Tyres

[rdc]

I have the 450h+.  I know tyres are a bit contentious, but just watched a very interesting YouTube video testing 3 identical Hankook tyres, run flat, sealed and regular and the conclusion was the new run flats came out very well.  Spurred on  by this I investigated what was on the market and how much and it appeared almost impossible to buy run flats for this car 235/50 r20 100v.  And if I saw them they were silly money.  
 

What is your real life experience when you need new tyres please and what did you choose?

[SA1]

Apparently there is a shortage of oem tyres and run flats are hard to get hold of in any guise

Bridgestone are offering self-sealing ones as alternative but dealership has them at the same price

I’m on the hunt for two fronts atm as they are near limit and tbh I’ll be taking whatever is available but I will be selecting runflats if I can get them

I won’t be paying dealer prices as they are stupid prices, others are around £250 a tyre, not great but £100 less than the dealer

[Alan Thompson]

I had an issue in February when I had a puncture on a run flat. The tyre wasn't repairable and due to family serious illness I needed a tyre to be swapped quicker than Max Verstappen!

Anyway, I took the car to Lexus Leeds and they had replacement in stock. It wasn't cheap - around £290 but I had taken the tyre & alloy insurance when I bought the car so was able to claim £250 back. The claim process was easy and the payment came quickly.

[Ken R]

When I took delivery of my NX450h I had serious reservations regarding the run flat tyres however having suffered a puncture on the motorway the benefits of such tyres became obvious. Yes they are expensive and rarely repairable but I would have no concern with them in the future. Unfortunately they were not an option when I changed to the RX.

[BonzoSPB]

10 hours ago, Alan Thompson said:

I had an issue in February when I had a puncture on a run flat. The tyre wasn't repairable and due to family serious illness I needed a tyre to be swapped quicker than Max Verstappen!

Anyway, I took the car to Lexus Leeds and they had replacement in stock. It wasn't cheap - around £290 but I had taken the tyre & alloy insurance when I bought the car so was able to claim £250 back. The claim process was easy and the payment came quickly.

Just for interest how much is the tyre and alloy insurance? I'm surprised it doesn't cover the full cost of the tyre.

[Alan Thompson]

Mine was about £350 and covers a number of replacement tyres (if irrepairable), punctures and alloy refurb if damaged.

Max claim per tyre is £250 and maybe if I'd had time to shop around I could have got one fitted nearer that price.

 

[rdc]

So no one is having issues finding the right tyres for our car??

[hintonwood]

17 hours ago, rdc said:

So no one is having issues finding the right tyres for our car??

I will need two in a few months and at the moment none of the major retailers have any of the 20 inch Bridgestone Run Flats.🤬

[Husky125]

While getting our Mazda serviced at a small local garage I checked on tyres for my NX and he was surprised that Bridgestone had no run flats in stock. He checked on one of his suppliers and they had ten in stock, but they will probably be gone by the time I need them !

[SA1]

1 hour ago, hintonwood said:

I will need two in a few months and at the moment none of the major retailers have any of the 20 inch Bridgestone Run Flats.🤬

I managed to find 2x Bridgestone run flats at kwikfit last week. They seem to occasionally have some available so it is worth trying the website regularly. Nowhere else had RF’s that I could see

speaking to the dealership, this size tyre is unique to the NX which explains why there aren’t many

[hintonwood]

14 hours ago, SA1 said:

speaking to the dealership, this size tyre is unique to the NX which explains why there aren’t many

I think there are a couple of BMW and VW cars that use the same tyre but stupid of Lexus  in my view to not go with a mainstream readily available tyre.

[Andy B]

On 7/15/2024 at 7:26 AM, hintonwood said:

I will need two in a few months and at the moment none of the major retailers have any of the 20 inch Bridgestone Run Flats.🤬

Ken, have you tried Asda Tyres? They had the OEM Bridgestones in stock when I had to replace one of my (20") tyres. Granted, this was a while ago but I thought I'd mention it in case Asda wasn't in your thinking when searching. Basically they source and deliver the tyre to a local fitter of your choosing.

[Scotlex]

I don't require tyres just now but would possibly try

Michelin Cross Climate tyres.

[BonzoSPB]

Has anyone tried the 18 inch Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV?

[malcolmw]

This is slightly confusing. The PS4 is a very high performance tyre and is probably aimed at the Porsche Macan type user. I had these on my Aston DB9 (non-SUV version).

It would be pointless fitting on a NX given its characteristics. I would have thought the Cross Climate ideal.

[hintonwood]

11 hours ago, Andy B said:

Ken, have you tried Asda Tyres? They had the OEM Bridgestones in stock when I had to replace one of my (20") tyres. Granted, this was a while ago but I thought I'd mention it in case Asda wasn't in your thinking when searching. Basically they source and deliver the tyre to a local fitter of your choosing.

Andy, yes thanks. I used Asda to replace a punctured one last year and it took them 5 days to source it. I drove with the nail in while waiting.

Asda had none in stock when i looked last week.

[BonzoSPB]

15 hours ago, malcolmw said:

This is slightly confusing. The PS4 is a very high performance tyre and is probably aimed at the Porsche Macan type user. I had these on my Aston DB9 (non-SUV version).

It would be pointless fitting on a NX given its characteristics. I would have thought the Cross Climate ideal.

And yet the PS4 SUV wet performance rating is better than the Cross Climate. Out of the two I'm still inclined to go for the PS4 SUVs.

[Scotlex]

What about Bridgestone Alenza.

[rdc]

I don’t need any yet, but could find none anywhere, inc Asda & BlackCircle.

I think it is lunatic and very customer unfriendly to fit such a rare tyre to a vehicle 

[stemicolt]

We have a 350h F-Sport on 20" wheels.

I'm seriously considering switching to something like these as the tyre situation is worry we shouldn't have to have!

Yokohama BluEarth Winter V906 (Winter Tyre) 235/50 R20 V tyres | Blackcircles.com | ID - 46457014

Plus this:

AirMan ResQ Emergancy Tyre Repair Kit, with easy valve through punture repair tyre selant, Air Compressor, suitable for all car makes and models : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

Get the benefit of allseason tyres, less expensive and better availablity. Albeit we will have to change all four if we get a puncture before they wear out.

[hintonwood]

18 hours ago, stemicolt said:

We have a 350h F-Sport on 20" wheels.

I'm seriously considering switching to something like these as the tyre situation is worry we shouldn't have to have!

Yokohama BluEarth Winter V906 (Winter Tyre) 235/50 R20 V tyres | Blackcircles.com | ID - 46457014

Plus this:

AirMan ResQ Emergancy Tyre Repair Kit, with easy valve through punture repair tyre selant, Air Compressor, suitable for all car makes and models : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive

Get the benefit of allseason tyres, less expensive and better availablity. Albeit we will have to change all four if we get a puncture before they wear out.

Thanks for posting your research Stephen. The link is to 17 inch Winter tyres…… I wouldn’t recommend winter tyres for summer use.

As you say at the end of your post, I would opt for All Season tyres and my happy previous experience is with Michelin Cross Climate 2  tyres though they are the most expensive. I have also fitted Continental and Pirelli All Season tyres in the past. The All Season are reinforced tyres so better with potholes than standards - but not as good as Run Flats for avoiding pothole damage to wheels.

i would not feel a need to replace all 4 wheels every time I have a puncture. I would only replace 2 on a single axle if the wear (remaining tread depth) was significantly different to the tread on the new tyre.

 

[stemicolt]

8 minutes ago, hintonwood said:

Thanks for posting your research Stephen. The link is to 17 inch Winter tyres…… I wouldn’t recommend winter tyres for summer use.

Well spotted. 

Not sure if the Pirelli is a good all season option!

Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season NCS 235/50 R20 W tyres | Blackcircles.com | ID - 38694048

I've used Cross Climates on our last car and as you say they are excellent. They aren't available in the correct size on Blackcircles.

I can't really see a disadvantage of going this route other than a little more hassle if you get a puncture when out and about.

[hintonwood]

14 hours ago, stemicolt said:

I've used Cross Climates on our last car and as you say they are excellent. They aren't available in the correct size on Blackcircles.

Asda have them in the correct size and cheaper than elsewhere.

[Patient Pete]

I'm having a mare trying to get a replacement 235/50r20 run flat tyre.

My NX350 had it's first service at the beginning of June & needed a new tyre.

I phoned a week before the appointment to make sure the correct tyre was in stock & was assured it was.

I elected to wait whilst the service was carried out & after a while the Service Manager approached , I presumed to tell me the car was ready. Only to be told that the tyre had not been delivered & was re-ordered for delivery after lunch. 

Not ideal, but the day was my own so I walked down the road, had lunch & returned. 

By 2pm there was no sign of my car & I had to ask only to be told the tyre hadn't been delivered again.

By now I'm a bit mad so demanded & got a courtesy car & told them they could have it back when my car was ready.

Next morning they phone & tell me the tyre is fitted & the car is ready for collection.

I drive the hour back to them to collect my car.

Driving back I noticed a vibration through the steering wheel & at the next opportunity checked my tyre pressures on the display only to see that both front tyres & near side rear were at 50psi but the new tyre is at 33psi which is correct.

I pulled off the road as soon as possible , got my tyre pump out & plugged it in to the power socket so that I could accurately lower the pressure. No power. OK, I know this should work as I used it to pump up my punctured tyre to get to the service. 

Eventually made it home & used my wife's tyre pump but that didn't work either. 

Referring to the manual I checked the fuses box. The fuse for the power outlet was missing. I replaced it & both tyre pumps worked.

During the hand over of my car I was told that there was a fault on the wiring for the dashcam & it had been replaced.

Not that I can now check my tyres properly I check them all & that was when I saw that I had the wrong tyre on the car, not the one I asked for nor was invoiced for.

By now I'm fuming & phoned the dealer that did the work.

Long story short. Seven weeks later I'm still awaiting the correct tyre & as far as I can tell there are none in the UK.

I contacted Bridgestone & told them this. They confirmed there is a shortage of Alenza 001 235/50r20 100v run flat tyres.

WTF. how can Lexus fit a car with tyres that are nigh on impossible to replace.

By the way, the manual says you should not mix run flat tyres with normal tyres, but my dealer did just that & thought it was fine.

I'm not naming the dealer because this is still ongoing.

Sorry its a long read.

 

[Starlight]

Well, this tyre thing is slowly getting out of hand. I am dreading having a puncture now. My 2 year service is almost here and as things are, I hope no stories about tyre replacement as would likely drive these OEM sets till they are 1.6mm or less before even considering any changes