Originally Posted by Jackass

Ummmm....you didn't see the other 20 posts in the forum about tires? With the info you provided, nobody can recommend anything anyways. Tires really depend on how you drive, where you drive, and what your expectations are. So at this point, I'd say go to the dealer and get the OE tires put back on. They should work.

Originally Posted by Turbonut

Get 245/45-17 Ultra High Performance, V, W, Y rated:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...ireSearch=true

Do some research and pick the one that suits your needs.

Originally Posted by Turbonut

Get 245/45-17 Ultra High Performance, V, W, Y rated:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...ireSearch=true

Do some research and pick the one that suits your needs.

Originally Posted by Inaccurate

Inaccurate's "Top Ten List"
As to Why You Should Get 255/40-17 Tires
for your OEM rims.

(please note this is 255/40 not 245/45.)

10) Lower effective gear ratio
9) Increased braking force per given pressure on brake pedal
8) Slightly lower stance (estimating 1/4 inch)
7) Great rim protection without being excessive
6) With the 255 tires, TL now looks even more like a BMW
5) You will be less envious of others having A-Spec
4) Having wider tires than a G35
3) Car feels lighter (accelerates easier, brakes easier, more responsive steering)
2) Don't need to stay 10-feet away from the nearest curb anymore
1) TL now looks plain 'ol "mean" as heck



I got the Goodyear Eagle F1 (D3) tires. Up to this time, I was running the OEM Bridgestone Turanza EL42. I really LOVE the way the TL now looks with these wide tires. And, BTW my age is the middle 40's. I include this to give some insight into my taste. I have always loved the way BMW's looked with their OEM wide tires. So, now I have that BMW'ish look with my TL.

At first, I was aiming to upgrade to just the 245/45 tires. No one here on the forum had ever mentioned using the 255 tires, so I thought the 255 would be too much and "out of the question".

However, when I was searching the forum, I did find one thread in which a single person did install the 255's. He even included pictures. His TL in the photo LOOKED GREAT with the 255's on the OEM rim.

That was it for me. I then planned to get the 255's after seeing this one person's pictures. I was scared to make this $1200 decision without anyone else to "back up" this one person that had installed 255's on the OEM rims. But, on the bright, there was no one on the forum saying that they tried the 255's and had problems.

So, let me be the second person on the forum to say "GET THE 255/40 !!!!". Skip the 245/45. Go with the 255/40.

There is absolutely no rubbing issues. It is NOT even close to rubbing. I turned the wheel and viewed the clearance in the wheelwell --> Huge clearance.

Because the 255/40 is a half inch shorter in diameter than the OEM 235/45, the tire fills-up less of the wheel opening. To me, there is not excessive open space with the 255/40, and I somewhat prefer the slight increase open space. But, actually, this is very minor and (to me at least) not even really noticeable.

But, the increase in tire width is VERY NOTICEABLE !!!!!!! If you like the way BMW's look with their OEM wide tires, you will LOVE this upgrade.

I weighted the OEM wheel (oem rim with oem tire mounted). The OEM wheel is 51.0 lbs (bathroom scale = +/- 0.5 lb.). The oem rim with Eagle F1 255/40-17 tires weigh 53.0. So, the wider tire is 2.0 pounds heavier. This is a 4% increase.

For performance, look at it this way. The mass increase from the wider tires is probably offset by the smaller diameter of the wider tires. In physics, there is a thing called "angular momentum" - I think that is the term for it. This means that if you have two wheels that weigh the same, but with different diameters, the smaller diameter wheel will gain/lose RPM easier than the larger diameter wheel.

Changing topics now to the tire brand selection. A nice feature of the Eagle F1 is what Goodyear calls it's "Rim Protector". This feature just means that the bead area on the tire where the rim seals against the tire is VERY GREATLY recessed more than usual. So, this helps to make the wide 255 tire to fit on the our TL OEM rim because the tire width across the beading area is less than normal for other brands. DISCLAIMER - This is only speculation as I have not actually compared other brands by measuring the width across the beads.

So, you ask me what I think of the 255 upgrade. Just check the ten items listed above. I really do mean those ten items. I really do notice that my brakes seem more powerful during normal everyday usage. I do notice the engine picking-up RPM slightly quicker than before from the lower effective gear ratio.

You ask where are the pics ? I will try to get some pictures posted sometime this weekend.

Did the wider tires make my steering wheel feel heavier ? NO. The steering actually feels a bit lighter. Why ? I don't know why the steering is lighter than it was with the OEM tires. Stiffer sidewalls (from lower sectional profile) perhaps.

How does the car handle ? I can't answer this because I am not the type that corners aggressively. I will say that I feel a slightly improve steering response. Stiffer sidewalls (from lower sectional profile) perhaps.

Is there more road noise ? Not that I can hear or feel. I have driven the 255's on concrete freeway at 70 mph, and I could not hear any difference than with the OEM Bridgestone Turanza EL42. However, in general, the Eagle F1 does have a different sound (not noisier, just different). Driving around town (stop-n-go, 35 mph stuff), the tire has a "ting" sound similar to a ball that has excessive pressure (the tires had 35 psi) when driving over raised irregularities in the road (uneven joints in the road). I like the way the Eagle F1 sounds.

Does the 255/40 stickout too much (in a figurative and literal sense) ? NO. Although the wide tires are a very noticeable difference, a person that never seen a TL before would think that it was a factory design. The 255/40 on the oem rim has a very clean appearance and fits perfectly.

How much is the speedometer affected ? Too soon to say. I have had the 255's for only two days now. But, so far, the speedometer error has not caused me to notice the small difference in mph. But, on the bright side, remember the error will be having a higher indicated mph than the actual mph. So, you are going slower than the speedometer indicates. So, no speeding tickets that you can blame on the error.

Is the mpg affected ? Too soon to say. I have had the 255's for only two days now.

Does the 255 width increase hydroplaning tendencies ? I am unable to make a blanket statement because I am using the Eagle F1, which has PHENOMENAL wet performance according to the research that I did. On my morning commute this morning, there was heavy to medium thunderstorms. I did appox 10 miles at 60 mph thru moderate puddling (long stretch of standing water) while still raining moderately. Also, I went thru average puddling while still raining moderately along city streets at 40 mph. So, I am trying to say that my commute is half city streets (35 mph rated and doing 40 to 50 mph) and half concrete freeway doing 60 mph. The Eagle F1's were noticeable different than any other tire I ever used. When going thru puddling, even on the freeway at 60 mph, there was no splash sounds as normal tires make when pushing the water out of the way. The Eagle F1 made no sounds thru the puddles. Plus, there was no tugging at the steering wheel when encountering puddles; other tires usualy cause a tug on the wheel whening hitting puddles hard. The thing that I noticed the most was that I could not hear the wet roads. The Eagle F1 made the same sound and had the same feel in the rain that it does in the dry. To me, this indicates that these tires are really different. Other tires make splashing sounds, and you can feel the tire pushing water out of the way. With the Eagle F1, the tires seems to cut thru the water like a knife. (Sorry, I got off topic of the 255 width and I turned into a advertisement for Eagle F1's.)

Why did I get the 255's ? Because I did not like the way the OEM wheels looked and to gain curb protection. What were the engineers thinking ??? Those 235's are way too narrow for that 8 inch rim. Perhaps, they intended for us to upgrade to 255's so the car would look more like a BMW. With all the other styling that they "borrowed" from the BMW body style, I think they wanted to include the wide tires too but the marketing department made them use 235's to keep cost down. I say this jokingly, but who knows --- might be some truth in it.

Back to Why did I get the 255's ? The 255/40 DEFINITELY achieved both of my goals. My TL now looks much better (VERY NOTICEABLE !!!) with the wide tires, and I LOVE THE BMW'ish LOOK that it now has. The second goal was to gain some curb protection. With the 255/40, this goal too has DEFINITELY been achieved. I am very happy that I got the 255's instead of the 245's.

Originally Posted by grodri02

Buying a home soon so I cant afford the top tier tires. Just order the Kumho 4X tires for $103 each (245/45/17). Read that they based this tired on the Pirelli PZero Nero All Season. Worth a shot! Also, these are replacing the ASX line which I had for some time with bubbles and all...(damn NYC potholes)