Cruiter

There's an old expression, "Don't fix what isn't broke". If you got 47,000 off your original Michelin's replace with the same exact tires. You're not likely to do better at all. Quite, good handling, and a 440 tread wear rating. Traction and temp both rated 'A'. Not to shabby.

Dolphin

Jim, I have the factory 19" MIch. Duelers on my 13....I noticed how thin the tread depth is, brand new...are these expected to go 40k+ miles?? that would be impressive based on the treads shallowness.

or maybe this discussion is for different Mich.?

ecr72

The Bridgestone tires are Duelers. 260 tread wear rating. Good luck getting more than 25-30K

Michelins are Latitudes. 440 tread wear rating. 40K plus seems the norm from the responses here.


Posted from ClubLexus.com App for Android

Dolphin

Yikes, my oversight, sorry...this makes sense....
Do some new RX's come with the Mich. Latt'ds? Or are these only after-market installs?
Does the tread wear number indicate the tread depth, or how dense the rubber is?

RX330inFL

Your RX came from the factory with one of several sourced tires. Over the years these may change depending on size and date of production, so you might have originally had a tire from Bridgestone, Dunlop or Michelin, Goodyear, etc. The Michelin Latitudes are/were just one of the tires available as OEM in a window of time.

The treadwear rating is not really an indication of original tread depth nor density of the rubber used. Tires with deep treads can wear fast and those with soft rubber can last long. The value is simply a reference number regarding the estimated lifespan of the tire. You can use the rating as a guide to compare two tires against each other, but for specific information about a tire's potential lifespan it would be better to check the manufacturer's warranty information. A given tire may last 20K miles on vehicle A but 30K miles on vehicle B. Too many variables. So, to say if you multiply the treadwear rating by "X" and it will tell you the life expectancy of a tire is a bit of a reach these days.

Additional reading information for you:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=48&

Dolphin

Interesting, seems those who got the Latitudes were lucky :-)
Hard to imagine they would give such a diverse offering, specially if one make can last 2x longer vs. other makes.
Good point about wear, good link too. Rotations can help, specially if your front is not perfectly aligned.

I also find it interesting how few people follow the dates on tires... Dateline tv show did a special on this a few years ago, often people buy new tires, but have 2yrs remaining till expiration date. I think a fresh tire has a 6 yr dating. Lots of blow-outs / accidents are caused by aged tires, not always worn tires.

Cruiter

Andrew, that was an excellent and informative post the way you explained it. Thank you

RX330inFL

Much of this has to do with product and size availability, price, location amongst a host of other variables. Vehicle manufacturers come up with specifications for a needed tire for their products and the tire companies bid to be able to provide that product. The manufacturers are loathe any more to single source all their tire needs for a vehicle to one company as should there be any problems, such as a strike, natural disaster or product quality issue. So, you may get one company providing a longer life tire when compared to another which has been selected, but as long as Lexus (in this case) is happy with what is being provided at the appropriate price they do not really care. This is also a reason why the tires you get as OEM may not be exactly the same as a tires you purchase at a tire shop. The tire tread may be the same and the name is the same, but they may have different specs. The OEM may wear quicker due to the compounds used to make the tire. To get that contract the tire company may reformulate their product to reach a needed price point.

The tires you get originally with your purchase can be very good. Something true more today than in years past. Remember the days when your car only came with a twelve month warranty? Well, what is the warranty today on the tires your get with your new car purchase? A lot shorter than the vehicle warranty I am sure. These OEM tires are designed to get you to make the purchase and not necessarily to get you four and five years down the road.

Tire Rack is a good source for tire information.

Not only do people not pay much attention to the manufacturer dates on the tires they are getting when purchasing new tires, when they purchase a new vehicle they do not look at the specs for the tires they are getting and look around the lot to see if there are any other options.

I routinely did this in the past -- not so much lately as I am done buying cars in my lifetime. Was not abnormal for me to tell the salesperson, "I will take that car with the tires on that one there." Last time I did that was with an Infiniti purchase. I was turning in a company lease vehicle and getting a new one. The one I was turning in came with Michelin tires. I knew something was up from the moment I pulled out for the test drive on the new one. When I got back to the dealership and noticed it was shod with Dunlop tires I looked around at the others on the lot and saw a few with Michelins on them. The dealer was more than happy to make the swap while the paperwork was being prepared.

RX330inFL

Let us take a Michelin Latitude tire as an example:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=Latitude+Tour

In the specs you will see that the treadwear rating for the tire across all its sizes it ranges from a low of 600 to a high of 720. Yet, when you check the warranty it is listed as a 65K mile tire no matter the size.

I believe the original OEM is a Michelin Latitude Tour HP:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....titude+Tour+HP

This tire seems to have similar specs to the ones being described as OEM.

GoGiantsNJ

Reading about the high mileage a lot of you are getting on the 19' Michelins makes me extremely happy that I asked the Dealer to switch out the Dunlops for the Michelins when I bought my '12 RX. They were awesome about swapping the tires at no charge.

billy44bo

I got one Dealer to swap out a set of tires on my 2005 special ordered RX330 but was unable to get the Dunlops replaced on my special ordered RX450h with this other dealer .

alanbussey

Approaching 28K on 19 inch Cooper - may not make 30K. Will look at Mich. when I replace. Went 142K on previous RX350, i.e., 25K or so on Duelers and 62K on each set of Mich.