Is there a difference in the tread life between 16 and 17 inch tires with all other things being equal. If so why? In the new Lexus ad of the IS 300 Sport Cross, the small print at the bottom said that tread life with the 17 inch tires would likely not exceed 20,000 miles. Is there a reason for this? That seems to be pretty low. I thought good quality tires could go 50,000 if taken care of.

 

The reason why the tread life on the IS300 is so low is becauese those tires are Z rated which means they melt more to provide better grip on the road. If you buy an Accord, they come with H rated tires which are meant for longevity. They do not melt as quickly as Z or V rated tires do. The TL comes with V rated tires which means they provide better grip and performance than H rated but not as good as Z rated.

If you think thats bad, I know someone with an NSX who changes his tires every 4000 or so miles.

Roshan

 

Hi Woodman,
Most tires have distinctions thru their UTQG (Uniform Tire Quality Grading) codes written on the sidewall of most tires. An example is Treadwear 200; Traction A ;and Temperature A written on the sidewall odf a Dunlop SP Sport 8000 typically a P22550ZR16.
The treadwear 200 would be the kind of rubber tire manufacturers would use and they vary from each tire manufacturer.Normally 180-280 grade is a soft rubber compound wc all V,Z, W, speed rated tires use. This grade will just give you 20,000 at most 29,000 miles assuming you rotate, balance and align every 6000 miles. Further, driving habits,destinations and if you go over a hill/hills and back on a daily basis to work for example will greatly shrink that 30,000 mi by possibly 30-40%. But they stick to the road real well as opposed to one that reads treadwear 400.
My recommendation just go for an H speed rating between 300 to 380 grade and you'll get more miles from them assuming all conditions are constant.

Sorry i have to cut my explanation short........gotta drive the chief right now.

 

Good information juniel--nice to have someone in the tire biz on this forum. The only thing I would point out is if Woodman has a TL-S then he really should be looking at a V-rated tire. As you know, an H-rated tire is only guaranteed for sustained speeds up to 130 mph. The TL-S ships with V-rated Michelins and is speed limited to 149 mph as a result (since the max guaranteed limit for V-rated is 150 mph). Now I don't expect Woodman to be driving at sustained speeds over 130 mph but we don't know why he bought his car. Maybe he likes to run hot laps at a local superspeedway. I agree that H-rated tires would be a practical solution for 75% of the people on this forum but for safety's sake, V-rated would be the appropriate purchase.

 

Most production performance cars are equipped with at least a V speed rating on it because it is more of a market requirement for these cars to be allowed to be imported into Western Europe for example due to the no limit speeds of the Autobahn freeway.