Tires For Rx300

WW2 · December 2, 2004

I'm looking for recomendations for new tires for my 2001 RX300. I need tires that will preform well on snow and ice.

SW03ES · December 2, 2004

In my experience in the SUV world you really can't go wrong with the Michelin LTX M/S. The RX doesn't come with SUV tires but these are very ride and comfort biased, I've had two sets on my Explorer. The first set went 100,000 miles and they could have gone longer before needing replacement. Nice smooth and quiet tire with good looks (they come with outlined white letters which you can mount inside or out depending on your preference) at not too nasty a price. I don't know what tires the car has on it now but the stock Goodyear Integritys that come on the RX300s are pathetic, same tire that they put on Toyota Corrolas and its totally unsuited to the RX.

That said there are some new more advanced highway SUV tires out there such as the Michelin Cross Terrain that would be well suited to the car but they're a little costlier. TireRack has the LTX M/S in stock for the RX at $119 a peice which is a good price.

WW2 · December 2, 2004

In my experience in the SUV world you really can't go wrong with the Michelin LTX M/S. The RX doesn't come with SUV tires but these are very ride and comfort biased, I've had two sets on my Explorer. The first set went 100,000 miles and they could have gone longer before needing replacement. Nice smooth and quiet tire with good looks (they come with outlined white letters which you can mount inside or out depending on your preference) at not too nasty a price. I don't know what tires the car has on it now but the stock Goodyear Integritys that come on the RX300s are pathetic, same tire that they put on Toyota Corrolas and its totally unsuited to the RX.
That said there are some new more advanced highway SUV tires out there such as the Michelin Cross Terrain that would be well suited to the car but they're a little costlier. TireRack has the LTX M/S in stock for the RX at $119 a peice which is a good price.

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The Cross Terrain has a more agressive looking tread design when compared to the LTX M/S and costs about $10 more each otherwise all the specs are pretty close to the same. What about Toyo Open Country A/T

lenore · December 2, 2004

In my experience in the SUV world you really can't go wrong with the Michelin LTX M/S. The RX doesn't come with SUV tires but these are very ride and comfort biased, I've had two sets on my Explorer. The first set went 100,000 miles and they could have gone longer before needing replacement. Nice smooth and quiet tire with good looks (they come with outlined white letters which you can mount inside or out depending on your preference) at not too nasty a price. I don't know what tires the car has on it now but the stock Goodyear Integritys that come on the RX300s are pathetic, same tire that they put on Toyota Corrolas and its totally unsuited to the RX.
That said there are some new more advanced highway SUV tires out there such as the Michelin Cross Terrain that would be well suited to the car but they're a little costlier. TireRack has the LTX M/S in stock for the RX at $119 a peice which is a good price.

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The Cross Terrain has a more agressive looking tread design when compared to the LTX M/S and costs about $10 more each otherwise all the specs are pretty close to the same. What about Toyo Open Country A/T

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I have used the LTX M/s and found them great in the beginning, but when they had about 65k miles on them the ride got quite firm. They lasted an easy 80k miles but I could not stand the ride anymore and went to the Cross terrain which rides very well. The LTX m/s has a firmer sidewall which attributes to the harsher ride. The cross terrain is designed for the luxary suv in mind.

SW03ES · December 2, 2004

The tread may look more aggressive, but the Cross Terrain is supposedly a smoother tire. If you look at the TireRack surveys they reflect that for the most part. I'd stick with the LTX though, they're great tires.

Toyo is a good tire, I have Toyos on my car. Toyo has a good customer service reputation and is the only tire rated higher than Michelin in quality. They're also about 10-20% cheaper. All the Toyo SUV tires I saw though looked pretty aggressive. No reason to have anything aggressive on the RX.

Lexusfreak · December 2, 2004

WW2, I assume you are looking for an 'all season' SUV tire as opposed to a set of winter SUV tires? The Michelins are very good (a bit pricy compared to others). What is the exact tire size you are looking for?

The Toyo Open Country M410 is also a VERY good all season SUV tire & is quite a bit less than the Michelin & has only slightly less treadwear rating than the Michelin. The Yokohams Geolander G051 is also a popular choice & has got very good ratings on tirerack. Click the link to see for yourself. B)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...romCompare1=yes

:cheers:

WW2 · December 2, 2004

WW2, I assume you are looking for an 'all season' SUV tire as opposed to a set of winter SUV tires? The Michelins are very good (a bit pricy compared to others). What is the exact tire size you are looking for?
The Toyo Open Country M410 is also a VERY good all season SUV tire & is quite a bit less than the Michelin & has only slightly less treadwear rating than the Michelin. The Yokohams Geolander G051 is also a popular choice & has got very good ratings on tirerack. Click the link to see for yourself. B)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...romCompare1=yes

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Lexusfreak and SW03ES:

Thanks for the tirerack link and ref.

It is impressive to see the mileage people got out of the LTX M/S. I got 60,000 out of the Goodyears Integeritys.

"all season" is what I'm looking for in size 225/70R 16. I'm not advirse to "agressive" looking tires and actually think they "look" like they might be better in the snow.

SW03ES · December 2, 2004

They may look better in snow but they won't be.

The issue is that your RX as it is is only designed to handle snow to a certain degree. Its basically just an AWD car, there's no low range or locking differential and its front drive biased without a lot of ground clearance. Thats why Lexus sells it with passenger car tires instead of light truck tires, to maximize the ride and handling knowing that an exclusively SUV tire is going to be wasted on the car because it doesn't have the mechanicals to back it up.

So what I'm saying is its not worth it to tradeoff the ride and smoothness of a relatively benign SUV tire like the Michelin LTX M/S or even a good all season car/van radial for something more aggressive because the RX is incapable of exploiting the extra traction. Unless you're going to go to snow tires I think forward of something like the LTX M/S isn't going to give you any added traction.

Lexusfreak · December 2, 2004

sw brings up a very fair point as far as not needing LT tires. Having said that, it's important to at least to make sure your replace the tires with the spreed rating your RX was designed & built for (even more so than the ES which is what it is based on) because of the additional weight & different characteristics that come with the SUV. What exactly are you looking for in an all season tire....please be specific. B)

:cheers:

TunedRX300 · December 2, 2004

I'm looking for recomendations for new tires for my 2001 RX300. I need tires that will preform well on snow and ice.

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My AWD RX300 came with Bridgestone Dueler, wore out around 40K miles and performed poorly in snow. Don't buy them.

Lexusfreak · December 3, 2004

I'm looking for recomendations for new tires for my 2001 RX300. I need tires that will preform well on snow and ice.

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My AWD RX300 came with Bridgestone Dueler, wore out around 40K miles and performed poorly in snow. Don't buy them.

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Agreed......stay VERY clear of Bridgestone (& Firestone) tires in an all season tire (winter rubber they are alright). Bridgestone/Firestone just rasied their prices on passenger tires to boot!! :blink: :chairshot: :whistles:

:cheers:

WW2 · December 3, 2004

sw brings up a very fair point as far as not needing LT tires. Having said that, it's important to at least to make sure your replace the tires with the spreed rating your RX was designed & built for (even more so than the ES which is what it is based on) because of the additional weight & different characteristics that come with the SUV. What exactly are you looking for in an all season tire....please be specific. B)

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What I'm looking for is a tire that will handel well in all conditions, get good mileage and last for at least 50,000 miles. My first post was real general so that I might get responses like the one from tunedRX300. Now I know to stay away from the "stones". Thank you.

More specifically, my driving is 70% highway, 25% streets, and 5% dirt road. My needs are tilted by our family ski trips. I would like to get the best for those few days of snow and ice driving (about 8 - 10 days a year).

SW03ES · December 3, 2004

You can't go wrong with the LTX M/S with those criteria.

RX in NC · December 3, 2004

A lot of folks with Japanese SUVs report being very happy with the Yokohama Geolander HT-S G051. The best prices currently can be found at tirerack.com. When my wife's OEM Bridgestone Duelers (a marginal tire at best) bite the dust in another couple thousand miles, I'm going with the Yokohamas. I expect them to give us a better bang-for-the-buck than the Michelin options will.

camisia · December 5, 2004

No question. Michelin Cross Terrain. Worth every penny spent.

Lexusfreak · December 6, 2004

WW, after doing some more research, an LT tire is still your best bet in the size you need (there are only a couple of 'passenger car' tires in that size, but they are not good choices for winter driving conditions). The Michelin is a very good tire but a bit pricy. Here is a link to a Canadian site that has the Michelin, Yoko & Toyo Open country. Prices are in Canadian dollars of course but you can see the Toyo & Yoko are slightly less expensive & an oveall 'better value' as your not sacrificing much (if anything) by going to the Toyo or Yoko. Good Luck! B)

http://www.tiretrends.com/index.php3 put in the tire size on the right hand side of the screen to get what is available.

:cheers:

WW2 · December 6, 2004

I found an article in Conmuser Reports November '04 that rate 22 "light truck tires". They weigh and value criteria that includes: dry braking, wet braking handling, handling, hydoplaning rolling resistance, snow traction, ice braking, ride, and noise. Their top 5 were Goodyear Fortera HL Ed., Pirelli Scorpion STR A, Hankook DynaPro AS RHO3, Kelly Safari Sig., Dayton Timberline HT.

Michelin' s ratings were XC LT4 (Sears) #15, LTX M/S #17 and Cross Terrain #19. Toyo Open Counrty M410 was #10 and Yokohama Geolander H/T-s G051 was #18.

Based on Consumer Reports, the opioions of Lexus Owners Club members and other information it looks like Cross Terrains for me.

SW03ES · December 6, 2004

LF- But the real test of value is how long they run, the only real data I have is the fact that my first set of LTX M/S ran 100k, thats huge for a tire. They had tread left too but I wanted to replace them just because they had...100k on them! The other tires may be SLIGHTLY less expensive but in this case I'd be willing to pay the extra becauseof being unsure about the longevity. When I bought my tires I didn't have any such experience so I was willing to try the Toyos (which I really like).

Lexusfreak · December 7, 2004

It also depends on the categories in the consumer reports......as the 'perfect tire' has yet to be invented......a tire might be better in the snow, but have a poor rating with ice braking as an example, but excel at hydro resistance. It depends what your looking for in the area you live. B) If you never experence snow, than a 'poor' rating on snow & ice has nothing to do with your buying decision......if the tire has excellent hydro resistance in the rain, goo rolling resistance (fuel economy) & general great grip in all other areas except winter conditions it dosen't matter if the tire was '13th' or whatever overall. :whistles:

:cheers:

Bussey · January 14, 2005

I'm looking for recomendations for new tires for my 2001 RX300. I need tires that will preform well on snow and ice.

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I managed to get less tan 30K on the original Bridgstone tires. I replaced them with Michelin MTX which give a harder ride but provided over 60K miles of great driving. I just replaced those tires with another set of the same. Tires are rotated every 7500 miles religiously. My RX 300 has 102K miles on it!

phuklok1 · January 14, 2005

I've got a set of Cooper Discovery tires on my RX and love them. They're quiet, great on the highway, snow and rain. Also they seem to be wearing a lot better than my old Bridgestones and corner a heck of a lot better -- and to top it off they're made in the good ol' USA.

claud · January 15, 2005

What none of you have talked about is noise. Most agressive M/S tires are noisey. The Michelin Cross Terrains are quiet. They are also very good in snow. I have a 45 degree slope driveway and my 01 awd RX made it up with no drama on the CT Michelins in 8 inchs of snow last year. I hope they expand the line to fit my new RX330's 18s.