RodF

Got told today that my car won't pass safety inspection because the tires had too much wear. Sounds about right... got about 19,000 miles on the car. Got quoted $695 a tire (before mounting) for the runflats (which, by the way, are on national back order) and $300 a tire for Toyo non runflats by the Lexus dealer.

I have checked other options. There is a tire (non-run flat) called NITTO that a lot of racers use. Anyone have any experience with this tire or opinions as to quality?

DropTop430

I posted this before, $700 per tire, thats CRAZY. What country do you live in. Does anyone elsethink this is WAY too much for this tire. Are the dealers trying to rip us off....

Take a look at the Michelin Pilot Sports $240 per tire...

Maybe I'm missing something here

MedDawg

Yeah,for $700 per tire, you could go to tirerack.com and get Pilot Sports already mounted and balanced on a set of really nice rims.

bengreen

Totally agree with DropTop and MedDawg.....Am surprised you had the patience (and spine) to put up with those RF loosers for 19,000 miles.......The Michelin Pilot Sport a/s are really great....excellent ride, no noise,....and mine never seem to lose psi......Happy Motoring

Gojirra99

Yep, Michelin Pilot Sports A/S replaced runflats at 5,700 km,

Doc C

I've had my Michelin Pilot Sport A/S for 2 weeks. This is not the same car. It rides quietly, smoothly, and handles like a dream. I'm not thrilled they are a French product, but they are amazing. Lexus should make these standard equipment. A friend of mine that has an NSX and does a lot of USAC auto cross stuff and some minor racing said he put some Pilot Sports A/S on it and it handles as good as any tire he's ever had. There was someone on here who put a Goodyear F1?? on their car and really like them too. He posted a pic of the tread design and it looked really awesome. Good luck on your decision. You won't go wrong with most non runflats compared to the run flats.

Doc C

RodF

Again -

Has anyone heard of or tried Nittos? They retail about $250 each, non runflat, Z rated.

LexPro

I had nitto nt555 245/35/20 and they were very poor in the traction dept.

DeniskaGS4

I had nitto nt555 on the gs4 they sucked.. I am riding on Dunlop sport sp9000's on the sc430 they are great.. Pilot sports are nice but they are more expensive then the dunlops.. I really like the 9000's

LexPro

Rod , if you are near Houston send me an email at dminner@smlexus.com when you decide which tire you want and i will see if i can get you a deal.

RodF

Thanks Dan, but unfortunately I am all the way in Hawaii. I'll try to find something here.

And BTW I had no intention of paying the $695 a tire, just presented it here for info purposes. Thanks all for the info!

I

Joe Peters

Goodyear Eagle F1 GS D3
I 'm so happy with these Tires. Check this link for the whole story.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes
We bought our 2002 SC430 certified pre owned and the 1st owner had the good
since to put these on the car. Traction is great wet or dry and what a comfortable
ride yet handles great & Very Quiet. Read the story about how this tire was designed
in Europe for Sports and GT Cars. Yes I have a spare and some time we put the top
up when we go to the grocery store then there is lots of room in the trunk.
We took a road (1500 miles rt) trip to the Gulf coast of Mississippi 6 weeks ago.
By the time we got from Ft Worth to Shreveport and stopped for gas I noticed some-
thing shiny in the rt fr tire (center of the tread). It turned out to be a screw. We drove
the rest of the way and had it repaired with a plug the next day at a local tire shop.
They didn't even have to take the tire off the car. 10 bucks! I can't complain.
The best part about the tires is the price 198.00 @ tirerack. The second best part
is the sexy tread pattern. I turn the wheels all the way one direction when parked
and get compliments not only on the car but the tires too.

Joe Peters
www.pbhats.com/cars/index.html
2002 SC430 Black, Saddle, bone stock except K&N,
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS D3 and some day stock chrome wheels

Joe Peters

1NICESC430

I also replaced my RFs with the Goodyears and am much much happier with them. Don't know why, but very soon after I got my Goodyears from TireRack they increased the price. I paid $155.

My only complaint is that they apparently develop flat spots easily. If I don't drive the car for a day or so, especially if the weather is cool, it drives as if the wheels were severely unbalanced. After about 4 to 5 miles, everything is okay. What the heck is it going to be like after it sits all winter?

JCtx

On the tire subject, has anybody checked the wear indicators on their dunlop runflats (on '04 cars)? Man, they're almost there already! Ridiculous. I'll measure them, but they look like they'll be showing up at less than 5K miles. Tread depth is not that big to begin with, but wear bars are over 50% of that size.

Nobody has experience with these runflats, so I want to give them a chance, but if they don't last at least 15K miles (easy driving), I won't buy replacements,as much as I like them.

I have a question for tire gurus out there: why does corvette recommend 30 psi on its tires, and we need 33 on ours? I know the vette is around 3,300 lbs versus our 3,800, but our profile is much smaller (thus stiffer), which should compensate the weight difference. Just curious on your input of what would happen if pressure is dropped to 30. I just did that, but haven't driven the car to comment on differences. First thing I noticed, confirming my above assumption, is tires still look perfectly round, which wasn't the case in the vette (slightly deformed on the contact patch). And the vette doesn't call for any higher pressures at its significantly higher top speed.

Comments are welcome.

JC