Its Gettin Close To Tire Time Again Folks...

[SW03ES]

Well I just inspected my tires and they're about 1/10th " away from the wear bars, and the bars on the edges are showing. 3 of them have nails in them in the irrepairable shoulder.

If we ever get any snow I'll want these replaced beforehand probably. Thats about 35k miles on the MXV4s, which isn't bad at all. They have been great tires.

I would do the MXV4s again, although I think I'd like something with better wet traction as they age but without increasing the road noise. I think my short list is as follows, in order of interest:

1. Bridgestone Turanza LS-V

2. Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S (I know Stevie has these and I know someone else with an ES that does and both like them, although I'm concerned about noise)

3. Dunlop Signature (I dont know much about these, new Touring tires from Dunlop)

http://www.dunloptires.com/dunlop/display_...tarea=Passenger

4. Michelin MXV4 S8

5. Dunlop SP Sport 5000 (my dad had these on his 98 LS and they were very smooth and quiet, although short lived. I was surprised by how well they did in the latest Consumer Reports test)

Whats everybody think?

[steviej]

I like the Exaltos as you know, but as of Jan 6 2007 they haven't seen any snow. I can't give you any insight there....sorry. To add to that, today's high was 70°. This weather is unreal. I am sorry I put my motorcycle to bed.

Have you looked into Goodyear's new Response Tread? I have had such great experience with the Eagle F1 GS-D3s, I would definately give Goodyear a look in other areas if I had too.

steviej

[SW03ES]

I know, we have a neighbor down the street that has a Harley, he got it out and went for a ride today too. I washed and waxed the car in a t-shirt and shorts. Unreal. I'm wondering if we'll ever have snow again LOL

I've considered the Goodyears but not specifically the response tread. I'll look into them.

I just checked em out. They certainly look different...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic.jsp?s...;speed_rating=Y

I'll do some more research

[Gunnut]

My Harley has been sleeping for over a month now. It looks terrible up on the lift with the I-V attached (Battery tender).

I put on a set of the Turanza LS-Vs about 6 weeks ago. Very smooth ride and whisper quiet. A bit of a softer ride than the MXV4s they replaced.

[SW03ES]

I think the LS-Vs are probably going to be the tire, good to hear you thought they were a softer ride than the MXV4s...

I'd like to buy them locally so I could take advantage of Bridgestone's 30 day ride guarantee so I could have some new MXV4s installed in case I don't like them but I can't find ANY local tire stores that carry them! How odd, that was not the case when I bought tires last time 19 months ago...

[SW03ES]

Hey Gun, what do you think about noise on the LS-Vs vs the MXV4s? I found this test at TireRack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=75

They echoed what you said about the LS-Vs being slightly better riding, but they did say the MXV4s were a little quieter due to a low speed growl from the LS-Vs. What do you think?

I would just go do the LS-Vs since Bridgestone has a 30 day ride and drive deal so I could just go back to the MXV4s if I didn't like them. I can't find one tire store here though that sells them! So I'd have to get them from TireRack making the 30 day deal useless since I'd have to pay to ship them back!

[Gunnut]

My MXV4s were pretty worn so I had a lot of high pitched whine with them. THey were like that when I bought the car so I don't know how they were when new.

I bought mine from Tire Rack because nobody stocked them. I had them shipped to NTB who mounted them. The clerk there told me I should have brought the Tire Rack quote in and they would have beat the price.

firestone told me they could have ordered the tires as well but they ticked me off after they set up an appointment to have the tires installed and when I showed up they didn't have them in stock and tried to sell me a different tire.

I'm not really that picky on tires and am pretty happy with what I have. I almost never drive with the windows open so I don't get much noise anyway.

[SW03ES]

I special ordered them from NTB, so they'll go on Wednsday. If I don't like them I'll just swap them for new MXV4s.

[blake918]

Thats about 35k miles on the MXV4s, which isn't bad at all.

Jeez, that's not very many miles. Mine had close to twice that mileage before the treads started to fall apart.

[SW03ES]

I could get probably another 10,000 out of them but they're getting to where I'm concerned about their safety.

In my experience with these cars and these types of tires, 35k miles life is pretty darn good. If you drove them to where the treads fell apart, my guess is they actually should have been replaced long before then.

[blake918]

The treads came apart on mine because they were plugged and patched far too many times. They still had plenty of tread left. This picture isn't 100% clear of the treads, but there is obviously enough rubber left to have pebbles stuck in the treads (they passed state inspection shortly before this picture.)......

[SW03ES]

Aside from the tread seperating I can see extreme wear on them from that picture, especially in the shoulder blocks. The MXV4s have prominent shoulder tread blocks, yours are almost completely slick. Those tires were well past their life. Tires will pass inspection as long as the wear bars aren't showing, they pop up at 2/32nds" left. Thats the legal limit for treadwear, but the tires loose 80% of their grip at around 4/32nds. While yours may have had enough in the center, they were way beyond bald on the shoulders. Mine have way more tread left than those did.

[blake918]

Yes, of course it's bald in that spot, notice that's where the tread is hardly attached to the tire and is swollen up like a beach ball. Your tires would look the same if your treads weren't attached. And at any rate, my alignment was always in spec; you would have to neglect the alignment for years to get a tire to be completely bald on one spot and healthy treads left in the other.

[SW03ES]

Naa, that wear didn't come from the tread being seperated, I bet the tread being seperated came from that wear. Rubber won't wear that fast, and if I remember correctly the tread seperated pretty quickly didn't it? Thats nice and smooth, had that happened after the tread seperated it would be rougher.

Wear like that almost always comes from under-inflated tires. My tires typically wear that way because I air them only to the Lexus specified 29PSI. Even on the center of the tread I can tell that they're pretty worn.

[RX in NC]

You're causing your own premature tire wear by following the always-underinflated Lexus recommendation in order to provide the soft, cushy ride that Lexus believes it's customers all want. To get that marshmallow ride, you sacrifice a good bit of treadwear and therefore your tires lose 10,000 or more additional miles that they probably would have lasted for if you had kept them at around 32 psi instead of 29 psi.

As long as you realize that, run your tires at whatever pressure you wish. It's your money....

[SW03ES]

Oh I totally understand that, but I spent a lot of money on the car too in a large part because of that ride. If it means it shaves life off my tires, so be it. I think most customers feel that way too.

Actually my MXV4s have worn pretty uniformly. Personally I think 35k life is fine on tires with a 25k treadwear rating.

[RX in NC]

For tires that I research and purchase myself, I never feel that I've gotten my money's worth unless they go at least 45,000 miles. That's easily done on my wife's underpowered RX300 (her Firestone Destination LE tires installed in December 2004 are coming up on 50,000 miles right now, they've been a great tire for the money, and if we keep this vehicle beyond 130,000 miles I'll put another new set on it) but very, very difficult to do on my 1999 Ram 5.9-litre V8 pickup, especially with my heavy right foot. That truck's horsepower, torque, and quickness can easily go through a decent set of tires in 25,000 miles if you're not careful.

For OEM tires, you have to just take whatever you can get from a mileage perspective. The Goodyear Wrangler OEM tires have been the worst in our stable over the past decade or so. They've never lasted more than 28,000 to 30,000 miles on our previous SUVs over that span of time (three 4WD Jeep Grand Cherokees and a 4WD Dodge Durango). Man, I hate those Goodyear Wranglers - all versions of them. Goodyear should have to pay you to put a set on your vehicle....

[SW03ES]

A lot of it has to do with my heavy foot too LOL

Just had the LS-Vs installed. First impressions are good. They're definately a little softer riding than the MXV4s which is nice. They might be a TAD louder at low speeds, if thats a tradeoff for much better wet traction thats probably okay. Since these are a little softer than the MXV4s I may try inflating them to 31PSI and see if that makes them as quiet as they were.

I'm off to a 30 mile drive to meet my folks for dinner, so that'll bge a good test. I have 30days and unlimited mileage to swap them if I don't like them (Impressed with NTB).

[Lexusfreak]

Not a bad choice Steve....& pretty decent mileage out of your MXV4's too. Enjoy! B)

[blake918]

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