I know a lot of you guys live on the West coast and probably don't have to deal with snow tires, but I can't go anywhere in winter without them. I'm not even sure if they make low profile snow tires does anyone have a thought on this or some advice. I would like to keep the 19 inch rims in the winter but I'm guessing I'll have to get some 18 inch rims and throw snow tires on them if they'll even fit.

Yes 18" is what Lexus recommends for snow tires. Here are the specs to go by from Lexus :
Overall Size : 18 x 7.5
Pitch Circle Diameter : 114.3 mm
Offset : +40 mm
Center Bore 72.62 mm
Front : 225/45R18/18XL
Rear : 255/45/R18XL

The following two tires will work without any issues and should help you get thru the winter times :
Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2
Blizzak LM-18

Thank you very much Champ.

My pleasure !!!

I would like to pass on my thanks also for the winter tire info. It has been a question I have had since purchasing my IS F.

After my last comments I went to Michelin Canada site and noted that the Alpin PA2 does not come in 225/45/R18 just in R17 size.

I am a devoted Michelin user after trying them on my Jaguar and finding them to provide best performance and best ride whist being subtle enough in the sidewall to aborb some vibrations other tires were transmitting to the steering wheel.

Do dealers have acces to a 225/45/R18 PA2 ?

Yes we do !!

Champ,

Just got of the phone with my dealer here in Canada and they did not have a package to offer. Said they were still attempting to identify sizes so I relayed your information regarding spec. They suggested 225's all the way around may be an option but I fear that this will not fill out the rear wheel well sufficiently.

Any idea of U.S. packaged cost for wheels, rubber and tire pressure sensors ?

225's will be a little sparse in the rear of your IS-F. But they will cut through the snow!

I just bought the Blizzaks for the stock wheels. This'll be interesting...

let us know how it goes

stock wheels + 19" blizzaks = awesome! Will take pix soon.

stock wheels + 19" blizzaks = awesome! Will take pix soon.

just got mine on last night too. they did great on the way home. not sure about now though with the foot of snow in my driveway :eek:

i'm just up in monroe. what color is f do you have?

1090 Tricolore and Rutiger, do you both have dealers put those tires on the wheels for you? do they store summer tires for you as a service? And most importantly, how they perform in this harsh winter?

I bought my tires and wheels online and then had the dealer mount them and program the F's TPMS system recognize my snows as the second set of tires.

They charged me $128 (1 hr labor) to do all this and stored the tires and wheels for free. It will be interesting to see how much they charge to mount the summer tires this spring.

Good luck,

Jeff
08 Smoky Granite Mica IS-F