2nd day on the Falken PRO G4 A/S tires and my 2011 Rx (18" AWD) I drove another 62 miles today back and forth to work, mostly freeway (70 mph).

WOW, I'm impressed. As time goes on I know I will lose the comparison ability with the previous Michelin Latitudes I had on the car. All I can say is these tires are as quiet if not more so than the Michelins, handling is MUCH better, very responsive, and the ride particularly over freeway expansion joints is impressive. I liked the Michelins (they are my default tire manufacturer for most my cars), but I am VERY IMPRESSED with the Falken tire on my RX. I intentionally did a couple of emergency lane change maneuvers today on clear freeway just to see how the tires responded....impressive!! Precise, controllable, and very responsive to steering input.

Once the snow flies more I will give an update report. From ALL conversations I had with different Discount tire personnel yesterday, they said that the Falkens would be a better tire in snow do to the asymmetrical tred pattern. If that is true....I am sold! Even if they are "just as good as the Michelins" I would be happy.

Right now, if these tires were the same price as the Michelins and you took the names off of the tires, I would buy the Falkens first. Better everything so far. I can't believe I am saying that but that is how good these tires are on my RX.

 

Sooooooooo, I'm living to eat my words unfortunately.
Put the Yokohama YK580s on in February and they were great initially. Since then I've noticed that just about every seven weeks they all four lose a few PSI (TPMS does not come on) and it's enough to affect the ride. Discount Tire rebuilt the TPMS sensors, etc. and that didn't help at all. They seem to think it's not unusual to have to air up tires every seven weeks (they recommend monthly for that matter) but I disagree and I'm not willing to run to Discount Tires every seven weeks (nor do it myself, which I could). I've never had tires that did this and I'm not happy with these so I'm paying a little more (Discount Tire is giving me some credit - Yokohama will only give me credit if I put Yokohamas back on) and putting Michelin Latitude Tour HPs on this evening (probably should have just bit the bullet and did that in the first place). I'm expecting to love them -- I better! I may have put these Michelins on to begin with had I realized one version of these Michelins sell for $225 ea vs $275 ea (those were the only ones I saw in February).
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[Not trying to bash Yokohama. My husband has these same Yokos on his truck and he has no problems with them. I've had Yoko Advan S4s on my Mustang for about five years now - no issues.]

 

Just an update on the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season tyres.

I've now had the tyres on the 450h for just under two months. I have used them before on a BMW X3 where they were excellent all year round tyres which included a few weeks of deep snow in the Peak District (UK).
Initial thoughts are that they have improved the ride significantly. That is to be expected though, new tyres replacing worn old ones. The ride is now more comfortable and there is no (noticable) road noise. I'm very pleased with my choice.
No snow in the UK yet, so no chance to test them out properly. I'm quite looking forward to that if we do get snow.

 

Update on my Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season tires.


I've now put almost 3,000 miles on my Pirelli tires including a one thousand mile road trip (mostly Interstate). They are much better than the Dunlops that were on the car. Ride is quiet and smooth. Handling is great on wet and dry pavement. My only disappointment is that my gas mileage went down about 8 percent for both highway and city driving.

 

Hi everyone.

I am deciding about buying some new tires for my RX350.

I recently bought a used 2011 model with 60k miles and the car has some new Wind-force Performax H/T tires on it.

I am a tire snob and only use either Michelin tires or BF Goodrich tires as OEM replacements.

The Wind-force tires seem to be OK handling wise in the rain and on dry roads.

However, the tires do seem a bit floaty which just could be how the Lexus ride since I never drove the car with the OEM Dunlop tires.

So do anyone know if these tires are safe or not?

I think that i may just swap then out for some Michelin tires to be safe.

Anyone has any knowledge or experience with the Wind-force tires?

 

They're Chinese tires. Get rid of those cheap pieces of crap.

 

LOL.

I researched that they were "premiere" tires from a Chinese company.

However, I can not find any reviews on them from owners or tire websites like Tire-rack.

Some Korean tires brands are decent, so I was hoping that these mysterious Wind-force tires were unknown gems in the tire world.

I will not hold my breath on that one.

Look like I will be buying some new tires to replace my "new" tires.

I am confused to where the dealership found these cheap *** tires in my area.

LOL. When I was checking out the car I thought Wind-force was some kind of tire name from maybe Kumho or Hankook tires.

I was like WTF when I noticed the brand was Wind-force????

I was hoping to get maybe a year out of them since they are new tires, but safety first.

 

I had to buy a pair when I had blowout in the middle of nowhere, CO. Scared me, but you do what you have to do. They had terrible traction, did horribly in rain, and were ditched the minute I was back.
Like you said, it's surprising that people can find even these no-name tires, since I don't know of any shops in major cities that sells Chinese tires. Even the small shops around here don't sell them.

These Chinese tires typically come from a single supplier and have different brands slapped on them. I don't trust their quality standards and would not want them on my car. There will be some that say that they had no issues with them, and that's fine for them. But the risks of running cheap tires far outweighs the benefits of saving what comes out to pennies.

 

WOW.

The Performax tires I have from Wind-force seem fine in the rain so far, however I do have AWD which probably is helping the tires maintain any grip that they are having.

However, the handling is very sloppy even for me having a RX which is not known to be the most nimble handling SUV I have owned by auto magazine reviews.

I used to own a 2004 Infiniti FX45 which is one of the best handling SUV out there until you compare it to BMW,Porsche, or the Jeep SRT-8.

So I take it that the tires are crap and will just dump them soon.

Hopefully Discount Tires will give me tread credit on some new tires since the Wind-force tires are new.

 

Over one week on the tires. They are great! handle better than my Michelin Latitudes HP, smoother riding, great handling, and quiet!! I'm soo happy I bought them. Can't imagine a better tire...... especially for the price. I was not looking for an inexpensive tire, but this is a good tire. Mileage didn't suffer at all. Nice tire!!!!

 

Don't forget to look at the tire thread that's been stickied. A few tires seem to stand out amongst the forum members.

 

I have had Pirelli tires come on three of the cars I bought and hated all of them. Poor wear on all three and delamination on two. I was a Michelin supporter until Michelin did not back up their warranty. The Michelin tire that blew a sidewall at 6000 miles was replaced at NTB with a Hankook tire that is wearing and performing as good as the Michelins. I can't even tell if it is in the front or back when driving. I probably would have stayed with Michelin is they had honored their warranty but they didn't.

 

My wife had Pirelli's on a Saab 9-3 many moons ago...they were terrible. Soured me on Pirelli's for quite a while, until I took a chance and put Scorpion Verdes on her RX. Honestly one of the best tires I've ever owned. I'm up to almost 50k, and they are pretty much done, but this has been a great handling tire in all conditions. Will probably buy again. For reference I've had both Ecopias and Dueler 400's on her RX; much prefer the Pirelli's to both.

I used to think Michelin was one of the best brands, until I had MXM4's on my old Mazda6. The hydroplaning in wet conditions was downright scary. One thing I've learned is that no single brand makes great (or poor) tires across the board.

 

My car came with the Dunlop Grandtreks. Earlier this week, I drove a loaner (also a RX 350, same year, very close in mileage) that had the Michelin Latitude Tour HPs and found them to be noticeably quieter and smoother, especially at higher speeds. This, of course, is nothing new to RX owners and I've gathered the general consensus is that people ditch the Dunlops once they've worn out... with the Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Plus tires being a top replacement pick.

My question is, which is favored between the Michelins and the Pirellis? Has anyone compared those two on the same car? (I apologize if this has been address somewhere else... I'll be honest and say that I haven't read all 31 pages of this thread.)

 

Henry, about a month ago I replaced the Pirelli Scorpion Verdes with Michelin Premiers (see post 446). The Verdes have a firm ride, the Premiers too. They feel a bit softer but absorb bumps well, better than the Verdes. I was disappointed with the tire wear on the Verdes. But I had the early version, maybe the newer version is better. When I was pricing tires, I was given a price of $280 on the Latitudes, considerably higher than the Premiers at $214. Michelin also had a $70 rebate at the time. That made the decision easier for me.

Ater a few hundred miles, I'm happy with the Premiers. They're pretty good on the twisty hilly roads I take. Wet traction is decent, road noise low. No snow yet so I can't comment there. I've been meaning to play with the tire pressure to find what gives the best ride. Soon.