[Gymkata]

A little while ago I upsized to 245/35ZR19 fronts and 275/30ZR19 rears on the stock ISF rims (19x8 front and 19x9 rear). The tires I chose were Continental ExtremeContact DWS (DryWetSnow) tires. These are Ultra High Performance All Season tires with a Y speed rating (186 mph).

Overall, I am very happy with the tires. They have great dry grip for an all season tire, are very good in the rain, and actually not too bad in the snow.

I had to get an alignment after getting them mounted and balanced. This was because the tow angle in the front was off and was causing the car to be "floaty" at 80 mph+. The camber angles didn't need adjusting though.

Here are the best pics I could manage to show what the clearances are with the wider tires. I have experienced no rubbing whatsoever under extreme driving.

 

[Gymkata]

looks good, wouldn't mind more rubber in the rear myself

I agree, wider would be preferable. This summer I will be getting aftermarket rims with 255 front and 295 rear max performance summer tires...not sure which manufacturers yet though.

The stock rims with the A/S tires will be for late fall through early spring, and the aftermarket rims with summer tires will be for the rest of the year.

 

[Gymkata]

This is good! Thanks for posting this!

No problem. I know that I was wondering if they would fit for quite a while, and it was like pulling teeth to get somebody to verify that these size tires would fit.

It would greatly benefit everybody here if every time somebody did something new to the ISF, they would post a comprehensive review of what they have done, along with pics. A few minutes with the keyboard and camera can make it so much easier for everybody else.

There are a few guys here that do this very well, and I greatly appreciate the knowledge and time saved I have gained from them.

 

[Gymkata]

I got a chance to see how the Continentals drive in the snow on Saturday. Other than trying to start from a stop on steep hills, I was impressed at how surefooted they felt. Of course this is a powerful RWD car, so caution was in order. As long as you know how to drive in the snow, and can feel what the road is telling you through the pedals and steering wheel, you will be ok in moderate winter driving conditions.

 

[Gymkata]

Is your car lowered by any chance? Just curious as mine will be shortly.

On a side note about Club Lexus, I am a member there too and basically do not like a few of the folks over there as its full of snobs and folks who havent a clue about performance mods and also think you have to have posted more then 10 posts before you can share insight. This forum is slow to load but I get a lot more USEFUL knowledge here without the snobs and I appreciate it folks.
Andy

I like the format of things on this site better. I have been reading articles on CL a bit more lately, but I agree...there is more ranting and arguing over there. There is more content there too...but I still greatly prefer this forum to CL.

My suspension is stock right now...but if you look at the angles on my pics, the tires are still tucked nicely within the fenderwells. If you lowered the car a bit, I imagine that 245s and 275s on stock rims would still fit perfectly...I can't promise you though.

 

[Gymkata]

Thanks.

This information is helpful.

Pretty amazing (and brave) you'd drive a tire this wide in the snow.

This is likely the tire sizes I'd install when I need replacements for my summers.

No problem. I only drive this in very light snow. If it is going to accumulate, I drive my truck only.

 

[Gymkata]

I didn't notice much of a difference in feel between the stock Bridgestones and the Continentals. After I had the toe angle adjusted, I still noticed a slight "floaty" feeling between 80 and 90 mph. I have been traveling a lot, so I haven't had the time to get it fixed. I'm pretty sure the problem is a bad balancing job. The kid who did it didn't know his head from his @$$. When I get the chance, I am going to have the Continentals road force balanced. I imagine this will fix the problem.

Overall, I am very happy with the Continentals. If you have just one tire all year round, and don't track the car, they are a great tire...especially if you ever have to drive in the rain. They will last much much longer than the stock tires as well.

 

[Gymkata]

A couple weeks ago I was washing my ISF and noticed (finally, I should have seen it a long time ago) that the kid at NTB had put my front wheels on the wrong sides. I went back into NTB and explained my situation to the manager, and he had his most experienced person rebalance the front wheels and put them on the correct side. Their machines can only calibrate balancing up to 60 or 70 mph, so road force balancing is what I will use in the future...and I will never use a shop like this again that isn't accustomed to working with high performance cars and low profile tires.

Anyway, I have had the opportunity since then to test out the car's feel at "Speed". 90% of that floaty feel is gone.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't be cheap like I was. Find a good shop when you have new tires put on your factory rims. 245s front and 275s rear work just fine, but make sure they put the correct rims back on all four corners of the car, and have them road force balanced if you ever plan on getting froggy with her.

 

[Gymkata]

My car is driving great after I had the front's rebalanced and put on the correct side. I have about 13,000 miles on the tires, and they are wearing well...The DWS is still showing boldly. With these tires, when you can only read DW in the tread, they are only rated for dry/wet. When only a D is visible, it is only rated for dry. I have no doubt I will get 30-40k on these tires.

 

[Gymkata]

Those sizes will not rub.

 

[Gymkata]

I had to replace a front tire the other day when a brick that was at the edge of my driveway jumped out and perfectly punctured the sidewall of my passenger front tire. Since I only had about 50% tread left I decided to order new DWSs for both front wheels and keep the extra front tire as a spare.

This time I found a shop that could road force balance the tires, and I have to say "HUGE DIFFERENCE"!!! The car feels much more planted than it did before, and the road force balancing only cost me $9 a tire.

The rears are at about 50% now after 20k miles. Before next winter, I will likely replace them with 285/30R19 DWS tires, since several people here (lowrider & someone else) have said they are running the same size with no problems whatsoever.