stevetarry

Even though my Lexus dealer told me it would not make a material difference in ride/handling by replacing the runflats, today I finally bit the bullet and replaced the runflats on my '03 SC430 with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport AS, despite the fact that the runflats had only 3,000 miles on them. WOW, WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Ride and handling are both dramatically improved. Although I still feel the potholes, the car no longer "bucks" when I hit one. More importantly, as for that feeling that I am about to lose control of the car when I hit a pothole, that feeling is completely gone. It just p*sses me off that Lexus put the runflats on the car in the first place. For anyone of you who have been considering this, I urge you to do it; it really makes driving the car a much more pleasureable experience. As for the spare tire issue, I intend to order the compact spare from Lexus to use whenever I go on long trips.

Thanks to all the people in this forum for their advice. The ride/handling issues were getting to me so much--the streets in Houston are terrible-- that I was considersing selling the car.

flatfoot

Thanks very much for your input. I will probably replace my runflats with Michelins after they are worn down. Everyone in this forum who has replaced theirs has agreed that the RF'S suck.
Flatfoot

Gojirra99

How many miles do you have on your car ?

Initially I thought the same way as you do - to replace the runflats after they're worn down, but I recall a few people here claiming their runflats still has good tread after 20,000 miles, and after 11 months of owning this car, I only have less than 6,000 km (3,600 miles) on it.
At this rate, I realised it will take me forever to wear the RF's down, so a couple weeks ago, I finally decided to replace them now so I can more fully enjoy this car.

JCtx

So what's the advantage of paying $440 more for the runflat option, plus you lose the spare? Does the spare take that much space in the trunk? No lexus dealer has EVER seen an SC430 with the spare, so nobody even knows how it's attached. Lexus told me runflats are standard, but even in '04 they still show as options on the sticker. Oh well.
One thing good about the runflats is you don't have to worry about blowouts, especially if you like high-speed bursts. It's piece of mind, but at a cost.

But hey, how about the new michelin runflats? Corvette people say it's an unbelievable difference in ride, plus you keep the safety of runflat technology. Does anybody know if they make them for the SC? My vette's front tires are almost identical: 245/45/17. Many people also praise the firestone runflats, even though the name doesn't necessarily imply confidence. Much cheaper than michelins for sure, and way better than either the goodyears or bridgestones. After the vette, I think even the runflats will feel like a laz-e-boy. Also keep in mind these tires are not supposed to have more than 30 psi; if you put 36 psi like a normal tire, they'll feel like a brick.

One question: does the SC has the display like the vette, which tells you the pressure of each tire and where it is? Then it tells you if low pressure (below 20), or flat (below 10). The only thing I'll miss from the vette is the instrumentation. By the way, you can also change all the options from there (auto-locking, easy entry, flashing, etc.), instead of having to take the car to the dealer, like C-BEST. I also wonder why the SC has the ugliest instruments of the lineup, and the first non-electroluminescent; cost?? Oh well, the car couldn't be perfect, huh? Hey, one day away from getting my new baby; can't wait.

Comments are welcome.

Doc C

stevetarry,

glad to hear about the Pilot A/S. I get mine with new HRE 540Rs next week.

ELP,

My experience has been that there is just an idiot light that come on with the run flat alert. There is no directional info as to which tire is having a problem. Don't know about new Michelin runflats, but I have heard they are better. I have Goodyear RFs and they were fine for 5K miles then they ride like they are made of stone!! I heard no electroilluminescent because it was a convertible and the sun could make that hard to see. That's what a goofy salesman told me anyway. I think you're gonna love it when you get your baby. A lot of people have bailed out recently on this forum, but you seem to have done your homework to make sure it's what you want. I definitely did mine. I'm not in the financial league of a lot of these guys and 60K is a boatload of money to me. I was in bumper to bumper traffic after the Air Force/Notre Dame game last year for 2 hours!! I was listening to the ML stereo. I saw a guy driving a 6 speed Boxster and I would have liked to have seen his left leg muscles after operating that clutch. There aren't many cabins in cars as plush as this one, period. I hope you have a great time when you pick yours up.

Doc C

JCtx

You can say that again Doc; the dealer will have to yank the check out of my hand buddy. This is the most expensive car I'll ever buy; period. And you're right; this is exactly the kind of car I want: hard-top convertible, fast but smooth (a GT, not a sports car), pampering interior, killer sound system, reliable, V8, RWD, and all the comfort and convenience features. All I'd change is nicer instrumentation, E-shift (like my ex GS400), and nicer wheels (was hoping to at least get the star caps for '04, but apparently that's not the case). I decided to get the chrome wheel exchange with the star caps; will have to figure out the easiest way to do it. It's cheap enough at around $500, at least compared to what Lexus charges. I really like how the wheel looks with the star caps; no need to spend a fortune on wheels right now. I have enough with the $60+K shock for a while.

Hey, I was thinking of leaving out the tilt/telescope 'entry' function off for2 reasons: no wear and tear, and you can use the steering wheel to help you climb in and out of restricted places (the garage). My questionis if it'll interfere with my legs. At my 160 lbs and no belly, I don't think so, but would welcome your input. The vette wheel's position doesn't bother me, and I turned off that feature (only the telescope is power on that car; tilt is manual -??).

Good evening.

PS. Can you post a poll about who has the 'easy entry' feature ON? I'm curious. My GS400 started making ugly noises at 14K miles, and both motors had to be lubricated. Even then, motors were a lot noisier than when new; hence my consideration.

dseag2

Stevetarry-

Glad to hear you made the change to non-runflats. It DOES make a huge difference as I noticed when I changed to Michelin Pilot Sports. It's just a shame the Lexus dealers don't acknowledge the problem. They're in the "volume game" these days and, from my experience, could care less about doing anything outside the norm for their customers. Maybe it's just South Florida, but this is my 3rd Lexus and I've seen the service level deteriorate over the past few years.

My dealer's (Lexus of Pembroke Pines) service dept. quoted me $350 ($75 per tire) just to replace my runflats with non-runflats, excluding the cost of the tires, saying it was a "very time-consuming, complicated process". Since I thought this was exhorbitant, I contacted TireRack and they referred me to a Meineke dealer that has the necessary equipment and did it for $120. Meineke now receives all of my non-warranty business. The loaner doesn't make enough of a difference to put up with the aggravation.

Re: the runflat vs. non-runflat subject... it has been "beaten to death" in this forum, so I can't imagine that anyone who has read all the threads would actually stick with the runflats. If owner testimonials aren't enough, there was a recent article in one of the automags re: runflat tires and how they're becoming the wave of the future. The author mentioned SPECIFICALLY the SC430, saying it's suspension is probably the least compatible with runflats of any suspension out there. I believe the actual verbiage was "the SC430 seems to be the least happy with the runflats". Basically, a car's suspension dictates how it will ride and handle with runflats, and the SC430's should have been further tweaked before introducing this new technology.

Lexus should be taking money OFF the sticker for runflats... not adding it on.