bostonsnow

I just got my 2016 ES too, but on my old ES and other car , I would check and adjust every 3-4 months.
Our acura has tire pressure monitor so that is the easy way to see if it starts going down (my old ES did not, so I would manually check every few months). In theory, without the TPMS I should have been checking monthly !

Zipit555

OCD are us.....and I thought I was the only one that did that. Although, I usually only check 4 times a year or so or when tires look low or high. Wife thinks I am nuts......ok....maybe I am but that's a story for another day. I have found the TPMS to be pretty close to my digital guage. I bike so the compressor is a must for my garage anyhow. I have one built in to my battery jumper. (Black n Decker I think)

prosgal73

Haha that's funny. I think the TPMS is enabling our OCD. Remember the days when there were not monitors then we couldn't see unless we checked manually. Now that I see it daily I find myself being more conscious of my tire pressure.

lesz

Even before the days of TPMS, I was always conscientious about checking my tire pressures, but I'm sure that the readout makes me even more aware. What I also know for sure is the mpg readout makes me more conscious about whether I'm driving in a manner that fuel efficient.

prosgal73

Great point. Will have to be better about it for that reason. Need to think more about MPG as well as tire longevity

prosgal73

With your meticulousness, I have to ask how often do you even have to change your tires? You must get a lot of life out of them with how well you take care of them.

lesz

I generally end up getting about the mileage for which tires are rated. On my ES, I have the Michelin MXV4 tires. While I have no complaints about noise or ride quality with those tires, I am not impressed with how long they last. I've now had 3 sets of them on two different ES vehicles, and I haven't been happy with the tread life from any of those 3 sets. The reason, I'm sure, is that Michelin only starts out with 9/32 of an inch of tread with the MXV4, but some of the similar tires from competitors start out with as much as 12/32 of an inch of tread.

prosgal73

I think those same tires came on my ES. Let us know if you recommend or come across a better tire recommendation for this car? Sounds like I'll be replacing them sooner than other tires. Thanks for the insight on that particular tire.

jollick

How many miles are you getting from the MXV4 tires before the tread-ware indicators say to replace the tire?

bostonsnow

I'm surprised you had trouble with the Primacy MXV4's. I purposely put those tires on my last lexus after reviewing many reviews and had great results with them. I can look it up as to when exactly I put them on - I think it was 4-5 years ago and 40,000-50,000 miles ago.... and I found good longevity. They were just at the time to replace them and part of the reason I traded that car in just a week ago. I can look it up and post back. But I was pleased with how long they lasted in a mixed weather climate, and pleased with their quiet and comfortable ride. In fact, I made sure to get an ES with the same Michelin Primacy MXV4s on it (which I did), rather than a bridgestone or something else.....

bostonsnow

I think the life one gets from ones tires also relates to driving style. I'm a pretty sedate driver, never take any turns hard or generate even a bit of tire squeal. So that probably helped my last Primacy MXV4s to last well and I hope the MXV4s on my new ES300h last at least 4-5 years and 40,000 - 50,000 miles as the last ones did on my old ES....
also of course checking the inflation, rotating tires etc is helpful as we have been discussing.

lesz

What we consider to be good tread life on tires is relative and somewhat subjective. I should end up with getting between 45,000 and 50,000 miles out of the MXV4 tires that I have on my ES now, and that is right around what those tires are rated for. But, I would expect to do much better with the tires of some of their competitors. On my previous ES, after two sets of the MXV4 tires with tread life between 40,000 and 50,000 miles, I bought a set of Goodyear Comfortred Touring tires. Noise and ride comfort was very similar to that from the MXV4 tires, but, when I traded in that car, I had over 65,000 miles on those tires and still had enough tread left on them to have been able to get another 5000-7000 more miles out of them. Similarly, the highly touted Pirelli P7 Plus Cinturato tires, based on their wear rating, should last about as long as those Goodyear tires, and, when I need to replace the MXV4 tires on my ES, they are another choice that I will be considering. Again, the MXV4 tires start with only 9/32 of an inch of tread. The Goodyear and Pirelli tires start with 12/32, and all 3 tires are built with similar rubber compounds. The 3/32 difference in initial tread should translate to somewhere around 30% longer tread life.

As I said in a previous post, the MXV4 tires come with a quiet ride and good ride comfort, but there are other tires available that also have similar noise and ride characteristics, but those competitor tires also come with significantly greater tread life.

That said, the Bridgestone's that come on many ES vehicles have even worse tread life ratings than do the MXV4s. If given the choice between the Michelins and the Bridgestones, the Michelins are easily the ones that I would choose, but for replacement tires, there are a number of other excellent choices, and many of those have better tread life ratings and come with the added advantage of substantially lower cost than that of the Michelins.

bostonsnow

very true

I think I read on a couple of posts that the MXV4's wont be made any longer after this year?

If so- we all will be looking for another tire in the future for our Lexus ES's...I have seen the Pirellis you mention come up quite a bit.
Right now - my quest is to find the best replacement tire for my wifes acura SUV - those are pretty much shot after 3 years / 50,000 miles....- time to get on the Acurazine threads and see what people say!

lesz

If you do a search, you will find posts on this board going back at to at least 4 years ago claiming that the MXV4 tires have been discontinued. Yet, they are still being sold by TireRack and other major national tire dealers. My local tire dealer is selling them, and they tell me that they can still order more of them and that they have gotten no word from Michelin that they have been discontinued. Further, on the Michelin website, they are still listed as a current tire model, and many Toyota and Lexus models, including the ES and the Avalon are still being shipped with them.

What I do know is that Michelin stopped making the MXV4 tires in some tire sizes, but they appear to be still making them in many sizes, including those that are appropriate for the ES. It may well be Michelin's plan to eventually phase out the MXV4 tires, but I suspect that they will still be available for some time to come. Michelin has been making the Premier A/S tires for a while now, but they are not a true replacement for the MXV4. While they are rated better for tread wear, they don't do as well as the MXV4 tires for ride comfort and noise. Also, the MXV4 tires are rated as low rolling resistance tires, but the Premier tires are not, and that mean at least a little better mpg for the MXV4 tires.

bostonsnow

I did a little research on my old lexus:

It was a 2005 ES which has a curb weight of 3472 pounds, Gross weight 4540 pounds (thats the weight if you fully load it with passengers and luggage).

The 2016 ES300h is curb weight 3682 pounds, gross weight 4740.

So the 2 cars are fairly similar, with great overlap in the curb weight > gross weight ranges. yet the recommended tire pressure on the 2005 ES was 30psi I think, maybe even 29, I forget.
For the 2016 ES300h, its 33psi. So I'm thinking the higher recommended pressure now is not a safety issue, but maybe more to make sure buyers get the listed MPG and are'nt disappointed about that, and also a firmer ride which lexus is trying to achieve across most models these days, it seems. .... thoughts?