mikey00

Looks like it's all over for Michelin Cross Terrains in RX stock size (225-70-R16). I searched Michelin, Tire Rack, and Costco and couldn't find any. Costco store told me they were discontinued.
I am currently on my second set and planed on buying a third set shortly. They were the best tires ever.

lexus114

so what do you think you will put on now??

AlexusAnja

REALLY ?!?!?!? I ran the 235 on mine when I had them. They were excellent.. oh bummer. Are the X-terrain in general being discontinued, or just that size?

artbuc

Mikey00, did you ever drive an RX with Alenzas? I can't imagine driving on a better tire than Alenza but I've never driven an RX with the xTerrains. May not matter now if the xterrains are discintinued but it sure would be nice to find someone who could provide a direct comparison.

JAB

If the Cross Terrains have been discontinued this is truly unfortunate. Great tire.

Jiffin12

The original tires on my 2001 RX300 were Bridgestone Duelers which lasted 35K miles. On the replacements at that time I went with Michlein Cross Terrains and upsized to 235-70-16. The Cross Terrains had 55,000 miles on them earlier this year and could have gone another 5-10K or so but I decided to replace them with Cooper Discoverer CTS tires (235-70-16) just to be on the safe side. I have 2K on the CTS tires at this point and I would recommend them based upon my experience. The CTS tires run $40 to $45 per tire less than the Cross Terrains so you can save some money with them. They have a 65,000 miles warranty and have a tread pattern which seems to promise long wear.

Jim

JAB

My Costco tire guy confirmed that Michelin is discontinuing Cross Terrains in certain sizes, including the RX-300 225/70-16. He was not happy about this development. They are being replaced by the Latitude, which is much more 'car-like' in tread pattern.

bhad

Hi Jim
How is Cooper traction in snow/rain? Any experinces...

Thanks
Brad

mikey00

The 235 size will still be available. But don't be fooled. The 235 CT is not the same tire as the 225 CT. This is because the 235 was designed to be an OEM tire on some new SUVs. What this really means is the 235 was designed with a lower cost in mind to compete with other tire manufactures which auto manufactures select for their new vehicles. Some things they do to cheapen up a tire can be seen in the specs. Others remain hidden. If you click on the tire specs link on the tire rack site for the CT, you will see that the 225 has a wear rating of 700, while the 235 only has a wear rating of 420. This means the 225 will last 1.7 times as long as the 235. When you do the math the more expensive 225 is actually cheaper for the life of the tire. When Consumer Reports tested SUV tires a while back they tested the 235 CT and it did not do very well. So in essence, the real Cross Terrain is gone. The 235 remains.

mikey00

I never drove an RX with Alenzas but they are one of my 2 top choices. When Tire Rack did a test comparing Alenzas with Cross Terrains on a Toyota Highlander, the CTs won on handling but the Alenzas won on ride comfort and noise. Actually all the numbers were real close.
Being that CTs are no longer available, my first choice would be Goodyear Assurance TripleTred but not available in 225-70-16. My second choice would be Michelin-X but again not available in the size. So my 2 picks are Michelin Latitude Tour or Alenza. The Michelin is a little new for test results but has real good specs. But it looks like it could be close to $200 per tire (tax and all) unless you catch a Costco sale.

Jiffin12

Bhad asked:

"How is Cooper traction in snow/rain? Any experinces..."

I only have experience with driving in rain and I'm happy with the traction under those conditions.

Consumer Reports tested SUV tires in their Nov 08 edition and the Discoverer CTS was 4th in their overall rankings (20 tires were tested) behind the General Grabber HTS, Continental Cross Contact LX, the Kumho Road Venture APT KL51. The Cooper Discoverer CTS was rated as Good for wet braking, Very Good for hydroplaning, Very Good for snow traction, and Fair for ice braking. The CTS had Very Good marks for dry braking, handling, and an Excellent mark for noise. The Michelin LTX M/S was ranked just below the CTS for what it is worth.

I checked the CTS's warranty and the mileage for the treadware warranty is 70K and not 65K as I stated it earlier. Cooper has a mail-in rebate of $50 per set of 4 CTS tires until the end of April on their website.

Jim

AlexusAnja

I knew when I bought the tire that the 235 were softer wearing tires, but I think the 1.7x longer probably is a little over the mark. I went a little over 53K on the tires so the 225 would go 90K... don't think so. No tire is going 90K on a RX. With that said, I was planning on going to the 225 X-terrains next because I had lost about 2 mpg on average with the 235. Then one day I went to dealership for maintenance and they had a $440 special on the Duelers installed for all 4 so I went for it. Should not have... they stink on snow. Also, on the 235 I had, they probably had a good 5K left on them I would say. It was not down to the wear-bar yet. So, again back to the 1.7x, that would be 58K x 1.7 = 99K...

BBLexus

"With that said, I was planning on going to the 225 X-terrains next because I had lost about 2 mpg on average with the 235."

why would your mileage go down when you moved from 225 to 235?

lexus114

i know right? almost a grand in tires?? when are the paychecks going to catch up? any way,i really wish michelin made the mxv size for the rx.hands down,that would be my next tire.

mikeburnet

I just put a set of kumho solus KR21 on last week in place of worn CT's. So far they are a very nice tire and a very good price. Very quiet and handle really well on dry and wet pavements. I had solus kh16 on both my hondas and they lasted about 60k miles so i expect the same of these.