BrFr

I bought a 99 RX front wheel drive (65,000 mi.) 4 years ago. The tires were 80%. I noticed that the front wheels would spin on wet pavement. I did buy new tires and the problem was gone but now that the tires are 80% again the spinning is back. What causes this problem? What can be done?
Thank you for any information.

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

Buy a 4 wheels drive.

hypervish

Welcome to Club Lexus!

What tires are currently on the RX?

Most tires lose performance as they wear, for example Kumho's are great for the first couple thousand miles and then they are horrible, a disaster waiting to happen. Michelin's tend to give good performance throughout.

What do you mean by 80%?

Tires have reduced rain traction once they are at 4/32" and reduced snow traction at 6/32".

Sulu

All tires have a "shelf life". Even if there is not that much wear on your tires or you do not drive much, the rubber in the tires dries out and becomes harder, eventually cracking. As they become harder and even if they still have good tread depth on them, they will lose traction, especially on wet roads.

I have heard people say that you should replace your tires about 5+ years after they were manufactured (the manufacturing date is stamped on the sidewall). If you bought your tires about 4 years ago, they may have been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for a few months to a year so they are probably at that "replace me" stage.

Time to look for new tires again.

Lil4X

Welcome to CL!

I used my RX's for business that usually involved a lot of highway miles and long-distance touring with the family. On occasional jaunts offroad, the RX did surprisingly well, my replacement tires offering better grip on iffy surfaces and surprising silence at speed on the highway.

The OEM Goodyear Integrity tires on my AWD 2000 RX300 were truly miserable, delivering very little traction in the wet. Snow? Forget it, the thing tried to swap ends on me in the wet coming down the Snoqualmi Pass headed into Seattle. When I got home, despite fewer than 8K on the tires, I swapped for a set of Michelin Cross Terrains that proved excellent. Several years later when I'd worn out the OEM Michelins on my 2004 RX330, I swapped for a set of Bridgestone Duelers that were even better on that car. Check out our vendor Tire Rack's site for more current options.

2000 RX300


2004 RX330

BrFr

Thank you for the comments so far. By 80% I mean that 20% of the tire tread is gone. 80% of the tread is still there. This is just a guess. The tires on the car are Mastercraft touring LSR 225/70R/16 M+S. They were rated high in rain and snow by Tire Rack.
I have been driving for 43 years now with many different cars. This 99 RX front wheel drive is the worst car that I ever had for the front tires slipping on wet pavement. It is unnerving.
When I called the local Lexus dealer they also talked about the tires. I can't believe that other people don't/didn't have this problem.
Thank you for any help.

kalali

When you say slipping do you mean the front wheels just spin as you apply gas? I would have expected the traction control to intervene in a condition like this. Our RX is a 4wd but that's how it works on all other modern fwd or rwd cars I've driven. Does your ABS intervene when/if you hit the brakes on a slippery surface?

salimshah

Trac was an option in '99

Since I have it, my front wheel chirps a bit when I use my lead foot on gas-pedal.

I have an issue with torque-steer, but that comes with the fwd.

What can be done to reduce or eliminate the slip:

1. Better tires, tread and softer rubber [Tire Rack recommendation is by users and I only use it as a guide as users opinion can be biased and not thorough ,,, come to think of it even experts can make the same mistake ]

2. Tire pressure. I have seen people inflate 2-5 psi over the recommended pressure.

3. Weight distribution inside the cabin.

4. At the end physics rules ,,, if you give too much gas and the vehicle has inertia, the tire-to-road-grip would give. There is snow mode to reduce the torque to the tires.

Salim

Sulu

I have to agree about the Goodyear Integrity. Had them as a second set of tires on a 2002 Camry (original Michelin LX4 (?) wore out). Inflated to recommended pressure, handling was terrible. Over-inflated, handling improved but traction in snow became terrible. Luckily I only had them for about a year before the lease expired.

The reason no RX drivers complained may be because no one drives on Mastercraft tires on a Lexus. You get what you paid for. Mastercraft is not a well-known tire brand. Better to stick with a better-known brand, even if they are a bit more expensive, and be prepared to change tires every 5 years or so.

AlexusAnja

Integrity are the cheapest pos tires you can put on a car. Had them on my RX and stunk in anything but dry road. Went to cross terrains and they were great. Now kn Duelers and ccan't say much better than integrity. Just ease on the gas since you know the tires you have are not great.

BrFr

BrFr here. My 99 RX front wheel drive suv does not have traction control. The front wheels spin when I start out on wet pavement. I guess the tires spin because I don't have traction control. I will try the snow mode.

carguy07

Snow mode starts out in 2nd gear instead of 1st. Kind of hard on the car as a regular way to drive. I think I would just get some decent tires and keep my foot out of it in the rain, or just not care if the tires spin a little when I nail the gas in the rain.

hypervish

+1, I don't suggest driving in snow mode all the time.

The solution is to get good tires, think about a set of Michelin LTX. And if you want a good budget tire, with outstanding performance get Firestone Destination LE2.