wa3cuj

Since I purchased my 450h in October 2009 I have liked my Dunlap tires (19 inch wheels). They offered a very quiet and smooth ride, and took me through two winters with no ice or snow problems. I always found it difficult to understand the complaints of others about these tires and I repeatedly said that they would be high on my list come replacement time.

Well....that changed now!! I am approaching 23,000 miles and these things are starting to get really noisy compared to earlier. I really grew accustomed to the quiet ride of the 450h but that has started to take on a new angle.

I was beginning to think that my 450h was somehow different. The Dunlap tires were great and my luggage cover did not rattle. Now that the Dunlap tires have moved over to the dislike column, I am afraid that the rattle will be next!!

kitlz

Bummer. Mine have been ok with less than 14K on the clock. No complaints. But I was already thinking of replacing them next year. OE tires never last too long with me.

Are you thinking of replacing them and with what brand? Yokohamas are on my short list.

DunWkg

Bob, the good thing is those noisy Dunlops will make your new tires seem so quiet!!! The noise will get worse as they age, you'll think you're driving a pickup truck.

UCSB

Given their low tire wear rating (280), they are only designed to last about 20,000 miles. I think that is all that is going on ... just buy a new set of tires.

BatmobileX

I'm glad this thread is posted. I bought a 2010 with 15,000 miles and I will be looking to get new tires soon. What are the best tires for a smooth ride?

UCSB

The answer to the question depends on if you have 18" or 19" wheels. 19" wheels are much more limiting. Here is a tire that looks like it might be good on 19" wheels.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....utoModClar=RWD

There is a tire thread with some good ideas.

wa3cuj

They are actually wearing very well. I just had my state inspection and there is plenty of tread left. I don't have the numbers here.

I will have to "play" with them a little. I run my tires 2 pounds over the sticker recommendation. That may be contributing to the noise issue. Maybe if I take the 2 pounds out, things will quiet down a little.

We drove to dinner last night with some friends who own a 2011 Cadillac SRX (my 2nd choice vehicle when I got the 450h) and they thought I was nuts. They told me to turn up the radio a notch and I would be happy! They just don't realize how quiet the 450h was. I grew use to it and now that things are more "normal" for a vehicle, I have become annoyed. Maybe I am too picky!!

The sad thing is that now that I have heard it, it will always be there in my mind even if I can make it go away somehow. Maybe it is time to start looking at new tires!!

Cruiter

My car came with the Michelin Latitudes and they have been great so far. I'm getting ready to have my 30k service done and they look like 40k is a serviceable life at this point. Still getting a smooth quite ride too. I try to keep the cold inflation around 32 psi.

And I have the 19" tires.

BatmobileX

I have 18 inch. I've always heard Michelin was the best, don't know if that's still the case.

Lexmex

Michelins (have had CrossTerrains for over 9 years) have been very kind to me over the years, especially those 6 years in Mexico. However, I will be looking at other brands next time I look at tires. We recently got some ContinentalProContacts for our 06 4Runner and those things are very quiet and smooth compared to the Bridgestone Duelers that were on there before

UCSB

Your best bet is to go to TireRack.com and look at the tire owner surveys with ratings for your tire size. I have always got really good results from the surveys ... it will help you pick the best Michelin.

Here is an example ... they have different charts for all of the different tire classes.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey....jsp?type=GTAS

Here are all of the surveys:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/index.jsp

UCSB

I've been driving Lexus vehicles since 1994 (we currently have three in our household). At some point the OEM tires will start to get noisier. Then the option is to drive on them until you feel like upgrading. I'm not putting the Dunlops down ... I have them on my 450h. I only have about 3,000 miles on my 450h and at this point do not know how long they are going to last. Any tire with a wear rating in the 200's (a normal tire would be in the 400's) on a big vehicle like the 450h is not going to last that long.

wa3cuj

I just checked my state inspection printout and it shows that I had tread depth of 7/32. I checked Tire Rack and the Dunlops have 10/32 when new. That looks like pretty decent remaining tread after 23,000 miles.

UCSB

That is very interesting. I would be really interested in hearing how this unfolds for you because I have the same tires on the same vehicle. If it is convenient, you might want to have the 7/32 number checked. Even a small error in taking that reading could be pointing you in the wrong direction. Dunlop states the tires are finished at 2/32. Lexus seems to rate the tires good at 5/32 or greater, nearing end-of-life at 4/32 and ready for replacement at 3/32. I have been in a similar situation with a Lexus SC with a tire with a low wear rating of 280. Tread was OK, but noise levels went crazy after 20,000 miles. I keep driving on them, when I finally replaced them (with the highest rated tires that year from TireRack in terms of ride/comfort) it was like I had purchased a new car. Looking back, waiting to upgrade was a terrible decision because the new tires had a high wear rating and were guaranteed for 60,000 miles ... so putting the miles on the noisy tires only saved me a trivial couple of hundred dollars.

With a tread wear rating of 280, the manufacturer is estimating that the useful life of the tire is 20,160 miles. Your individual results could be different based on driving style. Here is a little background on that number is calculated from TireRack.

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Treadwear Grades

UTQG Treadwear Grades are based on actual road use in which the test tire is run in a vehicle convoy along with standardized Course Monitoring Tires. The vehicle repeatedly runs a prescribed 400-mile test loop in West Texas for a total of 7,200 miles. The vehicle can have its alignment set, air pressure checked and tires rotated every 800 miles. The test tire's and the Monitoring Tire's wear are measured during and at the conclusion of the test. The tire manufacturers then assign a Treadwear Grade based on the observed wear rates. The Course Monitoring Tire is assigned a grade and the test tire receives a grade indicating its relative treadwear. A grade of 100 would indicate that the tire tread would last as long as the test tire, 200 would indicate the tread would last twice as long, 300 would indicate three times as long, etc.

The problem with UTQG Treadwear Grades is that they are open to some interpretation on the part of the tire manufacturer because they are assigned after the tire has only experienced a little treadwear as it runs the 7,200 miles. This means that the tire manufacturers need to extrapolate their raw wear data when they are assigning Treadwear Grades, and that their grades can to some extent reflect how conservative or optimistic their marketing department is. Typically, comparing the Treadwear Grades of tire lines within a single brand is somewhat helpful, while attempting to compare the grades between different brands is not as helpful.

wa3cuj

I am actually at 22,650 miles. I checked the paperwork from when I had it in at 20,000 miles and the tread numbers were the same.

Do you have any idea at what depth the wear bars show up? I am just curious because I have tended to replace tires when they get near the surface. If they are just near the surface and winter time is approaching, I replace the tires earlier.

I have a friend who owns a chain of consumer tire stores and distributes OEM tires to virtually every new car dealer within 100 miles of here. Some months back I asked him about OEM tires and he told me that in today's world there is virtually no difference between an OEM tire and the same comsumer tire. On the consumer side of his business thay handle 6-7 brands but on the OEM side they handle everything. On the consumer side, some brands like Michelin will not let you sell some specific other brands at the same time, so you won't find the others on display. However, if you ask for the other brand they will have the OEM tire for you within hours.