batchelor

I live in Kamloops and yes agree, you will need snow tires. Sorry to hear of your treatment, good dealerships are hard to find. I actually bought mine from the Jim Pattison Volvo dealer and had it sent over from their Lexus dealer. I like to deal with people I know. Will likely service it in Kelowna though, unless I find them unsatisfactory.

Jimsathome

Hi Batchelor,

Thanks for the post.

My car is a 2011 Sonata Limited 2.0t which I bought new at Open Road Richmond but get serviced at Jim Patterson in Port Coquitlam as it's much closer to home. I had an incident while headed to Nelson with the Family in the summer, and had to deal with Kelowna Hyundai. For what should of been a 4-5 day job took them 18 days - which I had to pay for a rental car. I wouldn't recommend them, but the OK Tire folks in Osoyoos were terrific! (That's where we broke down at about 38°C driving up the mountain going east out of town.). I hope Kelowna Lexus is good for you.

Jimsathome

Batchelor,

Can you advise who gave you this deal? Regency wants $2300 today for the same package.

Thanks for the assist.

batchelor

I purchased them from Royal Oak Lexus in Calgary. I believe there were prepared for another customer who had changed their mind. I got them in August, and that was the price shipped to me via Greyhound here in Kamloops.

Jimsathome

That's a great deal you got. Too bad it's not repeatable here in metro Vancouver. I just got a quote from OK Tires for some "clone" Lexus rims with Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 snows and Lexus TMPS sensors - all in for $1998. I'll have to check out the tires as I'm not familiar with Blizzaks.

batchelor

Yes, I was fortunate with the timing.

Blizzaks are very good from my knowledge of them but they used to have a softer compound which could wear down quickly, not sure about now.

Jimsathome

I was leaning towards Michelins Xi2s (it seems those are the ones for SUVs & Traucks. Costco said the X13s are for cars ) The only reason I'm not solid on the Michelins is Wet Braking is only Fair; and as you know it rains far more than it'll ever snow here in Vancouver.

Of course no other Snow Tire seems to have a better wet braking rating than the Xi2s. I found an on line reseller with the clone http://www.rwcwheels.com/en/site/col...ues/lexus/lx95 rims but they are in Quebec https://pmctire.com/en/ . All in with shipping on the clone RWC LX95 wheels and Lexus TPMS units with Xi2s is $1,726.81 (All in) Pricing seems fair but they are so far away if anything gets messed up...

batchelor

Mine are definitely Xi3's and I doubt that size would fit any car. They were newly updated last year so Costco may have old stock.

Jimsathome

I thought the same so I made the Costco "Michelin Trained Technician" check with his Supervisor. He came back (after checking the Computer) and gave me a quote and said both their system and his boss said Xi3s were for cars and X12s are for SUV & Trucks.

For grins, I checked the Michelin US Site, using Find Your Tires, and although they didn't have 2017 NX200ts listed I buffaloed it by putting in a 2016 Base Model (17 inch Rims). It too suggest Xi2s => It says "Designed to help SUVs, Crossovers and Light Trucks hold the road in a variety of wintry conditions."
"MICHELIN®

Latitude® X-Ice® Xi2

Light Truck, SUV/Crossover"

(http://www.michelinman.com/US/en/tir...741874036.html)

But when I reset it and go to 18 inch Rims, it says Xi3s. Isn't that strange???

It says:

"MICHELIN®

X-Ice® Xi3

Passenger Car/Minivan, Luxury Performance Touring"



But it doesn't say it's for SUVs.

I'm thinking the Tire is right on the edge for passenger car / Tuck -SUV. There's probably not a good answer.

batchelor

I'm guessing we are more in the "minivan" category in Michelin's world.

They fit the factory wheels well and I hope will be solid performers whenever we get some snow.

http://www.michelin.ca/CA/en/tires/p...x-ice-xi3.html

Jimsathome

Certainly seems strange.

Woodrow

I had Blizzaks on the CT that I traded in last June, and I was a little disappointed in them. The traction in the snow was OK, but the handling was horrible. It was like riding around on under inflated tires. The car would wander at highway speeds so badly that (until I got used to it) made it hard to keep it in the lane. At first I was worried that someone would report me as a drunk driver! OK, that might be a slight exaggeration , but I really looked forward to taking them off in the fall. As mentioned, they also wear fast, due to the soft compound.

The next set of snow tires I get will be a different brand, but I'm hoping the NX won't need them. Our RX doesn't.

Jimsathome

I checked out the reviews for the Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 snows and they are supposed to be excellent for deep snow and Ice traction (probably due to the soft compound mentioned by Woodrow). But they have a poor Wet Braking which is very important to me. They also don't have any mileage warranty whereas the Michelins do. Consumer Reports rates them only Fair for noise whereas the Michelins are rated very good.

I wonder if they be any Black Friday sales around here on Rims and Tires...

Jimsathome

Gents,

Costco advised me they didn't have a part number for the TMPS units (as the 2017 NX-200t wasn't yet in their database) but if I found out what it was they could put them in. I called Jim Patterson Lexus and they've got 4 in stock (same Lexus Part # 42607-30060 for 2015=>2017) @ $49.95 each. That's an interesting pricing strategy. I didn't think Parts for cars did that sort of thing. $50 is a bit simpler.

batchelor

That's a pretty reasonable price, I paid much more for them in a Nissan Altima years ago.