New Tires

The original Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tires that came equipped with my car needed immediate replacement after a little over 21,000 miles. The tire life of these ultra high performance summer tires is between 15,000 to 20,000 miles. I am a bit surprised that I actually squeezed a few thousand miles more out of Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tires than expected. Yeah, these tires are costly and have a very short life span. Why? These type of tires are designed to handle high speeds and quick steering. They enhance the car's ability to corner and improve traction on dry and wet roads. These are "summer" tires because they have ZERO traction on snow. Once I tried driving with less than half an inch of snow on the ground, and I went absolutely no where. The tires just spun in place.

Well, the Bridgestone Potenza RE040 tires are certainly costly. After doing a bit of research, I found out that many do not recommend them. They are not worth the price as others suggest. I decided to replace my old tires with Dunlop SP Sport FM901. Interestingly enough, Lexus used to equip 2001-2003 IS300 models with Dunlop tires. The company switched to Bridgetstone in 2004.

The road noise from Dunlop SP Sport FM901 sounds a little bit louder than the Bridgestone Potenza RE040 but not by much. The drive is still very quiet on highways at 75 mph. The ride is comfortable. They cost less and provide almost the same performance as my old tires. I have no complaints so far. We'll see how they stack up after a few thousand miles.

Old shoes removed.

My tireless car.

The new shoes.

Old versus new.