nacha

to make my long tired, tire story short and sweet: yes for michelin ltx m/s and yokohama geolander hts go51 maybe for michelin cross terrain ( avoid auto oem tires that michelin dumps on the aftermarket when the contract expires, ie ford explorer 235/70/16. these tires are built to the auto makers specs, and not to michelins. these tires have lower tread wear rating ,420 vs 700, and a different tread design.)

hi congratulations on your new child. this car has to many miles for my taste. if it were me, i would find one with about 1/2 the milage. good luck.

235/70/16 on sale at tire rack for 98.00$ is the oem for the ford explorer, and perhaps other vehicles as well. it has a treadswear rating of 460. it is , according to Michelin customer service, built to "specifications of the auto manufacturer". it does still have a 65,000 mi warranty. the aftermarket cross terrains have a treadwear rating of 700. perhaps this is the reason why so many cross terrains never make it beyond 40,000. mi. though the name is the same, it dosent appear that the oems are the same quality as the michelin aftermarket cross terrains. if you are in the market for this tire, be careful and check the treadwear rating to determine which tire you are buying. the reduced price may not compensate the reduced mileage.

Americas Tire co ( www.tires.com) says that you can put up to 245/70/16 tires on the stock wheel. they say that there will be no rubbing and that there is enough room for snow cables. ive seen 1 rx300 with 245/70/16. the question is should you zero plus size the tires. what will you gain? personally, i like the look of the wider tire. however, when you increase the width without changing the aspect ratio, the tire will be a bit taller, and subject to more flexing from the side wall area.(actually 235/65/70 would be a good fit, but good luck finding a tire this size). this would translate to a more sloppy feel during turns. would this cancel out the improved traction from the wider footprint of the tire? I dont know. also you might expect to see a decrease in the fuel economy, though im not sure how much. also, if you plus size the tire on the stock rims, your odometer and speedometer will be off slightly. The larger tire may also put increase strain onthe breaks. so in the end, if you zero plus size your tires, from the 225 to a 235 or even 245, while the car might look better, overall performance may not be improved. i think that you are best off putting the best quality tire, size 225, that you can get. i would look at the michelin cross terrain or ltx m/s. good luck

Americas Tire Co. says that i can put 245/70/16 on the stock wheels without any problems. im looking for a bit bigger tire, but is this a good idea? will this size tire improve handeling at all, or will all i see is a decrease in gas mileage. the tire im looking at are the Mich ltx m/s. any thoughts? thanks

I have seen a few with that tire size 235/70/16. the dealership has told me that it would not be a problem. the increase in height is about .5" due to the aspect ratio. im not sure if the width increase would pose a problem if you use snow cables. wwest would know for sure.

the car talk guys, tom and ray, addressed this issue last week. cars today are styled very areodynamically. when you put the windows down, it causes a breakup in the smooth flowing pattern of the air moving over the car, causing these sounds. that is why the cars gett better gas mileage at frewway speeds with windows up and air conditioner on, than with windows down and air off.

anybody try going with a slightly larger tire, 235/70/16? I have seen a few rx 300 with this size. i like how the tire fills the wells, but im wondering if the increased height of the tire ( about .55" over the 225/70/16) has a negative effect with handling. any thoughts? Btw, the mich m/s at ltx tire has very good reviews @ 1010tires.com

thanks everyone for responding. Yep. no new transmissions available. only reman parts. one thing i learned with automatics (the rx is my 1st automatic trans ever) is to activate the parking brake first, then shift the car to park. if you park on an incline, this will help reduce the pressure the car puts on that parking pawl/transmission interface. fortunately, the warrenty coverd this issue.

hi douglasmiami, on an incline, the car wont hold in park. it will jerk forward until the parking pawl is able to lock into a gear that hasn't been damaged. the hesitation that you notice is pretty common. i have that too. the dealer admitted that they get complaints re tha hesitation. its not a "problem" rather its a design, or engineering issue. not fixable since nothing is actually broken.

hi all, looks like i need a new transmission for my 99 rx that has 50,000 miles. lexus will cover it under warrenty, but they will replace it with a re-built one, not a new one. should i be concerned about this? if given the option of a new vs rebuilt, am i better off paying out of pocket for the new transmission? warrenty is same( 12months, unlimited miles). any thoughts? thanks in advance.

Soooo...... back to simple english for us less educated in this area of physics and automotive technology, is it really that important that front/rear power and torque is not 50/50? is it possible that the car might perform and handle better as an awd vehicle with the power distribution as lexus has done it?

tds, re the type of tires, i was able to see two rear chained(cables actually) rx's at alpine meadows where we were skiing. both had all season type tires - the integrity. the original tire with the car. wwest - yep, im sure they were rx 300's. dont know much about them, but i know one when i see it. yes they had cables on the rear tires, not the front ones.

i just returned from lake tahoe( in our trusty 4wd suburan) and i noticed something interesting. I saw several ( at least 4 ) rx300s with rear tire chains. I never saw a subaru awd, or an audi awd, or a volvo awd, or a honda crx, or a x5, or a ML with chains. only the rx300s.it made an impression on me because before our trip, WWEST on another thread posted the comment that" a awd rx300 is a figment of Lexus' marketing imangination". so my question is, is a "awd" rx 300 a scam?

please tell me that the 1999 awd car that i spent more money for has some advantage over the 2wd that i could have spent less for. figment of lexus imangination? boy am i bummed out if thats true.