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If the white letters still bother you when the tires are mounted with their blackwall side out, just crayon or charcoal the white letters black before you have the tires mounted.  They are going to eventually get covered by brake dust and road grime anyway.

I've been turning white-letter tires around for years and it's just not an issue.

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I took your advice and bought some Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza's. They are new and have a high rating from Tire Rack. I had hoped that there was some commercial product that could be used to black out the raised white letters so they won't show from the back of the car when mounted on the inside, but I was not able to find anything. Beyond what was suggested above (crayon / charcoal) could I use a black permanent marker or something else that would black out the letters better?

If the white letters still bother you when the tires are mounted with their blackwall side out, just crayon or charcoal the white letters black before you have the tires mounted.  They are going to eventually get covered by brake dust and road grime anyway.

I've been turning white-letter tires around for years and it's just not an issue.

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Thanks. I'll take your advice.

Turn the letters to the inside.

Jeff

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Certainly an idea to consider, however, you can see the white letters when viewing the car from the front, especailly if the wheels are turned. I guess it would just have to be something to get used to.

Glad you're happy, but you really overpaid for what you received in my opinion.  There are better tires for far better prices out there, particularly at tirerack.com.

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I agree on the pricing issue, but the problem I have found looking through tirerack.com is that although they show a ton of different tires, almost all of them only come in white letter or white outline letter in the size for the RX300. Last time I bought the Goodyear Integrity's, even though they had bad ratings because that was just about all I could find. My RX came with Michelin LTX M/S but I had to take them off after 15K because the howling was driving me crazy. Now I am in need of new tires (50K) and the situation is about the same - the tires with good reviews have white letters and the ones with bad reviews have blackwalls. I don't think an RX300 would look right with white letter tires.

I am open to suggestion.

I aksed my Lexus dealer about that noise and was told that it is from the fuel injectors and is a normal noise. My wife thinks that's crazy.

Are the increased POI's the only change?

I had LTX's on my 2001 and they were so noisy that I had to get rid of them after 15K. I replaced them with Goodyear Itegrity's that have come standard on a lot of RX's. I was concerned initially since they are relatively inexpensive compared to the Michelin's, but they are very quiet and seem to be OK. I believe I paid about $275 for them through Tire Rack.

I have a 2001 RX-300 with the original navigation DVD. I read in another thread that all the upgrade DVD's released in October 2003 were defective. Does anyone know if that has been fixed?

Also, what are the differences, if any? Is it worth $250?

T720,

Have you had any problems with the upgrade? I read in another thread that all the October 2003 upgrades were defective.

Also, are there any significant differences in the upgrade vs. the original one that came with the 2001 RX?