car (www....something or other) and big chrome rims. Nice paint job - really stands out. :thumbsup Dunno about the Chrome rims though.

I second Jaspers suggestion of playing The Crystal Method in the ML system. Its not unusual to hear me playing The Crystal Methods "Name of the Game" at 45+ with the windows up. A Lexus, ML sound system and a quality artist is all you need to reach great heights! - Do it! One thing I have noticed from the ML system is that the sound of MP3's playing is inferior to the same MP3 being subsequently converted to CD Audio format and played. I'm talking about EXACTLY THE SAME MP3 here. Seems to me that the MP3 decoder on the ML system has been implemented poorly. I've read that other owners of ML systems have noticed it too.

Kumho Ecsta SPT - much much better than my original Bridgestone Potenza RE030's...better tyre in every way (grip, braking, wet, noise, comfort)...and cheaper too!

The suspension for the Prestige and Sports Luxury are the same, with the difference between bigger wheels on Sports Luxury. I had a prestige with 16" wheels and have since put 18's on them. The amount of body roll is significantly reduced due to the lower profile tyres (less tyrewall roll) The IS250 Sports or now the IS250 X, have the sports suspension. There are also lots of aftermarket options for suspension, with a friend of mine putting Eibach's on his IS250. They were definitely noticeably firmer however roll was significantly reduced. I have also braked hard in my car heaps and emergency braked on more than one occasion. There is no way that the car wobbles. The only thing that I can think of is either: 1) something is wrong with your car 2) You are talking about ABS kicking in.

Thnaks Kinjuru, sounds like the same scenario as me, i hear the scraping but cant see any scraping marks anywhere either. After spreaking with the manufacturer of the wheels i have found out that infact the wheels are a staggered setup but the tyre place has put the same wheels on all round... Guess next set of tyres i will change it to a staggered setup. They still havent received the caps, now they are saying next week so ill post photos when they finally arrive.. Yeah same - I want to go staggered next time I need new tires (which will be soon) atlhough: 1) Price of tires for staggered set ups might be more expensive (especially the rears) 2) I think the rears are 18 x 8.5 (whereas I have 18 x 8) so I don't think I can get 255's back there.

I have a set of 235/40/18's on both front and back with a 42 offset 18 x 8. I get very slight scraping under braking and full lock (like when you are driving around an underground carpark and going up or down levels. It is pretty much the only time it happens and because it is so slight I can't see where it is scraping nor can I see extra tire wear anywhere.

Yeah, I don't disagree. It was a case of looks vs ride comfort for me, and I didn't want the ride to be too harsh since I had to cater for a toddler (2 yr old at the time) in the baby seat.

Somewhat late in the day, but I have to agree with Jasper's comment. The ML system is great. I've listened to a fair few stock car audio systems and am very impressed by the ML system in the IS250. The Bose sound systems I have listened to are generally terrible! To my ears, only Volvo's Dynaudio 12 speaker system is better. And as Jasper said, I wish I could turn down my centre speaker as well, but I don't want to start hacking into the wiring of the car.