SC-Man

I must say it's surprising that these tire stores get so involved (over involved) in a driver's safety. Anyone could decide not to carry a spare. Once you move to NRF, I suspect there will be no questions even though you may not have a spare at that point either. With AAA/Road Service, flat kits and a portable compressor, there really isn't much risk. I'm guessing there must have been some law suits. I'm having the tires shipped to my local garage who specializes in high end cars and has not problem putting these on.

I appreciate hearing how others analyze the choices and make decisions so will do the same here to put complete this tire saga. All the tires I mentioned on the list I think are strong contenders. At the last hour, I found one more tire - the General Exclaim UHP. It is not the caliber of some of the others like the Bridgestone Potenza, but for my summer only driving and I'm not as performance focused as some others, the General seemed just the right tire for me. It did quite well on the Tire Rack ratings - handling, ride, traction, durability. I also read quite a few reviews on them and they did quite well by most although occasionally a very performance oriented driver panned them. The set cost less than $500 and given they are my first non RFT tires and some questions about camber / alignment, K thought they would be a good place to start before moving up to the higher performance tires.

I'm not sure how to compare experiences with RF vs non-RF. I've heard some good things about Kuhmo non-RF but no one seems to be thrilled about RF tires, including me. There are a lot of choices out there and I'm trying to narrow them down a bit. I'm not sure I want to spend the big dollars (>$200) given the propensity for inside tire wear due to the camber adjustment, but looking at reviews and what people have talked about on this forum, these are what seem to come up most: Michelin Pilot Sport A/S (over $200) Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position (just under $200) Goodyear Eagle GT (under $150) Conti Extreme Contact (under $150) Conti Pro Contact (just over $200) Yokohama Avid W4S (under $150) I don't intend to do winter driving with this car so the "all season" is not important although I am told that all season doesn't necessarily mean all season. As for the tire store, thanks for your feedback and I'm not surprised others do it as the Lexus dealer does. They are losing a fair amount of business with this policy.

I love my SC430 and purchased it used. It's a 2005 with less than 20,000. The ride is not what I expected from Lexus and have read a lot about the RFT. Many of you have replaced them with non-RFT and I intend to do the same. I see the popular tire choices in the Bridgestone, Michelin and Continental lines. I live in Rochester NY and my first issue was to find a local garage who could actually support the removal and mounting of RFT, especially 245-40-18. This narrowed down the choices. Tire Rack is an option but there are very few of their local network who can handle that tire. Then I went to one of the big local tire chains. They actually have a policy that says they will not mount a non-run flat tire in replacement of a run-flat. I talked to my local Lexus dealership who says most of their customers have converted to NRF and they do the conversion at the dealership. The local tire store says they are bounded by the tire manufacturers rules and will not budge. Has anyone heard of this? Is there a "permission slip" that can be provided since the manufacturer themselves has no problem with this?

Could anyone provide insight on how many miles I could expect on both the Michelin Pilot A/S and the Bridgestone Pole Position (which seem to be the top contenders based on posts I've read), and the Conti that has been recommended by some? Secondly, there are a variety of Michelin Pilots in addition to the A/S. Are any of the others worth considering? Lastly, some reviews discuss losing MPGs when they go to an all-season tire. No one has quantified what they lose but I would be interested in understanding that as well. It is not likely I will be driving my SC430 in the winter anyway so if I have to trade off winter driving for better gas mileage, if it were significant enough I would consider it. Thanks!

I usually keep a jump starter in my trunk in case of a battery drain but it appears that when the battery is dead on the SC430, there is no way to open the trunk. Is there a manual release somewhere I've missed?

This is a useful thread as tires are an important decision. I have an 05 SC430 with 17,500 and my RFTs are done. It seems that everyone agrees that moving away from RFT is a good decision but which tire to buy is wide open. Here are some specific questions that I'm looking for input on: 1. In a winter environment (Rochester NY) where I would like to use them 2-3 seasons (non-snow), is all-season worth considering? 2. Most of the tires suggested don't have mileage ratings so would be interested if there is a good tire I can get close to 40k out of. 3. Prices really vary- from $113 to $300+ and I'm wondering for those who have experienced these tires whether putting more money into them really matters. I will not be racing but would like a much more comfortable ride, some improved cornering/handling and some longevity without spending a fortune. 4. Does anyone know if the flat kits work - it sounds like a great idea and much more practical than hauling around a spare that will take up any remaining trunk room. By the way, as you can see, it's very hard to sift through this thread when the previous responses are echoed on each post. If everyone would delete all the stuff that appears first in the reply window, all the previous responses would not show up so many times and it would be easier to navigate through the responses. The preview button will validate you have a clean post.