Reshma

My husband has gone through 6 tires in the past 4 years for his AWD GS 350 2009 model. We always put the DUNLOP AUTORUN FLAT SP Sport 5000 DSST CTT each time. Those tires are super expensive to replace. Our car only has 55,000 miles and we have had it since 2008. We don't hit alot of pot holes, all most all the driving is NYC local or NJ highways, all paved. I just dont know why we keep getting flats.

Are there any other tires that I can put on the car?
Does anyone think it may be the rims I need to change which is causing tears in the flat tires. (4 of the tires all had a rip in them (which you cant see from the outside of the car- they were all on the side facing inside the car)
And all of them go flat at different times, not all at once.

please any suggestions. I am going this weekend to lexus to get yet another flat tire replaced... its driving me nuts and its becoming super expensive. i feel like giving up this car and getting something else that doesnt have so many tire issues.

warandcar

yes you can get rid of the run flat system and get yourself a spare tire kit at the dealership… what would be cheaper is get the parts number from lexus and order it at toyota. then go to americas tire or other independent tire shop and order regular non run flat tires at half the price =)

burny

I run the Nitto 555's - 245/40ZR18 on my GS350 and get close to 60k on them. On my second set now.

leisinjp

Go anywhere except the dealership for tires. I would recommend going on tirerack.Com and seeing what tires are ranked highest. Order them and then have a shop install them.
To order the same continental tires from tire rack and have them installed at tire discounters here in ohio is around $800. Same exact tires at the dealership installed, $1,200.

alredxiii

iTrader: (13)

Right on don't go to the stealership for tires tire rack or discount tires.There are some Sumitomos very reasonably priced on tire rack

lasermn

If you drive in snow, you should really check out the Continental Extreme Contact DWS they are perfect for this car and provide "near" snow tire traction in the winter. Don't know about longevity but I just put them on my wife's 2011 AWD GS and they have been very impressive in the slippery stuff as well as acceptable noise levels.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

if you blow out your tires that often, get the road hazard warranty at your local tire shop. They will replace your tires for free when it goes rips.

I am not sure which chains are in your area, but check out america's tire, sears, or costco.

Online might be the best for straight out pricing, but I would rather pay the extra $80/set if you are blowing them so much and need local service.

Good luck

Diesel350

tirerack.com
Have them shipped to your house
Take them to Costco or Sam's. $15/tire install.

xbladex00

I heard those tires aren't very good apparently... I swapped to different tires too that are way cheaper! run flats are dumb expensive and aren't really worth it... I heard the newer versions are but theyre still expensive as hell. Since you live in NYC or NJ I suggest buying a different set of rims for winter tires or buy nice rims and put all seasons on them for the summer, fall, spring, when it doesnt snow.

my rim and tire size are 225/50/17.
225/50 are metric sizes i think they're in millimeters so they're 225mm wide and 50mm height from the rims. 17 is for inches for the rims.

I have 2007 GS350, the 2009 one shouldn't be any different i think... besides the front and rear bumper looks thats all i know thats different

Marklouis

Ordered these for my GS a few weeks ago from tire rack with free road hazard plus they were on sale. Had them delivered to NTB for installation. So far a much better ride than the perelli runflats I had on before with the same low profile stance. However I would not recommend driving on these in snow/sleet/ice conditions (460) may better on 350 AWD. In rain they are great though.

LexusLive

Does anyone have personal experience with the quietest, best riding tire? And do you find that as your tires age, the ride stiffens up considerably? I'm running 245/40ZR -18 Kumho Ecsta LX with about 50K on them. I'll run them till they are racing slicks, but I feel like impact harshness is getting worse. Nearly every other car I ride in (with much taller sidewalls) has a softer impact than my GS. I can't recall exactly how it felt when I put the new Kumhos on 4 years ago.

pman6

amazing you guys are getting so many miles on cheaper tires.

I'm running continental dws r18, and I don't think i'll be able to reach even 50000.

I rotate them every 5k

gr8fulRed

i can't comment specifically on the Kumho's you're riding...but new tires have ALWAYS felt softer/smoother over bumps compared to worn out ones. Think about it...the less tread a tire has...the less shock absorbing rubber that is between you and the road. Higher sidewall tires will almost always be softer than your GS. The shorter the sidewall...the stiffer the rubber. Less flex and more jarring over the bumps. I'm no expert....this is just what I've experienced personally and what I've read when doing research.

Reshma

Did you guys have to change the set up of the wheels to change your tires to something that wasn't low profile?? The reason we get flats so much according to them is cuz they are low profile meaning not enough visioning to even hit any bumps in the road.
The service guy said that since the car is set up for low profile run flats they would have to change the way to tired are set up to be anything else.

pman6

you can probably go a half size higher.

e.g. if you were 245/40, you could probably go 245/45, which will add 1cm diameter to the tire, or about 0.5cm tire wall height.

you would only have to determine if you get any tire rubbing in the wheel wells.

I run nonstandard tire sizes in my cars.
I switched from 215/60r16 to 225/60r16 in my other car. slightly taller.
on my GS i changed from 245/40r18 to 225/45r18. A hair taller. I chose this because it had more tread and tires would have less flex when turning.
You have to look carefully at the tire specs sometimes because some tire sizes of the same model have less tread. e.g 9/32 vs 11/32" !