JerryB

Hi Kaiser,

This is exactly what I am 'doing.'

sixonemale put me onto a spare online that I am currently negotiating the price/shipping with the seller. And I do plan on buying it.

As I have previously posted, I have the BMW kit that includes a compressor and etc, etc for dealing with a flat tire.

However, for the low price ( I hope ) that I can get this spare tire only ( nothing but the tire & wheel, no covers, etc ), I can now have the option of taking a spare with me when on a trip.

A local tire store ( Les Schwab ) has very heavy-duty yellow plastic bags & I will get one for the spare to keep it stored when not in the car & for keeping everything clean when it is in the car. Plus bright yellow is easy to find up in the attic.

Some call it the 'belt & suspenders' approach to this problem.

Jerry Baumchen

JerryB

Hi sixonemale ( Neal to his friends ),

OK, this is really a little story of how Neal/sixonemale helped me in getting a Space-Saver spare tire/wheel for my car.

He mentioned in a previous post about how he had bought one for back-up. So I sent him a PM and he replied that they could sometimes be found on craig's-list for ~$100 or so. We exchanged a few PM's and he said that there was one in Alabama for sale. I tried to find it on craig's-list but could not ( I'm not much of a computer guy ) so I PM'd Neal again and he sent me back the link. I then began negotiating with the guy in Alabama who would not budge on his asking price of $150 + ~$45 for shipping to Oregon. I then sorta remembered that Neal had PM'd me earlier that there might be one for sale in Oregon for ~$40. So I jumped back on craig's-list and found a Supra one for $35. I called them, it was a speed shop only about 3 miles from where I live, went over to buy it, asked for a senior-discount & got it for $30.

Neal, THANK YOU so much for all of your help on this. This site is a great place for us SC430 owners.

JerryBaumchen

PS) Tomorrow I'm off to Les Schwab for one of their bright yellow, heavy-duty plastic bags to keep the tire in.

76210Guy

I installed my spare tire kit with little hassle yesterday and this morning I had a set of Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires put on... what a difference! Like riding on a cloud.

I asked but they declined to let me burn the RFTs in the parking lot.

Cost of Spare tire kit: $729.
Cost of new tires: $900
Ride quality and peace of mind: Priceless.

scorpio74

76210, what tire sizes??? Please include the pics of your new set. Thanks. I'm thinking of getting a new set of tires as well.

76210Guy

Will do when I get time to take a photo today!

I put them on OEM wheels (because I intend to keep this car bone stock), so no wheel change. The tires are Continental Extreme Contact DWS - I paid $173/ea for them, plus mounting, balancing and had the TPM rebuilt (whatever that meant at $7/wheel) as well as paid $29/ea for a replacement warranty. I probably over paid but at around $900 I thought, what the heck.. In for a penny, in for a pound.

The tires are 245/40-18s all around.

VVTiBob

While not a picture, this TSB shows you a drawing of the Lexus Spare Tire kit, parts and installation procedure. When I picked mine up it took about ½ hour to install. Biggest headache was not damaging the gray retaining clips when removing then from their seated position. If you follow the link in my signature line there a some photos of the kit installed.

Harold57

If you pick up one of those clip removal tool kits (like from Harbor Freight for less than $5 or $10), popping out those clips is much easier. I managed to remove all mine for the trunk and the window seals on the front windows around the rearview mirrors without losing one!