About 2 years ago, we bought a set of these great winter tires size 225/45R17 for my wife’s Lexus AWD IS250. Gotta have the good stuff for winter up here in Alaska.
She blew one last season in one of our Alaska-sized potholes only to have the dealer tell her “they don’t make those anymore”. Nobody else has them, I can’t find them online, and all tire dealers I talked with say you HAVE to have 4 identical tires on this AWD. Can’t even have 2 sets of 2 the same.
Is this tire really extinct? Do I really have to buy FOUR new tires at a thousand bucks or so because we blew one?
Would appreciate any suggestions,
your fellow-cartalk-fan in Anchorage, Alaska,
Con J.
Look on E-Bay and other sale sites to see if you can find a used one to match. Also try salvage yards.
I found this link to seller:
Thanks much; unfortunately the one tire they have is not the right size 
Cheers/Con
Thanks; tried a lot of those incl ebay, craigslist etc but no joy so far
Just out of curiousity, have you read the manual to see if it says you need to replace all four tires at the same time? Some AWD systems are more sensative than others, and if the manual doesn’t say you have to buy four new ones, you should be able to get away with only replacing two of them.
Nope, as a true cartalk fan I haven’t taken this obvious step! Will check tonight. Thinking about this, I also just emailed Lexus asking whether 4 the same tires really is a requirement for this model. Thanks for the idea!
Try contacting tirerack.com via phone. They may have all your answers.
It is not true all AWD vehicles require near matched tires. I think it is the minority of brands however the most prevalent AWD vehicle (Subaru).
Read this and pay special attention to the last two paragraphs- http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=18&
Keep in mind that winter tires actually wear out much sooner than the tread wear indicators might lead you to believe. I believe tirerack has a good tutorial on winter tire wear as well but there are plenty of resources available at a click. Whether or not it is worthwhile to buy one new tire and have it shaved to match the other three will depend greatly on how far gone the current tires have gotten after two years of your use.