RX450H Tyre Recommendations

[Prince Bob]

I had my car serviced, all was good apart from the tyres which will be due for replacement soonish.

Currently running Bridgestone Duelers 235/55 R19 all round. These are fine, apart from some mild torque steer. The rears have plenty of life so only need 2 front tyres.

Cross climates seem to be popular, any other recommendations? The Continental Sport Contact 5 and Dunlop Sport Maxx RT, appear to have good reviews, can anybody here provide any feedback on these tyres?

Thanks in Advance 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

8 hours ago, Prince Bob said:

Cross climates seem to be popular, any other recommendations? The Continental Sport Contact 5 and Dunlop Sport Maxx RT, appear to have good reviews, can anybody here provide any feedback on these tyres?

I can give my thoughts on most of them, as fitted to a 2014 model.

I had the Michelins at the front for just under 25-30,000 miles, and a pair of dealer-fit Dunlops at the rear. I had always intended to get matching ones at the back but they just didn't wear out. Despite there being a fair bit of tread on the Dunlops I eventually went for a full set of Continental All Season Contacts earlier this year. The price was comparable, about £700 including front tracking at a local tyre place, and Michelins weren't easily available at that time.

The Michelins were fine in everyday use, and as I say I got 25-30k out of them on the front, not bad for such a heavy old thing doing lots of miles on country roads. I had a couple of puncture repairs in them, fortunately both times far enough in from the sidewall.

I can't say whether it was them or the older rears that caused it, but just before the full tyre change this year it was getting noisy. Changing to brand new Continentals all round made it noticeably quieter, and the ride felt a bit more supple too. Difficult to say whether that was new vs. aged/worn, or the quality of the tyres.

All I can say is the Continentals are doing a great job, whether it was driving around France this summer in 35-40deg temperatures or on wet, cold roads here. Too early to say how they're wearing* or how they'll be in terms of noise/ride, but I'd happily buy them again. *Just looked at my last service record, the front were +/- 6.5mm average, and the rears +/-7mm, after something like 6-8,000 miles.

Looks like the Sport Contact 5s are a summer tyre, so not strictly comparable with the Michelin.

Sorry, I'm wittering away. My personal recommendation, if you can afford it, would be to ditch the Bridgestones as they'll never wear out on the back and fit either the Michelin or Continental all seasons at all four corners.

Don't know if you'll use a local depot or someone online, but for comparison Black Circles are currently giving 10% off Continentals so they'd be just over £580 for four, or £40 off a full set of Michelins making a full set £750-800 depending which of the three versions are chosen. I can't see that the Michelins are circa £200 better....

 

N.B, I did it for 30,000 miles and had no issues, but it's not recommended to mix different season tyres front and rear, I don't know if your current Duellers are all seasons - if you want to keep them that may be a consideration?

[NemesisUK]

Be aware that there appears to be no stock of either the Continental or Michelin all season tyres in the 235/520 size, despite showing on numerous websites. 

Neither company could advise when stock would arrive 

[Spottedlaurel]

29 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

Be aware that there appears to be no stock of either the Continental or Michelin all season tyres in the 235/520 size, despite showing on numerous websites. 

Neither company could advise when stock would arrive 

As a 2009 model Robert will be dealing with 19s, so hopefully less of an issue?

[Herbie]

Goodyear Vector 4Seasons.

In most tests and reviews they either equal or are just half a point behind Michelin CCs.

I had them on my 2013 RX and they were superb but they don't seem to be available in the 20" size for my 4RX.

[Prince Bob]

6 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I can give my thoughts on most of them, as fitted to a 2014 model.

I had the Michelins at the front for just under 25-30,000 miles, and a pair of dealer-fit Dunlops at the rear. I had always intended to get matching ones at the back but they just didn't wear out. Despite there being a fair bit of tread on the Dunlops I eventually went for a full set of Continental All Season Contacts earlier this year. The price was comparable, about £700 including front tracking at a local tyre place, and Michelins weren't easily available at that time.

The Michelins were fine in everyday use, and as I say I got 25-30k out of them on the front, not bad for such a heavy old thing doing lots of miles on country roads. I had a couple of puncture repairs in them, fortunately both times far enough in from the sidewall.

I can't say whether it was them or the older rears that caused it, but just before the full tyre change this year it was getting noisy. Changing to brand new Continentals all round made it noticeably quieter, and the ride felt a bit more supple too. Difficult to say whether that was new vs. aged/worn, or the quality of the tyres.

All I can say is the Continentals are doing a great job, whether it was driving around France this summer in 35-40deg temperatures or on wet, cold roads here. Too early to say how they're wearing* or how they'll be in terms of noise/ride, but I'd happily buy them again. *Just looked at my last service record, the front were +/- 6.5mm average, and the rears +/-7mm, after something like 6-8,000 miles.

Looks like the Sport Contact 5s are a summer tyre, so not strictly comparable with the Michelin.

Sorry, I'm wittering away. My personal recommendation, if you can afford it, would be to ditch the Bridgestones as they'll never wear out on the back and fit either the Michelin or Continental all seasons at all four corners.

Don't know if you'll use a local depot or someone online, but for comparison Black Circles are currently giving 10% off Continentals so they'd be just over £580 for four, or £40 off a full set of Michelins making a full set £750-800 depending which of the three versions are chosen. I can't see that the Michelins are circa £200 better....

 

N.B, I did it for 30,000 miles and had no issues, but it's not recommended to mix different season tyres front and rear, I don't know if your current Duellers are all seasons - if you want to keep them that may be a consideration?

Many thanks for a detailed response.

The rears are down to about 6mm, so can't really justify getting rid of those which is a shame. I'll probably be 6ft under by the time they wear out!

The Bridgestones are fine, but are only rated 'C' for wet weather performance, although I don't know if this is an internal rating, or compared to other competitors.