i am in seattle, and purchased my 400h from the fife dealership that also owns the one in bellevue. fife seemed to be friendlier and had a car available for me sooner, their waiting list was much shorter. i still drive down there for service and have had good personal service from the smaller dealership. i do walk around the lot as my SUV is lubed ( i do it twice as often as recommended, but still the rotation every 5K) so i have made 12 visits to the dealership for lube and two for warranty service over the last two years. at first the cars were coming with goodyears and michelins equally however lately i notice more michelins on every rx model with some goodyears here and there. save yourself money and heartache, dont drive off the lot with the goodyears, most dealers will switch the tires if you ask.

 

Thanks for your input, and to all others that have been posting on this subject. I will definitely check the tire brand before I pull the trigger. And I will check out Fife too, since Lexus of Bellevue is almost closed and moved, so they dont even have a 400h to look at. The new store is huge and full of cars but of course, no one is working there yet.. Maybe I will go down to Northern Calif and see how they are dealing compared to no-deal-here-WA.. Thanks again you guys/gals, I really appreciate your help.
Katzjamr, Im in Newport Shores, rignt off of Exit 10 on the 405. Talk at you later.. DanF

 

I have my RX 400h on special order. It should to be ready these days (built in Japan) and shipped at the beginning of August.
I emailed to my dealer about this issue with Goodyear tires and this the answer I got back:

"Spoke with our General Manager, he had not been aware of any such problems with our RX400h Clients. I will check with our service manager in the morning. I looked at our current inventory which the RX's are coming with both Michelin or Good Years. No way to make a specific tire request at any time and especially now. Your RX may actually be built or will soon. We may be able to do something with the tires when your RX400h gets here. I will have more information tomorrow."

What's your opinion?

 

you can always swap it out with another 400h on the lot..
personally, i wouldn't get a RX400h today. especially on Special order.
with a new RX coming out within a year.. i would want to wait and see if they use a new type of battery/hybrid system

 

I think we can safely assume that the drivetrain of the new RX400h will be similar to the '08 Highlander Hybrid.

"Motorweek" just covered the new HH and it still has the 330 engine but total HP is bumped up to 270. Longer wheelbase and two new buttons - one to "force" all-electric operation and the other for optimized fuel economy operation are the major changes. It also gained over 300 lbs.

IMHO, vulpasin is doing the right thing getting one now. I wouldn't risk getting the first model year of a re-designed model - even a Lexus - and unless you really need the extra interior space allowed by the longer wheelbase, get an '08 like I'm about to do. I must admit those buttons sound like what the current 400h really needs, though.

This has been posted before, but I'll throw it in anyway - the Edmunds Full Test of the new HH:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=121374

 

Unfortunately I can't swap it with another 400h because is a special order different from the other ones. For some reason, Lexus 400h models don't have Dynamic Cruse Control***. I wanted this feature badly and this is the reason it has to be a special order.
Anyway, I spoke with my dealer and he promised me that my 400h will have the Michelin tires on it. (I hope they will not charge extra for this)

***Speaking about Dynamic Cruse Control...don't you love it when you put your car on 80MPH get in the back of someone who drives pretty fast (and is a good driver :wink: ) and let him do the driving (acceleration and breaking) and your car keeps the constant distance from the car ahead, you just have to be alert for potential accidents.

@BobBass
I think the same way like you, I rather get an older model than taking chances with something first time released to the public.

 

I'd have no reservations in getting a new '08 RX, even knowing that the 09's will be different. Why? They'll also cost more. And there'll be more demand for the newer model, driving prices up and availability down. And the drivetrain will be essentially the same.

 

i dont think the powertrain will be the same when the MDX is pushing 3.7L w/ 300hp.. and 09 will not cost more.. the MSRP only goes up like 1%. yes u will get a little more discount, but that's the price to pay for having a higher resale value and the updated look.

 

My first (since stolen) 2007 400h came with the Michelin's, which we just fine, for the 2,000 miles I had the car. I am picking up the exact replacement vehicle today.

On Wednesday, I test drove this car. It had Goodyears on, and it was absolutely horrible compared to my first 400h. First, for an all-season M&S rated tire, the Goodyears have almost no sipes, which seemed alarming. In driving, it felt as though there was zero road feel, and there was a very dead feeling when the steering wheel was on center... like there was a lag for the first five or so degrees turning the wheel in either direction.

Come to think of it, I am wondering if the tires were over-inflated to avoid flat spots while in transit from Japan.

I requested a swap-out to the Michelins (no prob), and a steering/alignment check prior to delivery. I will report later on the results.

 

I didn't think any 400h's were coming thru with Goodyears anymore. The ones I've seen in the Philadelphia area seem to have Michelins now.

 

This vehicle had 5 miles on it, so the Goodyears are not out of the picture, yet.

 

After making a complaint to both Better Business Bureau and Corporate Lexus with the note below, we received phone calls from Corp Lexus offering us reimbursement of our cost for replacing these inferior and unsafe tires. Corp Lexus encourages those of us who own 2006 and earlier 400hs to voice our complain directly to the headquarter so they can address this situation immediately. We encourage you all to make your voice heard:

Lexus Customer Satisfaction at 1-800-255-3987 (option #4), Monday through Friday, 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., or Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Pacific Time.

Mark (Livermore)

================================================== ========
As owner of 2006 Lexus 400hs, we were used as guinea pigs of Lexus' 1st 400hs -- OE tires of inferior quality + victim of alignment issues. We would like to file a formal complaint.

On Nov. 30, I took my AWD 400h to the dealer for the 10K service. It was the same dealership where it gets serviced every 5000 miles. The dealer phoned to tell me that all 4 tires must be replaced because of badly worn inside tread. I was shocked! What? At 19,562 miles? Just like every other car I owned before, I expected to replace them at 40K-60K miles. The dealer said that the OE Goodyear Eagle RS-A 235/55VR18 tires usually last about 20K miles. Shocked again! I would not have bought that car if I had known this. The only thing mentioned on the window sticker was “235/55VR18 All-Season Tires.” I then got on the phone with a friend who bought the same car at the same dealer6 months earlier than I did. She said that she just paid $940 for 4 new tires a few days ago for the same problem. When asked why at such a low mileage, the dealer said because it’s a hybrid car and it is surprising that hers lasted until 32K miles and recommended Michelin over Goodyear. We
scanned the internet and learned that many out there share the same question and confusion. We were never informed by Lexus that earlier 400hs had alignment issues. Lexus should recall all earlier 400hs to address this issue.

We were never informed by anyone of the fact that the earlier 400hs had alignment issues. Lexus should have recalled all the earlier 400hs to address the issue. We were never informed that the OE tires on these expensive 400h suvs would need to be replaced roughly every 20K. On the average, a car with average quality tires would need replacement roughly every 40K-60K, which should be the norm.

We believe that we have been misinformed by Lexus and should not have to pay for Lexus responsibility of putting these Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires on such luxurious cars and make the consumers pay for the inferior quality. Since we were told by the dealer that the tire performance was due to the fact that they were running a “hybrid” car, then it is a design issue that would have required Lexus to install a different set of tires. Some of us would have opted for a different car or even a totally different make if it means paying about $1000 for every 20K we drive just on tire replacement. We are also extremely disappointed by Lexus’ inaction knowing such widely-discussed problem. Lexus cars are supposed to be luxurious as well as reliable. Another question is, why would the tires be abnormally worn just on the inside edge?

We request that Lexus immediately address our issue with the OE Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires.

================================================

 

I happened to pass the above info on to a friend (in Oakland) with an early 2006 RX400h, and got this interesting reply...

"Given how I drive and the hilly turns I take all day long, we've replaced the tires several times already. We are big Michelin people, but come to think of it, when I went for the first big tune up the guy took one look at my tires and replaced them free of charge as they were way too worn. Could he have known back then?????"

Veddy interesting....

I hope everyone gets satisfaction from your efforts, Mark!!!!

 

well.. remember the Ford Exploders of the late 90's?
u guys do realize that Lexus is getting ready for a lawsuit if the tires pop on the freeway due to the bad alignment...

 

Just purchased a CPO RX 400h with 34k on the clock. I noticed it was pulling to right during the test drive and had the dealer agree to fix the problem as part of the deal. I have an appointment on Monday. In the mean time I looked at the maintenance records online and see the car has already had four alignments done by the dealer. The last one was just a few hundred miles ago. I'm starting to wonder if this isn't endemic with this model. Since I have it in writing that they will fix to my approval, I will not settle for anything less than a car that drives straight down the road. At this point the car pulls hard to the right.

Is this an issue with this model?