I am planning on purchasing a 2013 Rx450h AWD. I am curious to know what experiences others have had with the tyres on this car. From the Lexus specifications page I see the following:

with the small print disclaimer: I am hoping these are not runflats, which my wife has had on a Sienna AWD Limited and which only lasted 12,000 - 14,000 miles, and which I had on a former SC430, and which had the same poor lifespan.

I am also considering upgrading to the 19 inch wheels and am unable to find any details on what brand/type of tyre is used in this size, or what experiences owners have had.

I appreciate any thoughts you may have.

 

I have a 2010 450h and love it! You will find many threads in this forum relating to the financial wisdom of purchasing a hybrid versus a "regular" RX. For me, it was a good decision.

There are also a lot of threads here regarding the type of tires and wheel size. I went with the 19 inch wheels because I liked the look better. Mine came with the Dunlap tires. I think I must be the only person on this board who is quite satisfied with the Dunlaps. I had a tire noise problem at one point (I ran each tire 2 pounds over recommendation) but when I took them back to the specified inflation it went away. At just over 33k miles they are starting to get a little noisey again. I should be able to get at least 40k miles out of them without the wear bars coming up, but I will be replacing them before winter gets here anyhow.

The 450h can be a gadget guys car, although some of the other vehicles out there now seem to have passed it in that category. The energy display on the Nav screen is fascinating and really draws the attention of any passengers. I am a competitive type of person so I have that screen up most of the time and am constantly driving in ways to try to beat my best mileage numbers. That is kind of like trying to set a new high score in some kind of video game, or for me, a new low score in golf!!

You need to decide what is best for you. If it is the 450h, you will love it from day one.

 

RxRPh: An RX does not have run flats -- only regular tires. Multiple brands may appear on the truck you purchase -- you don't really have a choice unless you negotiate something with the dealer. Rather than repeat some long threads, do a search in the primary RX forum (this subject isn't specific to the hybrid) and you'll find a bunch of recent threads surrounding this. Net is, some people find the ride of the 19" wheels more harsh than the 18" -- I'm not of that opinion for the most part and would choose the 19's again in a moment. Type of tire seems to be more of the real discussion point -- Dunlops as has been mentioned are problematic for many with too much road noise and impacting the ride. I'm glad mine did not come with them. My truck came with Bridgestones -- I'm happy with them, but would have been even happier with Michelins as I've had great luck with them in the past. Folks have tinkered with changing tire pressure +/- 2-4 lbs to help with the ride. A few have swapped their tires out with Perielli's and been happy with that result.

In terms of mileage expectation -- that "small print disclaimer" you found is not normal for either RX -- I never put tires on my 2006 RX400h which had Michelins before it was traded at 27K miles and they had at least another 10K to go. In searching this forum, you'll see references to many folks getting 30-40K on a set of tires -- if someone only gets 15K, well, they have some other issue going on that is beyond the norm.

Good luck with your decision. (As a side note, I got nearly 25K on the Bridgestone runflats that came on my 2002 SC430, so I went well over the 15K estimate).

 

Thanks for the responses. I did find the threads discussing tyres and, while there appeared to be a lot of conflicting opinions on the subject, I think the broad brush consensus is that Michelin is preferred to Bridgestone is preferred to Dunlop.

In speaking with the Internet Sales Mgr at the Lexus dealership today, I was assured that if the car I wanted had tyres I was not comfortable with, he would switch them out for me at the time of sale.

 

Just stay away from the Dunlops, ask them to swap before signing the paper. I see about 10 RXes a day here and may be one is RXh which make it "rarer".

Good luck.

 

Made a big mistake by taking delivery of my 2013 RX450h with the noisy Dunlop A/S tires!!!

 

I had Michelins on my 2010 450h and was very happy with them. I put 23,000 miles on them and they had about 10,000 left on them, so expect getting about 35,000 to 40,000 if you go with Michelins.

 

Thank y'all in this forum. I specified Michelins ONLY to be on the AW RX450h I bought last month and I got them. I am happy.

 

I will second this comment. Same good experience with Michelin Latitude on our 2010 RX450h AWD; we now have 37k miles on them, with 5/32 " tread left. I stopped rotating them at about 28k. Expect these Michelin tires to at least make 45k, at which time the same choice tires. Side note: Michelin's "Green X" low rolling resistance technology makes a huge difference for the best gas mileage - first hand experience with our former Avalon, I made the mistake of changing out the OEM Michelin tires with comparable Bridgestone tires, and lost 15% in gas mileage. Won't make that mistake again. Good luck on your choice.