Tyres

[stemicolt]

36 minutes ago, Starlight said:

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

I think Lexus UK should instruct all dealers to change all 4 tyres to none run flats if you have a puncture, and supply an inflator with foam.

Guessing it won't happen so looks like I will be faced with £1,000 bill to change all 4 should we end up with a puncture.

Ridiculous situation and totally unacceptable. 

[hintonwood]

I am just going to change to Michelin Cross Climate 2 all seasons come the autumn. I have 28000 on the Bridgestones so I am not losing anything by changing all 4. I hate Lexus for putting a rare tyre on the 20 inch rims.🤬

[Guest]

Anything Michelin is your best bet - whilst other tyres come close / match the handling and performance characteristics (usually in SOME or most areas, not all), none of them come close in terms of how long they last. Therefore... if you're paying £££ per tyre, an easy deciding factor is to go for the one that will last you longer. They also claim to not degrade on safety right down to the lower wear limits. Easy choice. 

Definitely go for the Pilot Sports if you can get them in your size and you love driving your car. They came on my old DS3 (diesel, 120hp, firm suspension) and they were an absolute thrill to drive on. I put Cross Climate 2's on the same car, which made it much smoother in a straight line, but I could barely get 20mph around roundabouts without feeling very unsteady...  Great tyres for a certain kind of driver / conditions. But given that black ice / ice can put a Range Rover with good tyres off the road... I don't really buy into the 'go anywhere' ability, especially during our small snowy season in the UK (away from North Scotland ofc). 

I put Pilot Sport 5's on my Lexus CT, again not a power house of a car, but cornering and using the little bit of power it does have is a blast with the PS5's. 100000% worth it, even though some told me it wasn't worth it on such a car - it is.  Plus, the factory Yokohama's (hard to find) cost around the same anyway but grossly outdated versus the competition by now. 

Also, sometimes (especially nowadays) the OEM tyres aren't best. I had a Mercedes CLA 220 in 2021 for two months, 4 months old, came with 'Continental Eco Contact' tyres.  At the time, thought I'd go for those when I got my car back only to find that online the verdict very much was 'this is a tyre intended to be used in factories, from new, to meet emissions targets' and unlikely to ever be chosen by anybody buying tyres privately and boasted nothing more than efficiency.  So perhaps those hard to get Bridgestones on your bigger Lexus models is the same? Maybe there are better replacements (from Bridgestone even) that you can source and get for a good price?  

[Starlight]

Although, I do not need them now but found the exact run flats Bridgestone available at ATS Euromaster online @ £292.42 per tyre, all in stock. 

 

[hintonwood]

1 hour ago, Starlight said:

Although, I do not need them now but found the exact run flats Bridgestone available at ATS Euromaster online @ £292.42 per tyre, all in stock. 

 

Good research Justin thanks.

however, the cynic in me refers to the small print I have highlighted and i would wager that they don't physically have any in the warehouse…..

[Patient Pete]

9 hours ago, Starlight said:

Although, I do not need them now but found the exact run flats Bridgestone available at ATS Euromaster online @ £292.42 per tyre, all in stock. 

 

I've looked at them and as hintonwood highlights they won't have them when you get there. 

For seven weeks I've regularly looked for tyres and not yet found them actually in stock.

When they do get to the UK I expect Lexus to get hold of some and I do expect a phone call from my dealer to change my tyre for the correct one.

Having said that, I am tempted over time to change them all to a different type that is more readily available.

Although I've loved all of my Lexus cars, this is a massive fail by Lexus.

[Grumps]

Bridgestone tyres here with the caveat of limited stock. But buy 2 and get £20 off.

https://www.protyre.co.uk/search?productType=Car&width=235&profile=50&rim=20

[Andy B]

When my current run flats need replacing in the future (my car has just over 15K miles on it so hopefully there's still plenty of life in them yet) I will seriously consider switching to non-run flats.

Standard tyres will be slightly cheaper; easier to get hold of; less noisy and will provide a more comfortable ride. The only drawback of course is if I get a puncture and don't have a spare so I'll need to do some research on maybe getting a small spacesaver wheel and storing it securely in the boot space (or maybe just look at getting some of that sealant goo). One other thing to consider would be whether having standard tyres on the car would reduce it's value if \ when I come to part-exchange it at a Lexus dealership (as it is no longer "standard" spec).

[serbarry]

I don't use runflat tyres but next week I am going to fit on the Hyundai of my wife, the Kumho Ecsta HS52 bought online which came 3rd on the tests made by the Swiss TCS 

 

https://www.tcs.ch/fr/tests-conseils/tests/pneus/pneus-ete.php 

[stemicolt]

For anyone wanting to go down the all season route this review is an excellent source of info and up to date for 2024. For tyres of all types the channel is the best I've found.

 

 

[rdc]

I called my usual tyre company having found none online.  They did a national search and there are NO Bridgestone runflats in the country or Europe!  I frankly think it is outrageous to sell any car , let alone one at this price and with a reputation for customer service with tyres you can’t replace easily. 
 

The only current option is ordinary tyres and cross your fingers you don’t get a puncture.  SHOCKING!😡

[Scotlex]

18 minutes ago, rdc said:

I called my usual tyre company having found none online.  They did a national search and there are NO Bridgestone runflats in the country or Europe!  I frankly think it is outrageous to sell any car , let alone one at this price and with a reputation for customer service with tyres you can’t replace easily. 
 

The only current option is ordinary tyres and cross your fingers you don’t get a puncture.  SHOCKING!😡

That is not good.

Might be worth a phone call to your Lexus dealer. Hopefully they have a "special supply".

[BonzoSPB]

I don't get the love for the Michelin Crossclimate unless you live in an area that gets bad weather for most of the year.

The Lexus 4WD system will ensure that most decent tyres will do the job in the conditions we endure in the UK so for me it'll be the Pilot Sport SUV when it's time to swap.

[LenT]

1 hour ago, BonzoSPB said:

I don't get the love for the Michelin Crossclimate unless you live in an area that gets bad weather for most of the year.

I think it’s certainly the case that here - in and around Northants - we don’t get the extreme snowfalls we used to.  But we do get plenty of rain!

It was the wet weather performance of the CCs that appealed to me and I put them on a Suzuki 4x4 we have.  Such was the excellence of their performance that I would have put them on the Lexus - except that at the time Michelin only made one of the two sizes I required.

If I get the current Goodyears down anywhere near 3mm, I’ll certainly be looking at the latest CC Version.

[BonzoSPB]

1 hour ago, LenT said:

I think it’s certainly the case that here - in and around Northants - we don’t get the extreme snowfalls we used to.  But we do get plenty of rain!

It was the wet weather performance of the CCs that appealed to me and I put them on a Suzuki 4x4 we have.  Such was the excellence of their performance that I would have put them on the Lexus - except that at the time Michelin only made one of the two sizes I required.

If I get the current Goodyears down anywhere near 3mm, I’ll certainly be looking at the latest CC Version.

The Michelin website gives the Pilot Sport 4 SUV an A rating for wet weather grip but only a B for the CrossClimate 2.

[LenT]

3 hours ago, BonzoSPB said:

The Michelin website gives the Pilot Sport 4 SUV an A rating for wet weather grip but only a B for the CrossClimate 2.

You’re quite right Sean, it does.
https://www.michelin.co.uk/auto/browse-tyres/by-vehicle/lexus/is/is-250/2013/2.5 V6 208/225---40-R-18-88Y_255---35-R-18-90Y

But by the time I get around to replacing my Goodyears, that may have changed.  Subjectively, I prefer the directional tread pattern of the CCs to the asymmetric pattern of the Pilot.

Logically, I regard an All-Weather tyre as being more appropriate to  my driving conditions - and style - to one that Michelin firmly describe as a Summer tyre.  I also note that 93% of buyers would recommend the CCs as opposed to 88% for the Pilot - for what that’s worth!

I also note that if you drill down into the tyre details, Michelin effectively makes the claim that the CC has ‘class leading wet road performance as the tread wears’.  I take this to be a reference to the different long term characteristics of the tread patterns, so that’s another factor that may influence my choice.

Frankly, by comparison, it was a doddle choosing the car in the first place.  😊

[Harrier Man]

Lots of berries on the Rowan trees this year which some would have you believe is a sign of a bad winter to come. Maybe a good reason to go for the Cross Climates!

[TonyPoll]

I have ordered a NX450+ Premium Plus with 20" wheels and RFT for delivery in December. There is no option to select 18" wheels with regular tyres if you select the Premium Plus package.

The lack of RFT tyres would appear to be an ongoing problem. I've been in contact with Lexus and their response is "We are doing our best to get Bridgestone to make replacement tyres available."

One solution for me would be to immediately fit, say, Michelin Crossclimate 2 tyres along with a puncture repair kit, like Lexus supply with the NX with 18" wheels.

Would there be any interest from people in buying the new unused 235/50 R20 RFT tyres that would come off my new car?

 

[Ken R]

Personally I would stick with the Bridgestone Run Flats. I wasn't a great believer until they came into their own when I experienced a puncture whilst travelling on a motorway in my NX450h+. Phoned ahead to my dealer and was with them 30 minutes later. Unfortunately it wasn't repairable but the dealer had stock and a new tyre was fitted there and then.

If I could have specified RFT's on my new RX I wouldn't have hesitated. 

 

[hintonwood]

2 hours ago, TonyPoll said:

I have ordered a NX450+ Premium Plus with 20" wheels and RFT for delivery in December. There is no option to select 18" wheels with regular tyres if you select the Premium Plus package.

The lack of RFT tyres would appear to be an ongoing problem. I've been in contact with Lexus and their response is "We are doing our best to get Bridgestone to make replacement tyres available."

One solution for me would be to immediately fit, say, Michelin Crossclimate 2 tyres along with a puncture repair kit, like Lexus supply with the NX with 18" wheels.

Would there be any interest from people in buying the new unused 235/50 R20 RFT tyres that would come off my new car?

 

Tony, my 20 inch Run Flats have done 30k miles ( except one replaced when punctured has done probably 5k less) so I may be in the market for a set of 4 in December. I was planning to fit 4 Michelin CC2 tyres in November or December assuming that the Bridgestones are still on back order. I am in Chichester, so not too far away.

Not sure why you would plan to replace the Run Flats immediately though - they are great tyres.🤔