Front Tire (bridgestone) & Rear Tire (michelin)

[huylanalexus]

Hi everyone-

I’m planning to replace just the front tires because I don’t want to rotate the rear to the front. My original tire is Michelin, now I want to replace the Bridgestone better for handing and quiet.

Do you recommend using two different tires? Will it has any problem with the road noise or handing.

Thank you in advance for you advice

[blk_on_blk]

You know, looking at other vehicles and their tires, I would say you shouldnt' have any problems at all. What I mean by that is there are cars with 'staggered' wheels and tires, with wider tires/rims in the back than in the front. Plus there are specialty cars with larger diameter wheels and sidewall ratios in the rear than in the front. Then you can reference the odd-ball cars that have fats-n-skinnies on them (like some of the older muscle cars and Mustangs/Camaros), but those are a bit extreme. Or you can look at how people put studs on the front for the winter, but leave their all-seasons in the back for months at a time. There are tons of mixes-and-matches that people run all the time. If done correctly, you shouldn't have any issues.

Being that you probably have the AWD, you'll need to match the tire size exactly, but with everything else considered, you should be fine.

Anyone else have input??

[newtoncd]

Not sure about the Lexus, but with an Audi Quattro, unless the tread is within 4/32, you can run into transmission problems by only replacing 2 tires.

My sister-in-law asked the Honda dealer (Honda CR-V AWD) and they said to replace all four at once.

I don't know if the Lexus AWD has the same issue, but I would ask the dealer.

[blk_on_blk]

Wow, those are pretty sensitive AWD systems. My friend was looking to put staggered wheels on his AWD G35, and they said he couldn't due to the AWD, and that's with all new tread and the same overall diameter, just wider tracks.

If it's a 2WD/FWD, you should be golden.

[Grumpa72]

Unless Lexus is really odd it has always been my understanding that replacing tires on a axle set is the requirement. I would venture a guess that you can safely switch tires as long as the tires on each axle set are the same.

[Rx330driver]

i dont think it matters. I got into an accident and one 1 tire needed to be changed. So they did, so i had 3 old and 1 new. lexus allowed it...

[blk_on_blk]

Well there you go!! If Lexus gave their stamp of approval on that, you're good to go!

[Rx330driver]

although...i failed to mention that my steering wheel felt like it had a vibration function shortly after. lol.

it was so bad at speeds 40+ but i never really told lexus about it. When it was time ot change the 3 tires, i changed all 4 of them and now the vibration is gone. It may have been a bad allignment...or it could have been that 4th tire.

[SKperformance]

Keep the same model tire on all 4 corners it will keep it consitant in low traction applications.

[blk_on_blk]

SKperformance Posted Yesterday, 11:01 PM

Keep the same model tire on all 4 corners it will keep it consitant in low traction applications.

I don't know about that statement (and something I've always wondered about). I mean, for this example let's presume it's a 2WD/FWD model. With a basic descriptor of the design (a tranverse mounted fwd drive transaxle setup), that leaves roughly 60-70% of the weight of the vehicle biased to the front of the vehicle. Under heavy braking, that front-biased weight falls mainly over the front tires to do 80-95% of the braking (especially in low traction conditions, since weight over the tires is more critical to get grip). This is one reason why front disc brakes calipers are predominantly larger and more robust than the rears. So, with that said, one would think a person would want a better gripping tire on the front, and having them be the same all around isn't necessarily the best option. Is there validity to this line of thinking?

On a follow up thought, many FWD vehicles have a slightly wider track to the front tires than the rear, since they are the dominant... it just seems logical to shoot for a higher performing set of tires in the front than the back.

[Ray92es]

SKperformance Posted Yesterday, 11:01 PM

Keep the same model tire on all 4 corners it will keep it consitant in low traction applications.

So, with that said, one would think a person would want a better gripping tire on the front, and having them be the same all around isn't necessarily the best option. Is there validity to this line of thinking?

The current wisdom with different tires is that you put the best tires on the back o a fwd vehicle as the back tire cannot be controlled as the front one can. If you oversteer a fwd car, there isn't much you can do. Newer tires actually have less stopping ability in non precipitation situations.

If the car is AWD. Get 4 new tires and rotate them. The cost of repair if the drivetrain breaks would have paid for several sets of tires

[mikey00]

Hi everyone-

I’m planning to replace just the front tires because I don’t want to rotate the rear to the front. My original tire is Michelin, now I want to replace the Bridgestone better for handing and quiet.

Do you recommend using two different tires? Will it has any problem with the road noise or handing.

Thank you in advance for you advice

My opinion is that you could most likely get away with this but it is wrong for many different reasons. I will go into one. Those that are saying this is ok to do are basing everything on driving and stopping in a straight line. I don't even agree with that but for now lets assume that is ok. Did anyone even consider handling going around corners and the Vehicle Skid Control System? A quote directly from your owner’s manual:

The size, manufacturer, brand and tread pattern for all 4 tires should be the same. If you use tires other than specified, or different type or size, the vehicle skid control system may not function correctly." The thing here is how different do they have to be before you may notice a problem during an emergency maneuver. I don't believe any of us here can really answer that. I wouldn't want to be the one to find out just to save a few bucks on tires.

If your Michelins are Cross Terrains you already have one of the quietest, best handling and wearing tires for the RX. I am on my second set and will soon be ordering my third. But I don't want to turn this into a Cross Terrain vs. Bridgestone thread. Do a search for that. We have discussed pros and cons over and over.

If you really want the Bridgestone’s, rotate you Michelins once, finish them off, and get a set of 4 Bridgestone’s. Or just get 4 Bridgestone’s now.

[newtoncd]

The Cross Terrain's don't come in the stock 18" size for the RX330.

[mikey00]

The Cross Terrain's don't come in the stock 18" size for the RX330.

My bad, I am always thinking RX300. If that's the case, I don't know which Michelins you have. But I would check their ratings at Tire Rack and if they are really that bad go for 4 new tires.

[huylanalexus]

Thanks all for your response. I read the manual & maintenance book that is still not clear to me so I called Lexus and they recommend changing all same tires. Before I call them I’m sure that they would say this because the car still under warranty (37K). They don’t want you to try something weir.

Conclusion, I decided to rotate the tire and replace the Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza instead of OEM Michelin before the winter. I read some of review about the Bridgestone that is more quiet and handing. I’m really not satisfied with OEM tire about the road noise but I still doubt Bridgestone.

Do you have any experience with Bridgestone tire? Your option is really helpful to me.

Thanks again.

[RX in NC]

After doing considerable research on the very few tires available for the 18-inch wheels on my wife's 2004 RX330, it became fairly obvious that the Bridgestone Alenza was the best choice. It carries a 65,000-mile treadwear warranty, it has more tread depth than the Michelin MXV4 S8, the Michelin has no treadwear warranty at all, and the customers at tirerack.com collectively rated the Alenza as the best tire in its particular category. I've had the Alenzas on her vehicle for approximately 7,000 miles now and they have been as good as advertised to this point. I believe the Alenza is absolutely the best all-around tire for this application. They are pricey, but so are the Michelins. But the Michelins will wind up being especially costly because they do not carry a treadwear warranty and they tend to be shot by 35,000 miles.

Go with the Alenzas if you can find them. Earlier this year they were hard to find in stock due to their growing popularity as more and more owners research them and discover the weaknesses of the Michelins....