Rx400H Winter Alloys And Tyres For Sale?

[NMV]

Hi, new so please excuse if this isn't appropriate but..

I've been trying to find some info on the forum about winter tyres. I'm a new owner of a 2005 RX400h which needs new tyres. I have convinced myself that I'm best to get some winter alloys and tyres as a spare set.

Have honed in on the Continental SportContact5 for the summer tyres, but...

Does anyone have 4x alloys they want to sell onto me (Farnham area)? which I can put some winter tyres on? Will try on eBay if not.

Thanks,
Nicola

[Crowtree]

I dont have any alloys for sale but I do have two new Hankook Ventus 235/55/18 tyres for sale ? £170 for the pair they are basically brand new and have done about five miles. They are normally about £140 each !

[Lydiamight]

It may help you to read an old post of mine relating to Winter Tyres:

Currently own a 2008 RX400H as well as a BMW 335D Automatic Coupe. The BMW is absolutely useless in the snow. Fitted with ultra low profile 19 inch run flats and lots of electronics to stop the wheels spinning it's a car to leave parked up until the weather gets better.

Decided about a month ago to investigate winter tyres for the Lexus instead. The stock tyres are Bridgestone Potenza summer tyres, great in the good weather, but they didn't look as if they would be that good in the snow. As I started to investigate I realised that there is a very, very limited choice of winter tyres available in the OEM size of 235 55 18. Also saw that in the USA some RX400h's come with 17 inch rims as standard so I started looking for a secondhand set of 17 rims.

These are fitted to the RX 3XX series in the UK and as these cars have been around for a lot longer than the RX400h there is a much better chance of picking up a set of secondhand rims from a breakers. After a few weeks of looking managed to find a set of Lexus 17 alloy rims, complete with centre caps for £150 from a breakers yard in Milton Keynes. One wheel had some scuff marks on the rim---but what the hell, they were only going to be on the car in the bad weather.

Then discovered this really useful wheel and tyre size comparator here http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp

Comparisons were:

OEM 235 55 18, Rim width 7 inches, offset 35mm

Proposed new size was going to be

225 65 17, Rim width 6.5 inches, offset 30mm

The comparator told me that there would be plenty of clearence and that the difference in diameter would alter the speedometer reading by 1.3% and that at 60mph my speedometer would be reading 60.8mph. I think that I can live with that.

Next thing was to source the tyres. Costco had a special offer on---buy four tyres and get another 20% off what are already very competitive prices, although you are restricted to buying Michelin tyres. After a bit more research I settled on the Michelin Latitude Alpin. They had to be ordered in, but arrived within four days. With the discount the tyres worked out to around £146.00 each. Had them fitted to the bare rims and waited for the weather to get worse.

Looking at the forecast I decided to fit them on Wednesday of last week----what a transformation. I have been out and about in around 18 inches of snow and the car really drives as if it is on normal roads. Even up steep hills the rear wheel drive rarely kicks in and the really impressive thing is the ability to brake on ice or snow. Unless you are looking at a panic stop the ABS doesn't even need to operate, the car just comes to a fuss free stop.

When I told my friends that I was going to invest in winter tyres I received lots of comments about "waste of money" "we never have weather bad enough to justify them". Those same friends are now ringing me up to see if I can give them a lift or get some shopping in for them.

Until you have driven in the snow and ice with a decent set of winter tyres you can have no idea of just how good they are.

I cannot reccomend them highly enough.

[NMV]

Thanks both! I went for the ContiSport tyres (I was getting in desperate need to change them), and will look again into winter tyres for next winter. Interestingly the Lexus dealer I spoke with to get some advice on tyres said he rarely saw the need for winter tyres.... perhaps it's a southern thing and our winters aren't extreme enough for long enough to warrant changing over.

Crowtree - thanks for the offer of the tyres, sounds like a great deal but I'm all sorted now.