Hello everyone !
One of my tires prematurely wore down and needs to be replaced. They are continental tires for my Lexus IS 300 AWD. The tires cannot rotate from front to back as they are staggered setup from factory.
To my surprise, I was quoted $345 dollars for a single tire ( tax and labor included ).
Have tires prices gone up? Do you know a brand that you would recommend that isn’t too expensive and just as good as these I have ?
Many thanks.
First, AWD units can be quite fussy about diameter, so many tire shops will insist that all 4 tires be the same make model, and state of wear. So if you are trying to replace a single tire or a pair, it will have to be of the same make and model, then shaved down to the same tread depth remaining.
The problem is the scarcity of that specific OE tire - law of supply and demand.
If you are asking about replacing all 4 tires, then it depends on what you mean by “just as good”.
I suggest you spend some time on Tire Rack’s website. Use the “Tire Decision Guide”. That will help sort out your priorities.
First:replace both tires on that end of the vehicle with the size specified by Lexus.
Go to tirerack.com that site allows you to research tire by your driving needs ( in my case wet traction) and then the site will bring up many the tire brands and tire rack prices. There are other sites you can visit that have search features.
The price you were quoted for one tire might be legitimate, with out knowing the size and series of the tire, I don’t know. That is more than I paid for Michelins on my full-size truck.
Aside from that, your AWD system and alignment needs to be evaluated to determine why one tire wore out.
255/35/zr18
That tire size and speed rating, I am not going to look it up, sounds expensive. But, stay with that size, you could drop the speed rating down to “S”, which is 112MPH VS 149MPH for the “Z” rating,
But that decision/choice is yours, not mine.
Again, have the cause of the tire wear determined, or is it your driving style?
The tire premature wear is caused from having replaced one of the tires ( in the rear ) last year due to a puncture that wasn’t fixable. At the time I was told i didht need to replace both rear tires. But we realized now that was a mistake.
The one to the left side which was bought last year has plenty of tread on it. The shop told me once again I don’t need to replace it with the premature one to the right. But I’m here thinking it might cause an issue once again ?
I recently read in one of the trade magazines that auto repair prices (both parts and labor) have risen 23% since 2021. My personal experience agrees with this. So yes, prices of everything have increased.
Clueless , have you not been to a grocery store in the last 6 months ? Everything is more expensive and some items where the price has not risen much there will be less in the package.
As for tires , call a local tire shop and ask if they will tires of a lower speed rating on your vehicle.
Without doing any research, just casual observation: tire prices are inversely proportional to aspect ration.
True. Especially eggs. Last year I bought the same tire for $250. This year $345. That’s steep.
It is a premium brand… Continental… on a premium car… Lexus… at a time where inflation is averaging about 7% a year…averaging, some things are up more than others.
So, Yes, tire prices are up. There are tire brands that are less expensive. I do NOT recommend buying a tire with a lower speed rating… and some dealers won’t sell or install those on your car (liability!!).
As I noted in my speed rating comment I said could, I too should have said I do not recommend a lower speed rating,
Replacing one tire isn’t going to cause premature wear on the other side, so you’d better figure out what actually caused the wear before you replace the tire.
Your current tire is quite a bit cheaper ($234) on Tire Rack’s web site, so you might consider ordering from them.
If you really want to go to cheaper tires (whenever you replace all four tires, of course), it looks like the Vredestein Hypertrac All Season is a good tire in the same category that’s a bit cheaper. However, if you drive in any snow, my suggestion would be going with the Michelin CrossClimate2 instead, although that actually costs more. As others have said, look at Tire Rack’s web site and see what tires match up with your priorities here.
Ahh I see. Well, I’ve had an alignment last year. My car is driven 100% on smooth road. I’ll have the shop diagnosed the issue then.
100 % on smooth roads ? Is that even possible ?
What’s doubtful about it ?
Where I live you could not drive more than a mile on “smooth” roads. Your location makes all the difference.
And the answer to your original, straight-forward question is “Yes!”.
Up to 30 miles on smooth road for me. I’m upstate NEWYORK, pretty far away from the city. So when I had a punctured tire I was pretty shocked.
In that case, I’ll repeat my recommendation for the Michelin CrossClimate2 unless the price is an overwhelming concern.
