Larryo

Got our SC last week--what a great car with extraordinary build quality. The first of many new cars that I did not find a defect on when I took it home--that includes Mercedes & Porsche.

Since I live in snow country, I am going to need winter tires & wheels. We drive our cars all the time--no winter storage. Any suggestions or experiences with by other members to help in our purchase?

WJSOLOMON

Like you, if my new SC comes in for the Holidays, I intend to replace the OEM Wheels & Tires with a "Dedicated" Winter set of new Wheels & Tires, and then feel relatively safe to drive in sown to Florida from Indiana for Christmas and New Years.

I went to the Web Site of THE TIRE RACK, and settled on the Dunlop Winter Sport M2, as the overall best compromise for Snow, Black Ice, and reasonably good High Speed Performance on the Interstates, when the weather would permit Higher Touring Speeds.

I found that when I talked directly to on of their Sales Agents, they were very well informed, and quite helpful in assisting you in making your selections. Competitive Prices, Long Record of Service, and Customer Satisfaction. Their Web Sites allows you to browse through a lot of choices, make side-by-side comparisons, and review the experience of previous owners of the various Tire Brands and Models.

Start there, and see if what you're looking for in terms of Performance, Traction in Snow / Slush / Ice, Noise, Comfort, Tread Life , etc., can be located.

Best of luck!

SOLO - 1

Larryo

I looked far and wide for winter tires. You are correct the only winter tire that fits the SC430 is the Dunlop tire that you mentioned. The tires are in very limited supply, so if you are going to need them you might consider ordering them now, even though your car is not here. I went to my local Discount Tire, since the tires will have to be mounted locally and the air pressure sensors installed. This is an expensive procedure. The air pressure sensors are $137 each from Lexus. To get the spare tire and parts to make it fit is nearly $600--I could not find the spare tire or the wheel any where else than the dealer. Then there is the cost of the tires and the wheels. Discount tire locally is purchasing the tires from Tire Rack at a little less than I could get them for and giving me the Web price on one of their wheels. Hopefully this will all work out. I will keep you posted on how it goes. The shipment of all the parts will probably be slowed a little by the terrorist activities of the week, so it may take a couple of weeks to get every thing. The dealer told me they would register the new wheel sensor to the vehicle for $90--seems like too much but they have you.

WJSOLOMON

Sure appreciate your "Heads Up" on your Winter Tire Situation, and your steps to resolve them. For me, the additional Investment of several thousand dollars to protect the overall Investment of nearly $66,000.00 worth of Sports Car, when I might choose to enjoy it's High Performance attributes in Weather / Road Conditions that might be somewhat risky when driving the darn car on it's OEM tires, or a "conventional" Snow Tires.

I'm not ready to cave in on carrying a Spare Tire along with the Dunlop Winter Tires, because of the high percentage of limited trunk space that it will demand. Probably what I will do, as reflect on these issues at this time, is to gamble on the onset of a "Mini-Recession" to keep the balance of Supply & Demand in my favor in being readily able to purchase these special niche tires within the near future, or for this Winter, for that matter.

At any rate, please keep me posted on how your new "D's" perform on Snow and "Black Ice", after you have had some time to experience the coming Winter season's bad weather.

Best of Luck!

SOLO - 1

Seattle SCone

Just went to Discount Tire to work on getting ready for the relatively mild, but still existent winter we face in Seattle.

Both winter tires which would fit the original rims were 6 to 8 weeks for availability. The long lead time and often stated questionable effectiveness of a wide snow tire lead me to go after option #2.

Ordered new 16 inch rims and snows as a dedicated winter set. It's going to come out to about $1400 for the set which wasn't much more than just snow tires for the OEM rims.

Since I wasn't as worried about looks on the 16 inch rims, I went with a simple five spoke wheel. Yep, utilitarian, but this is just for the Winter so I can live with it.

4 Wheels 16 x 7 5-114.3 42S ATS Saturn L706.MY.42 $620
4 Tires 225/55R-16 95H Michellin Pilot Alpin $636
Mounting Kit for wheels $35

I guess I'll be disabling the pressure sensor alarm and light when the new wheels are mounted in about two weeks.

Tjz

Hi all,

I will be going through the snow tire dance soon. My dealer agreed to mount, balance and install sensors for $500.00 .
The four 16'' tires and rims will run approx. $1000.00. The total is around $1500 which is 1/2 the price of the LExus program with much better tires. I am going to order from the tire rack and have everything dropped to the dealer.

I will let you know how it turns out, I'm going to have done in 2 weeks.

Anyone want to recommend a good 16'' snow tire?? I am not interested in performance in the winter, only getting through the white stuff.

TjZ

TheCarl

I just got the Blizzak MZ-03s at $209 each. Seems these are run flats, didn't realize that until they arrived. Had them mounted on Mille Miglia Imperas at $259 each. Plus the cost for sensors and mounting. All together set me back about $2500. Damn nice wheels though!

TheCarl

Try again on the wheels.

Seattle SCone

Got the rims and snows installed yesterday. The ride is definitely more damped on the non-runflats, much more akin to my ES300. I can still feel the road but small bumps are less sharp in sensation. Much, much less "hunting" of the tires (following of ruts). Haven't tried any hard cornering, but the 16" rims and tires are for snow and ice not sport performance for the winter months. I'm leaving one of the RF's in the trunk to act as a spare and add weight over the rear wheels. Unhooking the alarm wire was easy. I can't believe people were upset over THAT little yellow light on the dashboard. It is dimmer than the ECT Power light. The only odd thing is how the car looks with its brake discs so exposed. Now instead of a Burka it is wearing thongs to cover its brakes.