I would like to hear from anyone that switched and which tires are best for Florida and our rain (no snow).

I'm especially interested in knowing if you drive them without the spare. I need the trunk space for my golf clubs.

I'm feeling that the odds of a flat are probably minimal and a side wall blow out even smaller. Do you think a couple cans of fix a flat would be safe?

What has your experience been?

Thanx

 

most folks here are running non-run flat Michelin Pilot Sport P/S or A/S. Most others are running top-brand non-run flats as well. Most are performance "Y or Z" rated (all-weather).

The change will be night and day.

The michelins have great tread, not noisy, firm grip, longer thread life and very comfortable.
I had the Dunlop DSST 5000 that came w/ the car for an '03. Those were crap. I ran those to the ground, literally. The tires were bald and the steel wires were sticking out on the inner wall.

I immediately changed them out at 30k. This goes to show you that tires are good for about 15-20k and don't wait any further than 20k, cause there will be signs of wear and tear. You wouldn't see it initially from the outter edges but when you inspect them carefully, it's visible within the wheel well.

I just put 5K (35k total miles on the car) on my mich. pilot sport A/S's, no issues, no flats, no blowouts. The Michelins are holding up very well. They better! Cause at 240 a pop, that's what you pay for to get the high-performance quality of a top rated tire for a high-end vehicle and drive w/out any worries or regrets.

If you're keeping the stock rims or have the TRD's, the fix-a-flat may damage the TPS sensor according the the posts that I have read in the past. (Do a search on TPS sensor).

Since i'm running non-run flat, I don't need a spare and I'm careful and aware of the road so I don't worry too much. When it happens, it happens and you find a way out.
But a spare will come in handy for the very long road trips.

The other folks will chime in on their brand name experiences as well.

 

I switched out the runflats at about 22,000 when they wore out, and got the Michelins.

As noted above, the ride and handling is much, much improved.

Do not use canned gas flat-fixers, as that goop will ruin the pressure sensors and cost you a fortune. Tire Rack does offer a new kit with an inflator and a water based sealer that purports to not harm the sensors. I have that, but hope not to have to use it.

Since I do take a lot of long trips, I spent about $200 to get the wheel and spare. But not the whole kit, which can cost you a grand. Just the replacement carpeted mat is about $250, but I can cut a piece of masonite to size and glue some carpet to it myself. On the road, of course, the top is up and there is plenty of room in the trunk.

Note that if you have a flat outside a real city, you only have about 50 miles on the run flat. Odds are you will have to have the car towed to some Lexus or Toyota dealership or high end tire place that knows how to handle run flats AND that has one to sell you. Major problem. If you have a flat with the conventional tire and no flat, many AAA trucks can fix the tire at the spot or at their garage; replacements are much more readily available than for runflats. Thus, even if you have to be towed with a flat because you have no spare, it's going to be less of a problem than a flat at the same location with the runflats.

All in all, getting rid of the runflats looks like a good move to me.

 

Los Angeles is quite similar to Florida's weather. I changed over to General UHP for about half the price of the popular Michelins. Two thumbs up: my main critera being ride comfort and absence of tire noise. Read consumer reviews and comprehensive testing for this particular tire at www.tirerack.com. It was rated #1 for its class.

I don't have spare tire. In all the years I've had tubeless equipped tires, I can count the times that I needed to use the spare with my right hand fingers- ok- maybe two fingers. These tires have plenty of warning when punctured. The air pressure dissipates slowly- sometimes it takes days to notice.

In an event of immediate spare tire need, I'll have my AAA card take care of that- tow my car in to the nearest service center. I have the premium membership that will cover me for hundreds of miles.

 

even if i were to drive with stock wheels now (i have 20s now), i would still prefer to drive the car with non-runflats and no spare. the runflats ride is just horrible with no handling

 

I have Michelin Pilot Sports A/S & they are good enough for the rainy weather here in winter. The car rides & handles much better with them than the runflats I don't have spare tires, but then I don't plan to ever drive this car far out of town . . .

 

Thanx for all the info! I assumed that the Michelin's were probably the choice of most. I was not aware of the General Exclaim UHP's though - certainly lot's of thumbs up's reviews.

Great tip on staying away from the "goop" style tire inflators (sensor destroyers)! I think my Yokohama run flats have about 16,000 and they have become noisy.

My longest trips (golf outings) are about 100 miles each way. You have me leaning to give up the run flats, buy the water based inflator (back up).

Think I'll crank up our "world class" sound system (what road noise), keep an eye on any other posts while I decide.

Does anyone know how available the General UHP vs the Michelin's are in case one must be replaced out on the road?

 

golf ...

I replaced my runflats with Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's which are excellent on both wet and dry surfaces. Check them out at www.tirerack.com where you can compare them with other high-performance brands.

 

My SC came with non-run flats and replaced original Bridgestones with Goodyear F1-GS D3.
Same weather in New Orleans as Florida. Outstanding grip in both wet and dry. Slight increae in road noise.

 

all this "run-flats are a POS" is getting me mad!!! I've have had my sc for a month, and can not for the life of me remember what it was like to test drive an sc w/o run flats... as far as I'm concerned, the ride right now is pretty good, I don't have any complaints... so i'm gonna wait till the tires i have now are done, than i'll look at alternatives to run flats...

 

I ran the runflats for 5 years and 24,000 miles and never really minded them, but the Michelin PS tires are a great improvement.

It's not worth junking a set of tires with good tread left, but you will notice the difference when the time comes.

You can search here all day and not find any posts saying I wish I had my runflat tires back -- they were so smooth and handled so well.

No complaints from the converts.

 

I'm hitting on 3 years and 8K miles, and also plan to wear out the runflats, but most likely will switch to normal tires, due to a post I read, which is true (at least on this town).
First off, you can only run one of these tires deflated for 50 miles, or 100 at the most. A puncture tire is supposed to be replaced, not patched. And if you run it more than 50 miles, it'd have to be replaced no matter what. Then you need a specialized shop to handle them, and I can count them with one hand in this town. Then, NOBODY in town carries those tires, so car would be disabled for days until the specially ordered tire arrives. And if you're out of town, you're dead in the water, as nobody (AAA, etc) can replace your tire.
The only benefit is when you mostly drive in town (I'm one of those), as you won't be stranded with a flat, but that's about it. Later.

 

The above post is correct.

If you think through what needs to be done in the case of a flat while out of town, with the runflats or with the regular tires and no spare, you are looking at a tow either way. The difference is that the conventional tire can be replaced or repaired much more quickly, easily and almost anywhere.

And if you spring for the spare to use on road trips, just in case, your options are even better.

So any way you look at it, the conventional tires are the better replacement option.

 

I enquired about changing from run flat to conventional tires and was told by a tire specialist that this was an unwise change considering that Lexus had designed the car for this type of tire.

 

Because Lexus originally offered runflats as an option, it's highly unlikely that the car was designed to run on them. I'd call this specialist's expertise into question.

Speaking of towing, notice that the manual recommends against any kind of towing other than by flat bed which, technically, is not towing, but hauling.