New Toyo Tires, Review And Pics.

[skyfish400h]

OEM

The goodyear tires weigh in at 29lbs

The michlens weigh in at 29 lbs

235 size

The bridgestones weigh in at 33lbs

The hankook tire weighs in at xxlbs (33?)

255 size

The toyo tires weigh in at 34 lbs

[RXREY]

jditom, what psi are you running on the Toyos? I will have mine put on this Thursday and figure I will ask to have them at 36psi,maybe 38 as I have on my GY OEMs. Any suggestions? Rey

[jditom]

jditom, what psi are you running on the Toyos? I will have mine put on this Thursday and figure I will ask to have them at 36psi,maybe 38 as I have on my GY OEMs. Any suggestions? Rey

I started at 36 and they are great there. I am now at 40 and they are a bit bouncy but not bad. I may pull them back to 38.

Enjoy!

[skyfish400h]

Just to follow up on the tire options for the 400h, my previous post introduced the Hankook tire as an alternative to the OEM tires (neither of which are very good) and compared it to the front runner Bridgestone tire.

The Hankook Ventus ST RH06 235/55 R18 has been updated for 2007 to the

Hankook Ventus ST RH07 235/55 R18 and the tread pattern has been modified. They don't look as agressive as the RH06, but you can see the similarities.

Dealers can be located by zipcode

www.hankooktireusa.com

A local dealer in Long Beach has quoted me $142 ea out the door (tax and install included) with lifetime roadhazard from Hankook at any authorized Hankook dealer (this includes the vast Americas' Tire and Discount Tire chains).

BTW the Discount Tire Co (AKA America's Tire) is not to be confused with the Discount Tire Center. The latter is not part of the American Tire family of companies and in my opinion has better customer service. Based on my personal experinece and others I've talked to, I cannot recommend Americas's Tire. Unfortunately the Discount Tire Center does not carry the Hankook tires.

The Toyo tires which only come in the 255 width will change the patch loading and may adversly affect wet and snow traction on the 400h.

My choice is made. The lower cost, great reviews, and strong reputation of Hankook in the performace tire biz, coupled with a factory fitment that is identical to the OEM tire makes the choice easy. If you need new tires I would seriously consider this option. I will post again when I've put some miles on the new tires, but will be some time, since I have at least a few thousand mi left on the Goodyears.

[RXREY]

I'm getting the Toyos in a couple of days and I'm pretty jazzed. I don't ever see or go to see snow and in SoCal I don't even see much rain so if that's an issue with the Toyos,it's not for me. They are a great tire company and ,well, there's a certain symmetry about having Japanese tires on a Japanese car. This is my choice, kind of like the fact that we all buy different shoes. Good input on this site but my choice is Toyo Proxes S/T. They look great and are supposed to be great also. 255/55 18" is only a wee wider than the 235s and from what I've been told,it'll be just fine and at $137 the price is right as well. I'll post pictures soon. I can't wait to have them on! Rey Bustos, excited Lexus guy in L.A.

[RXREY]

jditom or anyone else that may be able answer this...when you have a tire pattern like the Toyo S/T or the Hankook which is very directional, like a "V" or "Arrow", how do you rotate the tires? Do you have to have someone take the tires off the rim? If you don't, don't the patterns end up going the wrong direction? So if you put the one the was on the front left and then try to put it on the right side of the car, is the "arrow" or"V" not now facing the back of the car? I hope that wasn't a dumb question but well, I just can't figure out waht is done. Rey

[Jim Nazium]

jditom or anyone else that may be able answer this...when you have a tire pattern like the Toyo S/T or the Hankook which is very directional, like a "V" or "Arrow", how do you rotate the tires? Do you have to have someone take the tires off the rim? If you don't, don't the patterns end up going the wrong direction? So if you put the one the was on the front left and then try to put it on the right side of the car, is the "arrow" or"V" not now facing the back of the car? I hope that wasn't a dumb question but well, I just can't figure out waht is done. Rey

Hey Rey...

With directional tires, you rotate them from front to back, keeping them on the same side of the vehicle. It's one of the drawbacks with directional tires, especially if the vehicle you drive has inherently bad or uneven tire wear, you cannot exploit tire rotation and benefit truelly from the gains you would normally achieve. The idea or benefit from unmounting and remounting the directional tires, front side in to front side out, if you will, would probably not be a good idea given the stress and cost incurred on/for the tires.

You brougth up another interesting point Rey, and another point to consider when purchasing replacement tires.

As for going against the "grain" or direction of the tire, well there is no inherent 911 danger in doing so if you choose to rotate your tires and disregard the directional treads. Alot of the benefits to directional treading is due to better hydroplaning resistance and lower road noise. The vehicle would still be very driveable but you would be sacreficing rain performance mainly and perhaps you may notice odd or offsetting tire noise at certain constant speeds.

Cheers,

MadloR

[jditom]

jditom or anyone else that may be able answer this...when you have a tire pattern like the Toyo S/T or the Hankook which is very directional, like a "V" or "Arrow", how do you rotate the tires? Do you have to have someone take the tires off the rim? If you don't, don't the patterns end up going the wrong direction? So if you put the one the was on the front left and then try to put it on the right side of the car, is the "arrow" or"V" not now facing the back of the car? I hope that wasn't a dumb question but well, I just can't figure out waht is done. Rey

Hey Rey...

With directional tires, you rotate them from front to back, keeping them on the same side of the vehicle. It's one of the drawbacks with directional tires, especially if the vehicle you drive has inherently bad or uneven tire wear, you cannot exploit tire rotation and benefit truelly from the gains you would normally achieve. The idea or benefit from unmounting and remounting the directional tires, front side in to front side out, if you will, would probably not be a good idea given the stress and cost incurred on/for the tires.

You brougth up another interesting point Rey, and another point to consider when purchasing replacement tires.

As for going against the "grain" or direction of the tire, well there is no inherent 911 danger in doing so if you choose to rotate your tires and disregard the directional treads. Alot of the benefits to directional treading is due to better hydroplaning resistance and lower road noise. The vehicle would still be very driveable but you would be sacreficing rain performance mainly and perhaps you may notice odd or offsetting tire noise at certain constant speeds.

Cheers,

MadloR

Agree with above.

You will be just fine rotating front to back. This is the way most shops do it even on nondirectional tires that are radials. You will not have any issues with uneven wear. I do it about every 5,000 miles.

[skyfish400h]

You will be just fine rotating front to back. This is the way most shops do it even on nondirectional tires that are radials. You will not have any issues with uneven wear. I do it about every 5,000 miles.

I have noticed a distinctive pattern of greater wear on the drivers side (outboard edge), that is not mirrored on the passenger side...

So now I'm hanging the left hand turns even faster

[RXREY]

I didn't know either except I reread the first post of this string and saw that it is written, "Toyo Proxes S/T". That's how I knew what to order. Oh, wait, you wrote that!....anyway, I did find 255/55 18" and I'll have them put on Thursday,4-5-07, and will keep everyone posted as to what I think about them through the first year. They better last longer than 13K miles as what was the case with the pathetic Good Year OEMs that came with my 400h. You're right though, Good Year makes some great tires for example, but the ones on many of our RXs weren't the good ones! Thanks for letting me in on the Toyos, I hear their Proxes S/T s are great! They cost $135 ea. Rey

Rey,

Just to make sure the size you want is 255/50/18 not 255/55/18. If you want your speedo to be correct.

Respnse from me, Rey...I got the 255/55/18 because I thought that would be the same sidewall height as the OEM ...aren't they 235/55/18? So only the width is bigger...Right?

BTW...when those tries are rotated...how do they keep the tire pattern facing the correct way? They are an arrow design so do they have to actually take the tire off the rim????? That just came to me...any answers? Was that a silly question? Rey Bustos, confused and bewildered in L.A...but aren't we all in LaLa Land?

This is a directional tire. You will have to lefts and to rights. They get balanced on the rim like any other tire and only get rotated front to back.

Hope this helps.

[Jim Nazium]

The sidewall is a ratio of the height and width of the tire wrt to the sidewall.

Again, fwiw, I went with the Eagle ResponsEdge in 255/55-18 and this is a much more available tire size than 255/50-18 because I wanted a choice of tire simply not available in the marketplace in 255. I feel, and still believe the 2+ ton vehicle is simply too heavy and puts too much demand on the factory 235mm tires.

Again, the ratio is dependant on the width and height of the tire. IOW not all 55 or 50 ratio tires are the same given that there are tire widths and tire sizes all over the map.

Your choice of 255/55-18 will give you an approx error as I outlined elsewhere for jditom's original post but it is more than within tolerance imho. In fact, discount tire offers this size as a plus0 option.

Having driven now for the past two weeks I must say that the RX feels alot more sure footed and better suited to the 255 than the factory 235. Also, I have not missed any freeway exits due to the voice navigation system lmao. In fact, after reinitialising the Navigation computer for the New tires, I find the guidance wrt to actual turns and exits to be spot on where as before I was getting advance warnings to turn well in excess of 150ft.

Cheers,

MadloR