07-09 RX350, which summer tires have you tried & trusted?

[Natureboy]

Time for me to replace summer tires on my '08 RX350 AWD.

This video by a Toyota Master Diagnostic Technician got me thinking more deeply about which tires I should look for. (He is incredibly knowledgeable about Toyota and Lexus. I highly recommend his channel.)

He suggests buying the same tires you are replacing, if you were happy with them.
However, I wasn't very impressed with the summer tires (17" Michelin Latitude Tour HP) that were on the car when I bought it, which are the ones I'm replacing.
I felt the ride was quite bumpy, but perhaps I'm ignorant and that has nothing to do with the tires.

If not happy with the current tires, he suggests considering putting the same tires that the car came with from the factory, since that's what the engineers decided work well on the car.
According to TireRack.com, my car originally came with Goodyear Integrity tires, which are all-season tires.
I'm not really interested in all-season tires since I have and need real snow tires in winter.
I think genuine summer tires would be the best decision for me, since it isn't a compromise.

Failing that, he suggest reading reviews of tires from people who used them on the same vehicle. 
Well, I tried that, but that was easier said than done unfortunately, so now I'm here.

So, my question to you fine chaps is, which 17" summer tires have you tried and trusted and why? 
FYI, I'm not a speed racer, so I don't really care how the tires grip when racing around a corner.

Many thanks in advance.

[RX400h]

Keep in mind that in most cases, all-season tires last longer than Summer tires. I searched for Summer tires for your vehicle on tirerack.com and saw only two selections.
All-Season tires have improved quite a bit over the years. The Continental PureContact LS achieves a "much better than average" rating by Consumer Reports, in their "Handling" category. Their cost is very reasonable and their life span is 75,000 miles.

And the Michelin CrossClimate2 tires are actually rated very highly in the "Snow traction" category (The Continentals are rated "higher than average") in this category, meaning you may be able to use these, year-round. 

[Lexus-CT]

Continental Ultra Contact Is what we use. Far better than the terrible OEM. All season are compromise. They are supposed to be good at everything and are not. If you live in a summer climate summer all year. When we lived up north, we used summer tyres in summer and the 3 - 4 months snow and ice was common (and salt on the roads) we put on the other set of wheels with real winter tyres. In real winter all season tyres are no good. In hot summer they are inferior to summer tyres.

[RX400h]

1 hour ago, Lexus-CT said:

Continental Ultra Contact Is what we use. Far better than the terrible OEM. All season are compromise. They are supposed to be good at everything and are not. If you live in a summer climate summer all year. When we lived up north, we used summer tyres in summer and the 3 - 4 months snow and ice was common (and salt on the roads) we put on the other set of wheels with real winter tyres. In real winter all season tyres are no good. In hot summer they are inferior to summer tyres.

This was certainly true even 10 years ago but more than a few all-season tires are so much better than they were back then. Of course, snow tires are recommended in certain areas where heavy snow is common. Based upon my research snow tires are generally not needed in the coastal regions of British Columbia.
Remember, though, that there are very few selections for Summer tires for RX350s. And as I mentioned above, the best all-season are essentially just as good as or better than the available Summer tires when used on an SUV.

[Lexus-CT]

I do not know where Jeff goes when winter holyday is the time; if it is Alaska maybe winter tyres would not be bad, though in these times with global warming, maybe Alaska will just be next place to get out of the frying pan. Last weekend we were down south where we live and temperature was 47 degrees Celsius. Not nice at all. Air condition is really fine in the CT; when it is cold here it is 10 degrees Celsius. The Ultra Contact tyres are quiet, drive 10 times better than the OEM, my wife says car drives better now and the little one says that music sound better, as noise is less.

All season tyres are for people living where it is never really cold nor hot. That is a way not to need to have 2 set of wheels. Have been living in Norway and sometimes snow chains were so badly needed, that it some places was criminally stupid to drive without them. 

[Natureboy]

Thank you for your input gentleman. 

Based upon my research snow tires are generally not needed in the coastal regions of British Columbia.
This is true, but I'm in the interior of BC, and the climate is very different to the coast. Trust me when I say, we need real snow tires up here, especially when I head up to the mountains in the winter to snowboard. Even with my Blizzaks (real snow tires), I've felt the rear of the car wanting to slide out sometimes. Where I live, we've experienced -27C in winter and +47C in summer and I've only lived here for 2.5 years so far.
As such, I believe proper summer tires are the correct choice for me.

That said, Dave, I'm curious. Since you have an RX, what tires do you use, how do they feel, and what type of driver (speedy or sensible) are you?
Failing finding decent summer tires, I may consider whatever you're using. 

John, I appreciate your suggestion of Continental Ultra Contact, but I'm not sure about that. 
They may feel great on your CT200H, but terribly on an RX. This is why that Toyota Master Diagnostic Technician I mentioned earlier suggested finding reviews of people that have used those tires on the same vehicle.

[Lexus-CT]

I did not actually look for tyres in the size for such a heavy car, so you are right, Ultra Contact tyres are not what you need. Still Continental as I have had that brand for our cars living many different places and even on dirt roads in Africa they never gave me a flat. Continental Premium Contact 6 would be what I would put on such a big car now, no matter if on 17 or 18 wheels. It is probably even better than what we had while living there; once we got the crazy idea to take a trip round in Sahara. 

More than 40K Km on dirt- and paved roads in Africa in a MB350S and a lot of Km in a 300SEL, both rather heavy cars.

[Volleypop]

I live in upstate NY and last June decided to try these 18 inch Kumho Crugen All Season tires after researching on several different sites and I have been very happy with their smooth ride and excellent performance on my 2004 Lexus RX330 through 2 summers and one winter so far. I am an ambulance driver as well and tend to go one the faster ( but barely legal side of the 65MPH limits and these have been very responsive in both rain and snow. I have AWD and a fairly steep hill to get home and these have never failed me. 

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F31K981/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[RX400h]

John, I have the Continental Pure Contact, shown below. But keep in mind that I live in Southern California.
I've also attached rankings of Winter tires from last year.

[Lexus-CT]

More or less like here.

It never rains,,,

So I have summer tyres on the little car, and man they are great. 

10 times better than what was on from new.

 

[RX400h]

Yes, indeed, John!

Jeff, to fully answer your questions:

Quote

That said, Dave, I'm curious. Since you have an RX, what tires do you use, how do they feel, and what type of driver (speedy or sensible) are you?
Failing finding decent summer tires, I may consider whatever you're using. 

The Continental Pure Contact tires are great, in my opinion. When I drive the RX, I am mostly very conservative, especially now that gas is almost $6/gallon. As with most all-season tires on a heavy vehicle, aggressive cornering will solicit slight squeals from the tires. The advantages of these tires are longer life and quiet/smooth ride.