Different makes of tyre on the new Lexus

[eric skerritt]

Had my car in at Lexus Liverpool yesterday, who have been great,for its' MOT (no advisories) and a new injector (under warranty) and had the use of the new NX350h for the day. I liked it very much but will stick with the RX for now as we need the extra rear room for ferrying loads of grandkids around. 

However, to the point. There have been a number of posts over the years asking what make of tyres are best. Well this NX was shod with YokohamasI, noticed the new RX on 21" wheels shod with Michelin and my own originally with Bridgestones and know of others shod with Dunlops from new.

I guess the point here is if the manufacturer (may be down the the best deal they get at the time) uses  these makes then it's down to individual preference (and price) when it's time to renew.

Having Yokohama on my wife's CX5 I think that's the way I'll go next time around and being £30 a corner cheaper helps.

You can tell I've nothing better to do other than off now to paint the shed.

[rayaans]

4 hours ago, eric skerritt said:

Had my car in at Lexus Liverpool yesterday, who have been great,for its' MOT (no advisories) and a new injector (under warranty) and had the use of the new NX350h for the day. I liked it very much but will stick with the RX for now as we need the extra rear room for ferrying loads of grandkids around. 

However, to the point. There have been a number of posts over the years asking what make of tyres are best. Well this NX was shod with YokohamasI, noticed the new RX on 21" wheels shod with Michelin and my own originally with Bridgestones and know of others shod with Dunlops from new.

I guess the point here is if the manufacturer (may be down the the best deal they get at the time) uses  these makes then it's down to individual preference (and price) when it's time to renew.

Having Yokohama on my wife's CX5 I think that's the way I'll go next time around and being £30 a corner cheaper helps.

You can tell I've nothing better to do other than off now to paint the shed.

Thats not entirely accurate. 

Some of these cars are tested with specific tyres and for certain characteristics / ease of availability. For example, the RX500h was tested with Michelins on and will come with those as it is a "performance variant". Some of the other variants may come with Bridgestone most likely. 

The 4th generation RX mainly had Bridgestones and Dunlop available.

A classic example is the UX300e. It was designed to allow less road noise into the cabin which is why it has non runflat Michelin Primacy 3 which is different to anything thats on the regular hybrid UX

[Spock66]

I suspect manufacturer's will generally have at least two factory tyre choices available to a) negotiate the best price with their suppliers b) protect against any supply problems.

[Steve44]

Have seen american spec RX500h with Bridgestones. Mine has Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV. 235/50 R21, The sizing is very odd, not in great supply or choice to be fair.

[Spottedlaurel]

18 hours ago, Steve44 said:

Have seen american spec RX500h with Bridgestones. Mine has Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV. 235/50 R21, The sizing is very odd, not in great supply or choice to be fair.

If I go for a 5th gen model one day I'll try and limit myself to one with 19's, there seems to be a good choice in that size. We've seen 4th gen RX owners on here struggle to find much in 20" (especially All Seasons).

[First_Lexus]

On 5/20/2023 at 12:52 PM, rayaans said:

The 4th generation RX mainly had Bridgestones and Dunlop available.

Indeed, my 2021 has Dunlop Sport Maxx which seem fine to me. I’ve only ever seen other similar RX running Bridgestone Dueller or the Dunlops.

Having had Yokohama BluEarth on my NX I wasn’t that impressed as they seemed noisy when compared with my Winter tyres (Falken). A change to Avon for Summer tyres made a big difference with a more compliant ride and lower noise levels in the cabin.

Based on a few experiences my ‘go to’ tyre brands tend to be Falken and Avon for the balance of performance vs price.

[Las Palmas]

Seems like tyre choice is rocket science now. As far as I see the cars Lexus make now, not one of these will need sport tyres. They are all family cars for ordinary roads (with or without pot-holes) and the only thing that could be reasonable to consider is if you want all season or winter/summer tyres on the car. Different places / climates = different needs.

Also, bigger wheels are more normal now and while the bigger they are the less will pot-holes bother as they will just be rolled over, but the more metal and following less rubber/air there is, the less comfort; and actually, Lexus does not make track day cars.

The little CT we have has 17” W speed-rated tyres on in the car papers, and that is in my eyes overkill for a car that cannot drive as fast as 180km/h, that it is not permitted to drive that fast anyway is another thing, so all these high-speed-rated tyres are complete waste of money. Not that the CT is uncomfortable with 17” tyres, but would probably be driving just as well on 16”.

Common sense tells me that the car should have tyres that meet the performance of the car, but Lexus seems to think different.

As far as I have heard in UK you can drive with less speed rating than is written on the car papers, but here it would be IVA (MOT in UK) failure to drive with H or V rated tyres no matter if the car would never be able to drive faster than these tyres are made for.

I have this time put on Continental UltraContact and they are less than half the noise than the factory installed P7 from Pirelli were. Wife says car drives twice as good as before and my little one says that music sound better as there is close to no tyre noise in the car now. Streets are pretty well maintained here. Had to put on Y rated tyres as Continental does not make W rated tyres in the correct size and the V-rated they make are both cheaper and even less noisy than the Y rated. That they also have B rating for fuel consume is another advantage compared to the OEM tyres that has C rating.

I believe like another member here that Lexus put on the tyre they get the best price/profit with, so if a quality brand has better price than the one on the car already there is maybe no reason at all to not choose that.

[Sybaris]

My old nx I had Michelin latitude sports for the summer and Hankook's in the winter and both were great.

On the RX I have the bridgestones and they are super quiet and smooth, almost like air but stopping in wet is not as good as other brands.  I put Yoko V906s on in the winter and though they are a bit more softer and not as "air" like to ride on, the grip is very good.

It all depends on what you want.  Comfort, lower rolling resistance, better handling in wet or dry, stopping in wet or dry, aquaplaning, fuel efficiency.  It is all so subjective.

It also depends on how you drive, what you drive on e,g motorway, A roads, country roads, town driving etc.