Whether you polish spark plugs as a form of meditation or a car is just a thing to get you from A to B, we can all do with a little help when it comes to choosing the most appropriate tyres for our circumstances. Wherever you fall on the car-owner spectrum, the friendly crew at Eastern Tyre Centre is here to make sure your journeys are smooth and uneventful.
Our primary goal is to make sure you and your family are safe on the roads, which should in no way detract from the enjoyment of the drive. The fact is, those four black round things your car sits on amounts to no more than four handprints-worth of contact with the road. Needless to say, selecting the right tyres is important.
Let’s take a look at our customers’ most common queries when they’re in the market for the best tyres for their Lexus.
How do I know if I need new tyres for my Lexus?
Firstly, let’s briefly go over your tyres’ primary functions:
- Support the vehicle load
- Absorb road shock
- Provide traction and transfer breaking forces to the road surface
- Change or maintain direction
Now let’s take a look at tell-tale signs that indicate you need new tyres.
Tyre Tread
Tyres come with handy indicator bars, which are simply little ridges of rubber that sit within the trenches of your tyre’s tread. If the walls of the tread are getting close to these indicator bars, or sitting flush with them, you need new tyres.
In fact, once the tread is worn to this level, your car is no longer considered roadworthy. If your tyre tread sits above the indicator bars but there are worn patches here and there, you will most likely need new tyres.
We’ve written a wonderfully informative blog on the importance of tyre tread for your edification.
Tyre Pressure
It’s important. Air is what makes your tyres rigid and gives them the strength to support the weight of your car. The right pressure for your tyres can be found on the inside of the car door or in the driver’s manual.
Check it regularly and adjust as necessary; driving for too long on the wrong pressure can wear your tyres prematurely (apart from simply being unsafe).
Yes, we’ve also written a superb blog on tyre pressure too.
Alignment & Balancing
Feel a slight vibration through the steering wheel when driving?
This probably means your Lexus’s tyres are unbalanced.
This can lead to premature wear and the need for new tyres sooner than would otherwise be necessary. Book your Lexus in for a wheel alignment and balance at your next service and, in the meantime, read our blog on this topic to learn more.
Where can I find the best tyres for my Lexus?
Well, since you’re asking, right here!
The team at Eastern Tyre Centre has been providing and servicing the best quality tyres for Melbourne drivers for over three decades.
We know the industry, we know the market, and we know what’s best for your Lexus.
As a Best Drive Centre, we have a huge range of tyres suitable for a wide range of luxury vehicles, not to mention we’re one of the biggest Continental stockists in Melbourne.
We have the product and the expertise to help you buy the right tyres for your car, whether that’s a Maserati or a Tesla.
Our aim is to provide you with a quiet and comfortable ride. Our qualified technicians will conduct a safety inspection on your Lexus and provide a report addressing any areas that need attention.
We want you to have complete confidence in the rubber connecting you to the road so you can rest easy and really enjoy the drive.
You’ll find our products are always at a competitive price. We also have special deals available frequently for you to take advantage of.
So, don’t wait – treat your Lexus to the treads it deserves.
What should I know when calling the tyre shop?
We don’t expect you to be experts on tyres; we just need a few basics over the phone, such as:
- Model and year of your car
- Brand of your current tyres
- Age of your current tyres
- The series of numbers and letters on your tyre’s sidewall (e.g., 205/55 R 17 91W). You don’t have to know what this indicates.
*Pro Tip: make sure to check the numbers on one front tyre and one rear. This is because some cars have wider tyres at the back.
When you come in, we can have a more in depth conversation about what you want, the style of driver you are and your budget.
What’s the best price I can get for Lexus tyres?
There’s a lot that goes into determining the price of tyres. Let’s take a look at some factors.
- Size – bigger tyres have a higher cost of production, so they cost a little more
- Tread – price can be dependent on the pattern (symmetric, asymmetric, directional)
- Market demand – how popular is the tyre?
A good quality, typical-size tyre will cost you around $150 to $200.
A premium tyre, such as a Continental, Michelin or Bridgestone, is closer to $250 to $350.
You can find budget tyres for as little as $100 to $150.
Tyre manufacturers invest millions in R&D so that their products offer high performance and safety.
The big names cost more because their products are typically at the bleeding edge, providing a better and safer ride.
Are run flat tyres any good?
Run flat tyres promised a lot when they came on the market.
A tyre you can drive on even when it’s punctured? It sounded too good to be true and, in its early days, it probably was.
Run flats can still operate when punctured because of their reinforced sidewalls, which means they won’t collapse under the weight of the car. In its initial phases, this unfortunately meant an uncomfortable ride.
Today, though, run flats have improved mightily.
The ride comfort is much better, particularly in the higher end products such as the Continental SSR, which is indistinguishable from a traditional tyre.
So you can have the performance coupled with the convenience of not having to change a tyre on the shoulder of a busy freeway in the pouring rain.
Still not sure? Have a look at our blog on the benefits of run flats.
