I am replacing the 16" tires and wheels on my LE V6 that came with 215/60R16 Turanza EL400 tires that are wearing out prematurly, albeit evenly. To stay within factory specs, for the wheels and tires, I am going with what comes on the SE. I am buying a set of aftermarket 17x7 Motegi US7 Hyperblack wheels with factory spec 5.114 bolt pattern (which are on backorder and will arrive in two weeks) and 215/55R17 tires.

Based on lots of research, I want all season V or H rated all season grand touring tires with at least a 50,000 mile tread wear warranty with low road noise and high handling scores. I boiled my choices down to the two top rated tires tested by tirerack.com as follows:

• Michelin Primacy UTQG A A 560 94H & 60,000 tread warranty.
• Bridgestone Serenity UTQG AA A 440 94V & 50,000 tread warranty.

Now I find BF Goodrich came out with a new Advantage T/A UTQG A A 560 94V in February 2009 which Tirerack has in stock. The Goodrich website makes them sound great but there are no independent test or reviews by independent organizations or consumers that I can find that tell how they perform in the "real world."

I'd like some advice here on a tire choice - and if there is another tire I should consider, let me know. Thanks in advance for your help.

P.S. I posted this in the ToyotaNation forum (I use the same Paul3637 username as I use here) and thus far several people suggested I go with 18 inch rims but no comments yet on which tire to buy. I am sticking with 17" wheels.

 

Hi Paul. I'm brand new to the forum but not to the Camry. We just bought our fifth Camry in 18 years. This time I decided on an 2009 v6 SE. I would not go bigger than the 17 in wheels for your LE. Anything bigger and you're going to feel like you're driving on bricks. As far as the tires are concerned it looks like you've already looked at tirerack which is what I was going to suggest. Going with an all season tire from a known manufacturer should keep you happy. Dunlops have worn well on my previous Camrys, Good Years also but the traction has been better on the Dunlops. I've also used Yokohama and Kuhmo. Kuhmo's are super cheap but they don't last very long and go out of round which means you have to replace them sooner so they end up costing you more in the long run. Stick with Dunlop, Good Years, Yokohama, even Bridgestone. Michelins are very durable and quiet but more expensive. Good luck and let us know which tires you end up buying.

 

Just to add to my previous posts. I sold Toyotas for 10 years and most manufacturers including Toyota use tires that last at most 30k to 40k miles before they need to be replaced. I have the same tire you are replacing on my Camry (Bridgestone Turanza EL400'S) and I don't expect to get more than 30k miles out of them.

 

Thanks Mister2; you are correct.

My insurance agent has an 08 SEV6 and actually shopped around for one with Michelins. He is a former Toyota Dealer general manager. I called him only to see if I needed a rider on my insurance for the new wheels and tires. The answer was NO but they would pay for the upgrade if the car was stolen or totalled out - just keep the receipts. I have new car two year replacement insurance and a $750 deductible. So unless I get carjacked; probably does not matter anyway.

At 8000 miles, my front tire Bridgestones are almost down to the treadwear indicators which I did not realize until two days ago when I went take pictures of them to put them on ebay or Criagslist.

Your advice is correct. I am going with the Michelins. This $1500 tire and wheel upgrade is theoretically costing more than if I had just bought an SEV6 in the first place. However, when I bought my car, I was able to get the LE for under dealer invoice and they would not let an SE go for less than $1000 over invoice so the real difference was over $2,000.

The same tire will behave different on different vehicles. Tirerack.com rates the wet stopping power of the Serenety higher but that was on a BMW. But on an '07 Camry

http://www.minivans.autoblog.com/200...ng-economical/

said

"From 55 miles an hour, the Michelins allowed a 12-foot shorter stopping distance on wet pavement than an identical Toyota Camry wearing Bridgestones Turanzas with Serenity Technology. Several of the journalists in attendance also talked about the Bridgestone car getting squirrelly toward the end of the braking maneuver, something we felt as well. It was by no means a scientific test, but it was easy to tell the Bridgestones just weren't gripping as well."

OEM tires are the weakest link in the Toyota/Lexus chain. My wife had to replace the tires on her 2002 ES300 at 18,000 miles.

 

Thank you for your kind words. Which wheel are you getting? I can look it up on the tirerack website and see how it would look on your car. Should be good. They have a very nice selection of wheels. Man, I hope I don't have to replace my tires that quick. I'm a rather aggressive driver and so is my wife. By that I mean we like spirited driving. She tends to hit curbs though which I'm scared she will bend the 17 wheels

 

Motegi Racing US7 (Hyper Black)
http://www.buywheelstoday.com/images/?id=4991

I have already done the tirerack "picture on your car" thing - it comes in a pdf format so I cannot copy and paste. I will post pic when I put new wheels on. Car has 8200 miles on it and front tires are worn down to 3/32" - and I don't drive aggressively. Service manager at dealer says they see similar wear all the time. Replacing with 215/55/17 Michelin Primacy with 60,000 mile warranty on sale at NTB for less than the tirerack.com price.

 

Niiccee!! Did they pro-rate the tires? I´m hoping I won´t have to go through this with my tires but knowing the quality of OEM´s I probably will so I want to be prepared. I´m looking forward to seeing the wheels on the car.

 

The wheels I ordered are discontinued so I ordered some sharp looking 17" 9 spoke Avalon Limited wheels which look similar to the 10 spoke TRD 18" wheels.

No, I could get no kind of prorate from the Bridgestone dealer. But I am buying Michelin Primacys - luckily on sale at NTB for less than the tirerack.com price tires. I am going to sell the old tires and wheels on ebay or Craigslist.

Here is a pic of the wheels on an avalon; same color as mine.




I will post a pic of them on my car which should be in the next few days.

 

Have you gotten pics of your car with the Avalon wheels? I actually wanna do the same since the 18" TRD wheels are way out of my budget...besides, the Avalon wheels look just as good.

 

Pic shown at link to my photobucket account:

<a href="http://s586.photobucket.com/albums/s...SideViewDS.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...SideViewDS.jpg" border="0" alt="Camry Photo"></a>

As for price:
4 Genuine toyota 9 spoke avalon wheel $742*
4 Genuine toyota plastic centercaps $140**
20 new lug nuts @ $3 each $ 60
Total cost including tax $942 Less: $100 for OEM wheels sold to dealer makes Total cost of changeout: $842.

*Local wheel store matched Internet pricing
** Must be purchased from dealer at rip off price.


Note: Internet price of 4 TRD 18" wheels just lowered to $800.
http://www.toyotapartsstore.com/prod...oducts_id=4612