zig@tr

I receive a number of phone calls per day regarding the best all-season tire for the Lexus RX model, so I thought a post may help some find their answers through the forum. Most of the Lexus RX owners I speak with want a tire that is smooth, quiet, hydroplaning resistant and has good snow and ice grip. I have compiled a list of the top 3 performers from my personal customers experiences as well as overall great customer survey results to back up these recommendations.

Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring



Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza



Michelin Latitude Tour

RVH

These are warranted for 65,000 to 70,000 miles. Will they really last that long?

cafpaf

I live in south west PA and have been driving for over fifty years. I have NEVER had a set of tires of any brand on any car last more that 40,000. As far as I am concerned, tire warranties are not worth the paper on which they are written.

kitlz

You couldn't pay me to put a set of Goodyears on my RX. My previous gens came with them OE, never made it to 20K. What a waste.

hypervish

Yeah crapyear is pretty bad. I currently have Goodyear Wrangler's and they aren't too bad traction wise (won't really know till it snows, but the rain is good). They are really loud though.

cafpaf

If I had to make a choice tomorrow, and I do not, I would go with the Michelin tires. This is just based on past experience on regular sedan tires not an SUV. The last set of tires I purchased for the 2001 were Continental.

zig@tr

The tread life warranties are a bit on the exaggerated side for most tire manufacturers', the key is to at least have an "in writing" warranty so you can get your prorated percentage discount towards the purchase of new tires. Because although 50K is a more reasonable estimate you do get really good tires for that 50K miles and then at the end the manufacturer will discount your next set of tires by the amount of unused miles. The high tread life warranties are more of an empty gesture than a real fact.

Now as for some CL members commenting on Goodyear or Michelin tires as a whole, I can with certainty say there are inferior tires made by every manufacturer. 90% these are original equipment tires that come standard on a new cars. These tires where the Michelin, Goodyear or Bridgestone name but these tires are typically not the company's best foot forward. They are designed and manufactured for the sure quantity needed rather than the quality customers expect. These tire do what they need to do and that's compliment the car during a test drive, so they are usually quiet. However, beyond that most cars do not get there test drive in the the snow, ice or rain and you have already purchased the car so tread life is not a factor.

These original equipment tires generally cost more and perform no where near aftermarket tires from the same company. So I urge you not to throw out any brand solely based from and OE tire experience

RVH

I had one tire guy tell me he thought the Michelins were over-rated and that they pad the price because of their reputation. I'm not sure if that's true as he didn't carry Michelin and I was price shopping against Costco (who routinely has sales on Michelin, $70 off a set).

I like Consumer Reports' tire ratings.

kitlz

I know not every Goodyear will be bad but past experience will still keep me away. And they're not well rated compared to the other tires available for my RX. I have chosen something other than OE when I replaced tires on my previous RXs except when I was two months away from trading in. Fortunately I have time to consider my options. I will say the Yokohamas are looking better and better.

hypervish

Every single Crapyear tire I have tried, have been terrible in rain and snow traction. And, I'm not talking about O/E equipment here. I have tried a lot crapyear tires, and they truly make crap.

I have yet to see how my Crapyear Wranglers perform on the RX, I'll know soon I guess. LoL

zig@tr

Since you said you have Goodyear "Wrangler" tires on the 00' RX, by deduction I can see it must be the Goodyear Wrangler SRA. (There is only one tire in the Wrangler line made in this size) This is an OE tire, Chrysler uses this tire on many of their vehicles from Durango, Ram, Dakota and Jeep Grand Cherokee. As you can see from our customer feedback this is not one of Goodyear's better tires. These are ranked #36 out of 57 highway all-season tires.


Highway All Season Customer Feedback Link

hypervish

I haven't tried the Wrangler in bad conditions yet, but the other crapyear tires I've had have been terrible. I've had a few over the years.

MEP7557

I think I'm with Anita, Yokohama's for me. I have the Michelin's currently but I see on the web site the Yoko's got better ratings on road noise and traction plus a few other areas. Their price is right too.

afpj

we just had our RX in for service (50k mile) and our Yoko's were still quieter than the new Michelins on the loaner. Over the past two years we were impressed at the ride qualities of the Michelins on the various loaners we had. This is in comparison to Dunlops that were our OEM. We ultimately went with Yoko Parada Sepc-x due to all the ratings and cheaper than Michelins, and do not regret it one bit. It doesn't snow much here (like maybe every 10 yrs) so I have to trust other's ratings, including Tire Rack's, regarding winter performance.

hypervish

Oh, btw I have the Goodyear Wrangler HP not the SRA.