DropTop430

How many km's or miles do you have on your stock runflats and what is your driving style like.

I thought it might be intresting to see how these tires are wearing.

Phu

Got 2300 miles and they are like new. The tires still have the nubs on them. I drive pretty agressively.

bengreen

Got 15,200 on mine..conservative city driver...been known to go 75-80mph back and forth to San Antonio....service tech says I should get another 10,000 miles on them....

ceboyd

only 4700 miles on mine.. look great so far!

TOPLEXS

11K miles so far. Starting to notice some uneven wear on fronts. Inside edges feathering, and showing wear.

TxsLxs

Unfortunately, I can't tell you about tire wear on my SC430 since we have now had the 5th replacement tire put on the car. 5 flats in 7 months...Toyota has not responded to our complaint on the run flats, and the dealer keeps replacing them since "the tire cannot be repaired." At nearly $500 per replacement, the TCO of this vehicle is going through the roof. Anyone else having this problem?

1NICESC430

YIKES!!! Five flats in seven months - what rotten luck.
I don't think I've had that many flats in 20 years.

What's happening? Are you picking up nails and other debris? Or hitting things.

TxsLxs

We hadn't had that many flats in our 20+ years of marriage--combined! And no, we don't live in a construction zone. My wife drives the car 30 miles each way to work every day on major highways only...and she hadn't had a flat in the previous 4 years with her SC400. This wouldn't be that bad, I suppose, if it weren't for the fact that the run flat tires are so expensive to replace. We expected to replace them more frequently than "normal" tires...but this is ridiculous. Right now, I'm considering taking the bite and retro-fitting the car to standard tires (and adding a spare--yuucch!).

alfa2600

SC430 obtained April 2001, 16500 miles on run flats, appear to have 10000 miles left, cruise at 70-75, do not corner hard. Hate the tires but they won't wear out. Just switched them front to rear, got rid of a rhythmic thrumming noise.

NREIFF

WELL -

I have been an advocate of the on-runflat tires although I seem to be the only Lexus owner that seems to have them.

I just took my car in for 15000 mile service (I have 16000 miles) and the dealer told me I need to replace two tires because of tread wear. I guess I need only two because two have previously been replaced because of sidewall bubbles.

I had thought that I was experiencing the sidewall bubble problem since I did not have the runflats but after checking out this thread. . . looks like I was wrong!!

Bottom line is this. . .
Runflats or not ...these tires do not hold up very well. So I guess
I am going to replace the tires with the non runflats because at least they handle well.

Neil Reiff
Philadelphia, PA

bengreen

Question for those who have converted from RF to conventional tires. How much was the "conversion kit" for the trunk and the 'donut' spare? Any been-there..done-it experience out there?

NREIFF

To answer your question about the donut spare . . .

I have the non-runflats and the spare. I have replaced several tires but have never used the spare nd don't know if you really need it.

The truth is, if you ever really do get a flat, you will want to get a tire on your car and not use the spare anyway. And, if you are caught somewhere without it, there is always 24 hour Lexus assistance. Let it be there problem . . . but chances are you will bubble the tire and not get a flat.. And you can drive on that at least as well as the donut spare for a few miles.

THe real question about the standard tires is whether there is a diifrence between the Dunlop SP9000 and the Dunlop SP2030. The latter is available through Lexus ( and, if you are lucky maybe you can find it). The SP9000 is more available, more reasonably priced, and is ZR rated as is the SP2030 which is a $350-400 tire through Lexus.

Neil Reiff
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania