Tyres on new 2019 RAV4 Hybrid

[Tomfromfife]

Hi,

Picked up my new RAV4 AWD Hybrid yesterday. I was looking at the tyre type and availability, or rather non-availability.

The tyres are Dunlop Grandtrek PT30   225/60R18 100H. I have looked at availability of new tyres in the UK and there appears to be none. There Is the Dunlop Grandtek ST30 available. These have a rating of C for fuel efficiency and C for wet grip and 70db for noise. 

Does anyone know why the PT30 is not available in the UK? The ST30 is a different tread pattern.

Update edit......

I just found this...

‘DUNLOP: "GRANDTREK PT30" fitted to Toyota's new "RAV4"

Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. announced that it has begun to deliver DUNLOP's GRANDTREK PT30 as a tire for mounting a new model of the new "RAV4," which Toyota launched in April. 
The tire size will be 225 / 60R18 100H.’

I am guessing they have not reached the UK yet. 

[PeteB]

Oh great!.  If mine comes with PT30s too (which is what was on the demo car), it means when I buy a 5th alloy I can't get an identical tyre!

From my notes when I first considered the RAV4 in March, they were available on Black Circles then (£115.385 each including vat & fitting), so maybe it's a temporary thing.

tyreleader.co.uk do list PT30s but they are marked as "Demo", which is defined by them as "Tyre that has been mounted and dismounted and may have been used on a few kilometres. This tyre is guaranteed and new."  Personally, I wouldn't risk this.

I'll ask my dealer on Friday when I collect my car.

I might bite the bullet and look at getting 5 all season tyres, possibly:

Bridgestone Weather Control A005 (Fuel-C, Wet-A, Noise-71)

or

Michelin CrossClimate SUV  (Fuel-B, Wet-B, Noise-69)

Will mean I have not just the space saver to dispose of, but 4 almost new tyres!

[Tomfromfife]

I may change them as well. I had cross climates on my X3, which were great all round including wet handling, low noise and good comfort, so I may fit those.

i asked my dealer for a quote for a full size spare but I think I will just get a wheel with no tyre.

the same tire manufacturer, Sumitomo, is manufacturing Dunlop Grandtek PT20 tires for the North American market, and also make tires for Lexus cars.

these are the specs for the PT30 tyres from an Australian site

[FROSTYBALLS]

As regards Dunlop, Sumitomo bought Dunlop in 1985. In 1999 they and Goodyear formed a joint venture to manufacture and sell tyres under the Dunlop brand.. After the joint venture broke up in 2015 Sumitomo kept the North American manufacturing operation and  Goodyear the European manufacturing operation. Goodyear have the rights to the Dunlop name in Europe. 

So Dunlop Europe isn't the same company as the one that manufactured the Dunlop tyres for the Rav4 - so there may be differences in the aftermarket tyre ranges available.in Europe.

[marlinleg]

hi my Rav 4 Excel awd has Dunlop grand trex p30 

[Woodmann]

Collected my RAV4 AWD Hybrid Excel 3 weeks ago and mine has Bridgestone Allenza H/L 33 

[Tomfromfife]

19 hours ago, marlinleg said:

hi my Rav 4 Excel awd has Dunlop grand trex p30 

So if owners have a new car delivered with Dunlop Grandtrek PT30 tyres and one of the tyres gets damaged beyond repair, the owner will have to replace all 4 tyres because the PT30 tyres are not available in the UK and the Owners manual is quite specific that tyre manufacturers, tread patterns etc cannot be mixed on the same vehicle.

If an owner wanted to buy a full size spare then there is no tyre available to fit to the spare if the other tyres on the vehicle are PT30s.

I am hoping these tyres are going to be available somehow in the UK very soon and my dealer is looking into it so will have an answer soon.

The only sellers of these tyres currently that I have seen searching the web have DEMO tyres which have been fitted to wheels and removed. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this situation, or have found a seller of non DEMO tyres in the UK?

[FROSTYBALLS]

There was a similar situation with the Verso S and Dunlop tyres back in 2011/12, where the tyre fitment was an unusual one, not available from other companies in the UK, and initially Dunlop had no plans to introduce the tyres into the UK. However, they eventually did. This was when the Dunlop joint venture between Sumitomo and Goodyear was in force.

Now that Dunlop Europe (Goodyear) and Dunlop North America/Japan (Sumitomo) are separate companies, not sure where you stand.

Given the above, I would raise the issue directly with Toyota customer services.

[marlinleg]

yes a little worrying but I am sure Toyota uk will sort it out . I will contact them Monday , every forum member who has these tyres fitted should contact them , don’t lets leave it to individuals if we all contact them they will see our concerns

[philip42h]

2 hours ago, Tomfromfife said:

So if owners have a new car delivered with Dunlop Grandtrek PT30 tyres and one of the tyres gets damaged beyond repair, the owner will have to replace all 4 tyres because the PT30 tyres are not available in the UK and the Owners manual is quite specific that tyre manufacturers, tread patterns etc cannot be mixed on the same vehicle.

If an owner wanted to buy a full size spare then there is no tyre available to fit to the spare if the other tyres on the vehicle are PT30s.

I am hoping these tyres are going to be available somehow in the UK very soon and my dealer is looking into it so will have an answer soon.

The only sellers of these tyres currently that I have seen searching the web have DEMO tyres which have been fitted to wheels and removed. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this situation, or have found a seller of non DEMO tyres in the UK?

I won't be getting a shiny new RAV 4.5 this year, even if only because I haven't ordered one, but if I were to take delivery of a RAV4 on summer tyres - which is what the prevailing Dunlops and Bridgestones are - I'd have them replaced with quality all season tyres (Michelin Cross Climates spring to mind but other all season tyres are available) and then look to sell on the unused summer tyres to someone who could make use of them. Simply put, I want my 4x4 running on all season tyres to save the hassle of swapping over twice a year. (I've swapped between summer and winter tyres for the past five seasons and have enough of that game.)

Equally, I'd have no concern at all in selling or buying so called "DEMO" tyres. If you plan to swap summer and winter they are going to come off and on again several times anyway - what's the real impact of one more swap?

[PeteB]

21 hours ago, Woodmann said:

Collected my RAV4 AWD Hybrid Excel 3 weeks ago and mine has Bridgestone Allenza H/L 33 

Got mine yesterday, also AWD Excel, also on Bridgestone Alenza H/L 33.

According to BlackCircles they are Eco C, Wet C and 71 dB.  At least they are available and relatively fair price at £126.04 Fully Fitted, although wouldn't be my first choice.

However, I've ordered a matching alloy spare wheel and 5 Michelin CrossClimate SUV tyres from my dealer.  I'm going to put one in the boot as a spare, and my dealer will store the other four for me.  Come October, I'll get the Michelins swapped onto the main wheels and my dealer will store the Bridgestones and swap again in March.  Once the latter have reached 3mm, I'll retire them and use the CrossClimates all year round.

I believe the full size spare, if I have to use it in the summer, will be no more risky mixing with the Alenzas than the space saver (probably less risky), and it will only be for short term emergency use, and if I'm lucky, won't be needed at all.

Normally, I have the best tyres on the back, but I plan to use the Alenzas such that they reach retirement (3mm is my choice) at roughly the same time so I can get my dealer to dispose of the in one go.

BTW I'm not normally terribly interested in what the wheels look like, but I have to say I rather like these shiny ones.

[PeteB]

3 hours ago, philip42h said:

... I'd have no concern at all in selling or buying so called "DEMO" tyres. If you plan to swap summer and winter they are going to come off and on again several times anyway - what's the real impact of one more swap?

My last car's tyres were swapped twice a year (at minimal inconvenience to me - my dealer stores the unused ones, and charges £30 a time to swap all four, including labour, new valves, balancing and vat) and as you rightly say it is of no concern.

What does concern me, is that however few km they've been driven to demo them, you have no knowledge of what's been done to them, even if they appear fine.  It's a small risk admittedly, but one I'd prefer to avoid.  Each to their own though.

[Malop]

I had lots of questions on tyres before I bought my AWD Dynamic, even asked some of them on the Toyota blog. Fed back to dealer it was a shame that the AWD versions didn’t come with all season tyres, I will probably get them swapped at some point.

Any thoughts on the recommend tyre rotation frequency for AWD from the owners manual?

AWD models:
To equalize tire wear and help extend tire life, Toyota recommends that tire rotation is carried out approximately every 5000 km (3000 miles).

For me that’s about every 3 months. Was intending to do a season swap for now.

[Tomfromfife]

If you fit Michelin Cross Climates then the tyres cannot be swapped from one side to the other only front to rear as they are directional.

A full size Cross Climate spare can only go on one side of the car when swapping wheels around.

Perhaps it would be an idea to have a full size spare that is not directional so that it can be fitted to either side temporarily if directional tyres are fitted in case of a puncture.

Any thoughts?

[marlinleg]

hi Paul and martin I am going with winter tyres being retired and just a mile from my dealer it’s no trouble for me, the dealer said they will remove summer tyres fit winter tyres £35 the lot including the vat,  I will have to store the summer tyres but  not having the alloys on it’s not a problem spare room 

[PeteB]

3 hours ago, Tomfromfife said:

If you fit Michelin Cross Climates then the tyres cannot be swapped from one side to the other only front to rear as they are directional.

A full size Cross Climate spare can only go on one side of the car when swapping wheels around.

Perhaps it would be an idea to have a full size spare that is not directional so that it can be fitted to either side temporarily if directional tyres are fitted in case of a puncture.

Any thoughts?

Oh deep joy!  Thank you for that, I wasn't aware as it's not mentioned on any of the tyre sites I looked at (mainly BlackCircles), although I've now read a few user reviews and one or two have mentioned it.

I asked my dealer to order 5 on Friday so I'll talk to them first thing in the morning.  Presumably when the order them they'd have to specify which side they were for, so 5 will present a dilemma!

 

[Avalon]

10 hours ago, PeteB said:

Oh deep joy!  Thank you for that, I wasn't aware as it's not mentioned on any of the tyre sites I looked at (mainly BlackCircles), although I've now read a few user reviews and one or two have mentioned it.

I asked my dealer to order 5 on Friday so I'll talk to them first thing in the morning.  Presumably when the order them they'd have to specify which side they were for, so 5 will present a dilemma!

 

Probably want to read up on how a directional tyre works before doing that, franchise dealers probably train staff in laughter suppression, but first thing on a Monday morning you may be asking for a lot 😂

Hint: All directional tyres are the same, the directionality bias comes from how they are mounted.

[PeteB]

11 minutes ago, Avalon said:

Hint: All directional tyres are the same, the directionality bias comes from how they are mounted.

Thanks, but I'm guessing the spare will still be an issue, because it will have to be mounted on the wheel for one side or the other which will determine which side of the car the wheel could be fitted without removing and refitting the tyre?

I've had a long relationship my the staff at my dealership and not too worried about looking foolish - they know me well enough by now!  😄

[Tomfromfife]

I have read that you can put the spare Cross Climate on the ‘wrong side’ as a temporary measure at reduced speed in the dry but it can be dangerous in the wet. The tyre tread when the right way round deflects the rain water outwards to the edge of the tyres If the tyre is the wrong way round then it deflects the water to the centre which can cause aquaplaning which is obviously unsafe. 

I think that I would use a spare tyre that is not directional then it can be fitted anywhere temporarily. Swapping the 4 road  tyres around would be only front to rear. To swap diagonally would mean taking the tyres off the rim.

A note about TPWS, the tyre pressure warning system works on all 5 wheels, so if you buy a full size spare you need the TPWS valve. Does the valve come with the wheel or is that extra?

[Tomfromfife]

Toyota Warnings regarding tyre from the owners manual...

WARNING
 ●Do not use tire sizes other than those recommended by Toyota.
●Do not mix differently constructed tires (radial, bias-belted or bias-ply tires).
●Do not mix summer, all season and snow tires.
●Do not use tires that have been used on another vehicle. 
●Do not use tires if you do not know how they were used previously.  ( so don’t use DEMO tyres)
●Vehicles with compact spare tire: Do not tow if your vehicle has a compact spare tire installed.
●Vehicles with emergency tire punc- ture repair kit: Do not tow anything if a tire that has been repaired using the emergency tire puncture repair kit is installed. The load on the tire may cause unexpected damage to the tire.

[Tomfromfife]

On 6/22/2019 at 5:57 PM, marlinleg said:

yes a little worrying but I am sure Toyota uk will sort it out . I will contact them Monday , every forum member who has these tyres fitted should contact them , don’t lets leave it to individuals if we all contact them they will see our concerns

I contacted Toyota Customer Relations this morning and explained the issue with unavailability of the PT30 tyres.

The guy said that the Dunlop Grandtek PT30 tyres are Dunlop Grandtek ST30 tyres in the UK! That is not true. The ST30 tyres are a different tread pattern and different specifications to PT30 and the ST30 is inferior.

He also said that tyres can be mixed on the RAV4. That may be true as long as it fits what the owners manual specifies. See previous reply. I wouldn’t want to do that permanently. I will report back when Toyota come back to me.

[marlinleg]

thanks tommy I will contact them today .

Late night,picked up Daughter returning from holiday, plane delayed 4am into bed 😩

[Tomfromfife]

Regarding PT30 tyres....Through a source who contacted the manufacturer the manufacturer said ....

“The manufacturer has no date for the tyres being available in the UK at the moment. They couldn’t answer if the UK will be getting the tyres at all.”

Kwikfit cannot supply PT30s.

I have the question out to National Tyres, Blackcircles, and MyTyres.

I still await Toyotas response. I have also emailed the manufacturer Sumitomo Rubber Industries, but no reply, and will discuss with my dealer.

 

[marlinleg]

Thank you Martin please keep us up to date . I have emailed Toyota yesterday ,awaiting a reply 

[Tomfromfife]

Toyota Customer Relations is 03447 016202 option 7 if I remember rightly

No long queues and quite responsive. Don’t forget to ask for a case number.