Gen 4 rx450. Winter tyres----your thoughts

[rayaans]

11 hours ago, grantwils said:

Checkout wheelfitment.eu and willtheyfit.com

I’m not sure 235/55 on 20” is a standard Lexus fitment according to their site!


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2 hours ago, Ian M said:

Are you sure yours are 20"?  My 2013 model RX has just had Cross Climates fitted this afternoon, 235 55 R 19 is the size on my car.

Yes, the 4RX uses larger diameter wheels. And the tyre size is awkward as hell, there's only 2 semi decent tyres available.

If you get 3RX 19" wheels, go for 235/60 r19 tyres. You'll have a negligible 2mm difference in diameter.

Or if you get 18's go for 235/65 r18 tyres. Theyll have 4mm difference in tyre diameter

[grantwils]

Bear in mind tread goes 8mm-1.6mm so you can take off 13mm ride height just taking your tyres to the legal limit.

 

 

I’ll probably use non standard tyre sizes on my 2RX simply because the rims and tyres were bought for another car which was rejected and they’re close enough for me not to be concerned. I’ll try sticking them on gumtree and use the proceeds to get genuine Lexus rims with proper sized tyres but if there’s no interest I’ll just use them on the 2RX.

 

 

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[goody]

Just an update really, winter tyres fitted at Lexus whilst having its 10K service, Yokohama W drive.

lexus will store original tyres and swop over for free for the first year then £100 each year, or I'll have them back and store myself once I find some other rims at a competitive price.

[grantwils]

16 minutes ago, goody said:

Just an update really, winter tyres fitted at Lexus whilst having its 10K service, Yokohama W drive.

lexus will store original tyres and swop over for free for the first year then £100 each year, or I'll have them back and store myself once I find some other rims at a competitive price.

It shouldn't be hard to find rims to fit. I got a pair of diamond cut Kia rims for my Infiniti which will also fit my RX. Only problem is centre bore is a bit bigger on Kia rims so I'd should really use spigot rings which I'm not a big fan of. Most jap fitment wheels will fit. Strangely, from memory so I might be wrong, some other Lexus rims won't fit the RX, e.g. IS. 

[Nick W858]

I'm a massive fan of winter tyres and living in a hilly part of the midlands I see them as essential in colder months. I leave early and come back late at the coldest times of the day and the temps are often 7 or below, however I use them on my LS400 but my wife with her RX450h is not interested in the perceived expense or hassle of swapping her wheels. I love the way the LS stops on snow/ice, it is more efficient/safe than anything on summer tyres. However, even in the worst of the snow/ice the RX has never got stuck and I have deliberately taken it out to test it alongside the winter tyred LS to see if I could get it stuck! I store my other wheels free of charge at my local tyre garage and they swap them over for nothing and in return I buy my tyres from them. I do love winter tyres and if I ran an RX myself I would think about getting them but not sure I would be anywhere near as bothered as I am about the LS in seeing them as a 'must have'. As rayanns said, extra care and attention combined with 4WD might do the trick for most but equally I would not blame anyone for going down the winter tyre route as circumstances may dictate this is the best course of action for you.

[grantwils]

5 hours ago, Nick W858 said:

I'm a massive fan of winter tyres and living in a hilly part of the midlands I see them as essential in colder months. I leave early and come back late at the coldest times of the day and the temps are often 7 or below, however I use them on my LS400 but my wife with her RX450h is not interested in the perceived expense or hassle of swapping her wheels. I love the way the LS stops on snow/ice, it is more efficient/safe than anything on summer tyres. However, even in the worst of the snow/ice the RX has never got stuck and I have deliberately taken it out to test it alongside the winter tyred LS to see if I could get it stuck! I store my other wheels free of charge at my local tyre garage and they swap them over for nothing and in return I buy my tyres from them. I do love winter tyres and if I ran an RX myself I would think about getting them but not sure I would be anywhere near as bothered as I am about the LS in seeing them as a 'must have'. As rayanns said, extra care and attention combined with 4WD might do the trick for most but equally I would not blame anyone for going down the winter tyre route as circumstances may dictate this is the best course of action for you.

All good points. 

FYI I drove a RWD C-Class Merc up a hill that a 4WD Disco3 with Pirelli Scorpion Summer tyres on couldn't get up. The disco got so far up then the 4x4 system shat itself. After sitting stationary with the handbrake on for a few seconds it actually started sliding down down the hill. Albeit these were extreme conditions but it showed that even 4WD and Land Rover off road gubbins is useless when your rubber is rock hard the laws of physics come into play.

Plenty options that make running summer and winter sets cheaper than using summer all year round (see my previous post).

[goody]

Well guys

as you may be aware there is now a lot of snow around and I can confirm that RX 450h f sport on winter tyres is absolutely fantastic.

i had to collect my son from hospital this morning after his over night operation, so it was an essential test of the car.

we overtook many abandoned cars on route and even managed a 40% gradient climb up a local hill.

8 inch's of snow where we are and the car never missed a beat, it felt firmly planted to the road.

it was an essential trip so as far as I'm concerned well worth the investment as now know I can believe all the hype about these tyres.

It was well worth it.👍🏻

 

[grantwils]

Well guys
as you may be aware there is now a lot of snow around and I can confirm that RX 450h f sport on winter tyres is absolutely fantastic.
i had to collect my son from hospital this morning after his over night operation, so it was an essential test of the car.
we overtook many abandoned cars on route and even managed a 40% gradient climb up a local hill.
8 inch's of snow where we are and the car never missed a beat, it felt firmly planted to the road.
it was an essential trip so as far as I'm concerned well worth the investment as now know I can believe all the hype about these tyres.
It was well worth it.[emoji1303]
 

What tyres? We just go Wintrac Xtreme S fitted to our 2RX and so far so good but no snow up in Sconny Botland. Had them before on X trail and Touareg and they’ve been great.


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[Big Rat]

I won't bore people on here to much as I've mentioned it a number of times before, but having worked as a tyre development driver for Michelin on performance fast road use of Summer and Winter tyres covering huge mileages in an assortment of vehicles, I'm a great advocate for winters and summers and trust me the benefits are huge.

Buy yourself some steels or used alloys for the winters, who cares about aesthetics it's safety that's paramount 

You extend the life of both types by 50% if you store them correctly

Winters are superior in wet conditions in 7 to 10 degree temperatures and far superior under 7 degrees 

Braking distances in wet and greasy conditions are far better with winters 

Buy your winters in the summer months, it's cheaper 

It is in the conditions winters were designed for they are a great contribution to road safety example...... if you leave a greater distance between you and the vehicle in front and presupposing the vehicle behind you is on summers, you can extend his breaking distance by your greater ability to stop slow And manoeuvre 

Replace your winters when they are approaching 5 years old irrespective of tread depth, in any event they do not function as well below 5mm

All of us on here know how expensive it is to buy and run our Lexus vehicles irrespective of their age makes sense to me to go that one step further, after all the tyre is our only contact with the road surface........ and it's about the size of the palm of your hand.

Big Rat

 

 

[grantwils]

I won't bore people on here to much as I've mentioned it a number of times before, but having worked as a tyre development driver for Michelin on performance fast road use of Summer and Winter tyres covering huge mileages in an assortment of vehicles, I'm a great advocate for winters and summers and trust me the benefits are huge.
Buy yourself some steels or used alloys for the winters, who cares about aesthetics it's safety that's paramount 
You extend the life of both types by 50% if you store them correctly
Winters are superior in wet conditions in 7 to 10 degree temperatures and far superior under 7 degrees 
Braking distances in wet and greasy conditions are far better with winters 
Buy your winters in the summer months, it's cheaper 
It is in the conditions winters were designed for they are a great contribution to road safety example...... if you leave a greater distance between you and the vehicle in front and presupposing the vehicle behind you is on summers, you can extend his breaking distance by your greater ability to stop slow And manoeuvre 
Replace your winters when they are approaching 5 years old irrespective of tread depth, in any event they do not function as well below 5mm
All of us on here know how expensive it is to buy and run our Lexus vehicles irrespective of their age makes sense to me to go that one step further, after all the tyre is our only contact with the road surface........ and it's about the size of the palm of your hand.
Big Rat
 
 

Totally agree. I run winters on all my cars for last 4 years and will never go back to using summers in winter. I prefer using winter rubber in summer if I’m forced to go with just one option. It might be earlier in this post where I showed a significant saving using winter rubber on the Touareg I leased. People saying it’s expensive need to get their calculators out.


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[Big Rat]

@grantwils Grant absolutely, I needed 4 new summers for my isF back in July at my local tyre place an independent as it happens and they are always happy to do a deal, so I personally like the OEM Bridgestones for my isF and I also needed a full set of Winters for my spare set. Due to the time of year I was able to get Michelin winters and my preferred Bridgestone all in for £1079.79. 

A massive saving the Michelin's alone were coming in at £802.02 originally.

Bug Rat