Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Will try snow soon. Glad to report I am not scared of wet streets anymore.
Thanks again for this thread. Saved me of buying the Birdgestones and gettign into another disaster.
Hi. Thank you so much for that tip on using disc. tire's calculator. That helped me decide what tire to buy from tirerack.com
I ended up buying Yokohama Parada Spec-X P235/55R19 tire's from them to replace the terrible Toyo P245/55R19 OEM tires.
Take care and have a great 2010.
Thank you again for the link.
Brother Jay
This was the post I was thinking about regarding the 255 60 r19 tires on the 2008 Highlanders.
Thank you. You saved me from buying the wrong tires since I was looking at P255 60 r19 Goodyears since they only cost $87 each.
Take care.
Brother Jay
How are you? Thank you for the advice and for the posts.
We just ordered Yokohama Parada Spec-X P235 55 R19 tires from tirerack.com for our 2008 Highlander Hybrid. You lose very little width and almost no height on these tires and they have received great reviews from previous customers.
They only cost $162 each and approx. $50 for shipping.
Please let us know how your tires work out.
Take care and happy new year.
Brother Jay
Did you buy tires yet? We just bought Yokohama Parada P235 55r19 from tirerack.com. The customer service rep who assisted us, while recommending we use the OEM tire size, did admit that they were an acceptable tire size for the 2008 Highlander Hybrid, which we own as well.
They only cost $162 each and they have warehouses throughout the US. They even have recommended installers in your area, several w/ online discount coupons.
Have a great new year's eve & healthy happy 2010.
Brother Jay
Great tires in snow and slush. Huge improvement over the stock toyo's. Very noticeable improvement start/stop and changing lanes. No problems in 12+ inches of snow in the Boston area and on the cape.
One tip - 36 lbs in the tires provides the best ride. 32 lb as recommended by Toyota for the highlander is a little mushy and seemed bouncy. Others with the Nokians have recommended 38 Lbs. These are extra load V rated tires and perform better at a higher pressure.
Sorry for the slow response but I wanted to get some miles in real winter conditions.
Did get 30k out of the A20s - with even wear
My 2004 Solara has Goodyear Assurance TripleTreds - NOTHING compares to those. While a rough ride, they're velcro on ice
Upon trying to get the 255/55/19s installed we learned that our dealership/Toyota would likely void our warranty if we brought the car in with ANY repair issues being that we chose to put a 255 (vs. 245) on the HIghlander even though they agree the 255 tire would work just fine. Toyota customer service confirmed that we are basically limited to the same Toyos, the 245 Dueler or Bridgestone Blizzaks for winter- that is IT. Anything else voids the warranty on the WHOLE car. Not sure if anyone has ran into this? Looking for some last minute ideas b/c while I love the car we are pretty fed up with Toyota (have had major reliability issues with the car to boot) and looking to go to get another Subaru...
You're just getting around to responding to a post from 2006? Did you just wake up from a looooooooong nap? I suspect, just maybe, you might be a little late with your advice! He probably rolled his Highlander years ago.
Pleasant dreams...
Yes indeed. There are many posts concerning using non-OEM "sized" tires on Toyota Highlander. I was in same boat in early November. Original tires are shot at 28k, needed replacements. Trusted guys at local Toyota shop told me same thing and to be careful with regard to warranty. Toyota as a Company very strict on such matters. Not that a Toyota "would" give you front end or transmission problems, but it is EASY way for them to VOID warranty if using non-standard sized OEM tires. Toyo does make another type of tire other than Open Road. At the time of my purchase, the other type (name) of Toyo tires in correct size could not be found anywhere in USA. Thus, I was stuck putting same type tire on vehicle. See prior posts. Believe most of Highlander drivers got them from tirerack.com. Even my Toyota oil change guy said the transmission is computer controlled and different sized tires will impact gas mileage. I believe there are computer hackers who can adjust-modify the computer, but do not know what that would do to the warranty. In short, IF you don't care or need to worry about the warranty issues or potential issues, then go with whatever brand and size will fit on stock rims. I heard Michelin has good tire for winter and all around driving. Probably will be MY next set of tires.
Happy shopping.
In the last couple of days we decided to cut our loses and turn the Highlander in for a Subaru Tribeca. You can't get 55 inches of snow in 10 days and mess around with a car that is bad in the snow.
I need a recommendation for new tires that can handle the snow. Any brand any price. I need to be able to drive comfortably in the snow. I'm in Michigan.
My last vehicle was a Honda Odyssey Van and it NEVER got stuck. :mad:
I need a recommendation for new tires that can handle the snow. Any brand any price. I need to be able to drive comfortably in the snow. I'm in Michigan.
********************************************************************************-
Have you read the last couple pages of this thread? A number of us have spoken very highly of Toyo H/T tires, which are one of the very few options in 245/55/19.
We are digging out of our 3rd blizzard this winter so far, and the H/Ts have exceeded all my expectations. Absolutely NOTHING like the A20's. Just get Toyo H/Ts and be done with it.
this doesn't impress me.
I have an 08 sport with 19's.
Got OEM 17 wheels (ebay) and put on Michelin X-ixe.
We've had a sh%&load of snow for the past 2 weeks.
I have TRIED to get stuck! Took every bad road. Couldn't get stuck.
I love my HL with X-ice. Better than my Expedition 4wd w traction.
Quit complaining and get the OEM 17" and put some real winter tires on them. Just my 2C.
See if you can find the Toyo Open Country H/Ts in your area. They're frequently on backorder, though. If they're not available, the Bridgestone Blizzaks are a terrific winter tire, especially for an area prone to snow like Michigan. You'll want to have them taken off in the spring (necessitating a summer tire choice at that time), then put back on again next winter, etc....but you'll feel safer. Both of these are available in the OEM 245/55R19 size, so you won't have to worry about voiding any warranty by upsizing. Your factory warranty is over, though because you say you have 36K miles already.
Good luck!
Thanks for the info.
Maybe.... the A20's were designed for gas mileage and therefore sacrificing friction/traction?
where do you live & how much snow have you driven in with the new ones?
Why didn't I check that before? Well, I had Toyo tires on my Nissan Maxima in the past and they lasted for over 100k km (62k miles). At 55k km (34.5k miles) on my Highlander it just did not register as a problem. Not until now, anyways. And Toyota being such a reputable brand, making highly reliable cars and all that ... They wouldn't have anything substandard on their vehicles, would they? Surely not the tires on a car, which costs $60k Canadian on this side of the boarder. Then I started searching the net and found this tread. Wow, what an awakening!
Well, I visited Toyota dealership and complained about Toyo A20 tires on my HL Ltd. 2008. They couldn't find anything wrong with the tires, just worn out, needs replacement. Toyo A20 a bad tire? All OEM tires are like that and need to be changed early, etc. These people are well trained. After all if I killed myself in that blizzard it would have been attributed to careless driving, bad road conditions, restricted visibility but not to the inferior tires. Right?
Now, here is the reason I am posting:
At the dealership I was told that I don't need to use 245/55/R19 size. As long as I am within 3% of the original parameters I am OK. Warranty will not be voided, car components will not be damaged, simply there is no problem. Since Toyo Open Country HT are not available here at the moment, and I did not want them in the first place, I ordered 255/55/R19 Michelin Lattitute Tour HP 111V tires. These tires are fairly expensive in Ontario but I shopped around a bit and Toyota agreed to match the lowest price in the area. The spare Toyo A20 will stay as a spare and can be used with Michelins for a short emergency drive. So, I will buy tires from Toyota and Toyota will install them for me.
This not only deals with all the worries regarding warranty or what is left of it but dispels bigger worry that even slightly larger or smaller tires could do real damage to transmission, suspension, etc. and could leave me with a huge price to pay sometime down the road.
It stands to reason that there must a safety buffer built into the system if only because people drive with under inflated or over inflated tires, the diameter is getting slightly smaller with time, tires lose their shape for various reasons. If I wasn't told a lie and this margin is really 3% it should be large enough to accommodate other sizes. Of course, the closer to the recommended size the better.
I have just got back from having my tyres rotated and four wheel alignment. My 2004 Kluger went through its first set of Toyo tyres in 40,000km (25,000miles) and I was never impressed with them. Replaced with Yokohama Geolander H/T-S and now have 85,000km (about 53,000 miles) on them. Will need to replace in about 5,000 to 10,000 km but wear has been excellent and mud/snow grip remains superb even at reduced tread depth.
Definitely wiil replce with Yokohamas again
Cheers
Graham
The guy I talked to said that Michelin is aware of high demand for this size. He also said that Michelin does not recommend using oversized tires on vehicles because it usually does void the warranty. I mentioned to him that at Toyota dealership I was told that there is no problem here as long as the tire is within 3% of the recommended parameters. He said that in this case its fine.
Well, I already ordered Latitude Tour HP 255/55R19 because in Ontario I need reliable tires and I will never last till March with these bald Toyo A20s. But if I don't like the tire and the proper size is available out there then it should not take a lot to trade the slightly used one for the new recommended tire.
Oh happy days. (Insert dancing Snoopy "happy feet" pic.) Thank you, and thanks to Michelin, etc. Somebody had to tap this market.
I like good tires so much that the '06 Avalon that I'm in the process of selling to a coworker needed tires a couple of months ago. The 17" factory tires only lasted 41k miles. I put Bridgestone Turanzas with Serenity on it and 4 of them ran me $790-something. Great tires, made a very good car better.
I definitely will have good tires on my new Highlander and the sooner the better if they're highly rated for rain and standing water. I can walk to work if it snows, or ices up which is what Richmond usually gets.
John
Does anyone know if there a tire trade show like most other industries have?
Just a quick correction here...
The OEM Bridgestones are the Dueler H/L 400s. The Dueler H/L Alenzas are not available in 245/55 R19 size.
Not precisely sure what the technical difference between the 400 and Alenza models are, but there is a WORLD of difference in practical terms. I ended up putting 255/55 R19 Alenzas on my '08 HiHy, and they're excellent. They're also rated in the Top 5 of tires in that category, as opposed to the bottom 5 like the 400s.
I'll also confirm, independently, that I was told by two different dealers in my area that warranty is not an issue going to a 255/55 R19. It's not a "certified tire" by Toyota for that vehicle, but it's well within safety tolerances, and they see plenty of '08+ vehicles coming in with them. They, at least, had never denied a warranty claim as a result.
There's another thread HERE talking about this (towards the end) in greater technical detail, including details of my own research and experiences here.
"According to your email you are searching for replacement tires for your 2010 Toyota Highlander size P245/55r19, we do apologize at the present time we do not build a tire in this size and have no indication as to when we may introduce that tire size in the replacement market. Please check back with us at a later date for any yupdates."
So, I would not count on Michelin coming through any time soon.
I just purchased my 2010 Limited on 12-23-09 with the Bridgestone Dueler 400 tires. Hopefully, they are building those tires better now. But, if not, I have more time than some of you guys for someone to step up & build a replacement tire in that size.
John
But it is hard to agree with your statement that "If they were 60,000 to 100,000 mile tires who would need replacements right..Then of course there wouldnt be a need for tire stores."
If this were true new cars should come with crappy radios, lousy paint job, substandard windshields, bulbs, break pads, mufflers, etc. After all, there are stores out there, which sell this stuff. And they all need to make a leaving. Right?
I would rather have a choice before committing to a new car. Do I want normal, reliable tires, or perhaps a set, which is only good enough to get me out of the dealership.
My problem is that I was 100% sure I bought a reliable car and reliable everything, what came with it. This thinking nearly got me killed a few of days ago on a snow covered highway.
Also, this tires fiasco on my Highlander makes me wonder what else in the car is there just for looks? What other corners were cut to save a buck that I will only find out when it is nearly too late?
And yes, car manufacturers are in the business of selling cars, and a lot of them also sell tires.
I suspect there are at least a few other models out there using this size.
On the way back, we had similar conditions. No problems, except for a warning message saying the pressure monitor system failed. It needed to be checked (all tire pressure was above 35 psi). After a few minutes, the message disappeared. It appeared again after a few hours. I took the car to a Toyota dealer and described the problem/message to them. The checked but could not find the issue. Nothing was seen from the computer. They said that sometime this would happened because of the cold weather. I was upset because the car was sold in New England and would not function properly in the cold weather. They said that there was nothing they could do at that point. I will bring it back if the message appears again. This will help if the sytem do fail for good in the future.
John
I've just installed new snow tires on (General Altimax Arctic) my 2004 Highlander. The grip is far better than the OEM (integrity) on slippery surfaces. The tires appear to be correctly installed and inflated. However, when my speed exceeds 45mph the tire pressure, VSC, Brake, ABS and other lights come on. They all turn off when I slow down or restart.
I'm looking for some help in figuring out (i) how to prevent these lights from coming on and (ii) whether these tires are doing anything bad to my highlander.
With thanks for your advice
Thank you for your email. We welcome the opportunity to serve you.
We apologize that we do not produce a tire for your Toyota Highlander.
Michelin has not announced that we will be producing the P245/55R19 size at
this time. You might check back at a later date to see if this size has
been added to our lineup.
Thank you for considering Michelin tires.
Its not just Michelin, its the supply chain of wholesalers and retailers as well. There has to be enough demand for the tire to justify stocking it and paying interest carrying costs on the unsold inventory. I don't think 19 inch Highlander and Venza wheeled vehicles can attain that alone without an OEM pull. You're best bet is if Toyota starts using Michelin tires as OEM, but given their recent apparent propensity for "cheap" rubber, I don't see it happening unfortunately.