Builds LX570 - Maintain Restore and Mod (2 Viewers)

[NKP Garage]

I mounted it here, and angled it all the way up so that it is out of the way and my knee doesn't touch it. Worked out perfect.

 

[NKP Garage]

Switched to a larger boat. The LX570 is still going strong!!

 

[NKP Garage]

Finally wore down the stock sized Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires. They were okay, quiet, rode well, but were a bit too soft for my liking. A little "floaty". I started researching tires and landed on sizing of 275/60r20 for a replacement set. So basically 2inches taller and slightly narrower. I landed on either the Michelin Defender LTX M/S or the BFG K02. I know I know, totally different tires.

So I gave the KO2's a shot knowing that they would ride more firmly since they're D-rated, and that they would hum a little with the more aggressive tread. I was okay with all of that. Discount tire did a price match with Sams Club and I got them put on. They looked fantastic, no rubbing, and drove more firmly which were all good things. But there was a slight vibration at highway speeds. I took it back and they rebalanced and it got better, but not perfect. Took it back for the third day in a row, they replaced one of the tires after road force balancing and that helped more. But still had a slight vibration at highway speeds, and also had a noise at lower speeds that was obvious the either the tread was not straight or the tire was not straight. Took it back again and they said there's not much else they could do, the KO2's are just like that.

Round 2. Discount tire offered to swap the tires out with something else. At no cost to me. So we went ahead with the Michelin Defender LTX M/S in the same 275/60r20 size. This got me a slightly stiffer tire than the old Latitude Tour HP tires, and the additional height I wanted. The guys at Discount Tire got them on in about 45 minutes, super fast service. Drove it home and they're night and day difference on how well they balanced. There's a VERY SLIGHT vibration at around 80mph. But it is very slight. I'm going to put 100 miles on them and then go back for a rebalance if needed.

Thoughts from the experience. I'll never buy BFG K02's again. I know lots of people like them, but maybe I'm just more picky than others. They're junk in my book after this experience. For more aggressive tread I will stick to Michel AT or Nitto's next time, as they've always treated me well in the past and balanced out perfectly.

Other thoughts... Discount Tire is fantastic, they stand behind their work and what they sell, even when it is not necessarily their fault a product is not good. I will use them for every single tire purchase going forward.

And for fitment, the 275/60R20's fit perfectly without any rubbing, and on stock wheels without any spacers. And if you wanted to go wider, it looks like a 285/60r20 or 295/60r20 would fit as well, but may require a small spacer if you're on stock wheels.

 

[eatSleepWoof]

I don't think it's reasonable to classify a well known, and nearly often loved tire as "junk" purely based on one set's/shop's problems with balancing. I ran two sets of these tires on my Tacoma, and know plenty of others that continue to use them with excellent feedback all around.

Personally I think they're too soft for the weight of a 200-series, but that's a mismatched application, not a tire fault.

Hope the defenders work well for your needs.

 

[NKP Garage]

I don't think it's reasonable to classify a well known, and nearly often loved tire as "junk" purely based on one set's/shop's problems with balancing. I ran two sets of these tires on my Tacoma, and know plenty of others that continue to use them with excellent feedback all around.

Personally I think they're too soft for the weight of a 200-series, but that's a mismatched application, not a tire fault.

Hope the defenders work well for your needs.

The KO2's I went with were D-rated, and much heavier than the Michelin's. They come in various weight/ply ratings. Maybe it's this particular size/ply KO2 that has issues, but I can tell you for sure, they did not balance well enough for anything I'd drive on the highway. I appreciate that others have had good luck with them, but for me personally I'll never put a set of KO2's on anything after this experience.

 

[HGB]

Finally wore down the stock sized Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires. They were okay, quiet, rode well, but were a bit too soft for my liking. A little "floaty". I started researching tires and landed on sizing of 275/60r20 for a replacement set. So basically 2inches taller and slightly narrower. I landed on either the Michelin Defender LTX M/S or the BFG K02. I know I know, totally different tires.

So I gave the KO2's a shot knowing that they would ride more firmly since they're D-rated, and that they would hum a little with the more aggressive tread. I was okay with all of that. Discount tire did a price match with Sams Club and I got them put on. They looked fantastic, no rubbing, and drove more firmly which were all good things. But there was a slight vibration at highway speeds. I took it back and they rebalanced and it got better, but not perfect. Took it back for the third day in a row, they replaced one of the tires after road force balancing and that helped more. But still had a slight vibration at highway speeds, and also had a noise at lower speeds that was obvious the either the tread was not straight or the tire was not straight. Took it back again and they said there's not much else they could do, the KO2's are just like that.

Round 2. Discount tire offered to swap the tires out with something else. At no cost to me. So we went ahead with the Michelin Defender LTX M/S in the same 275/60r20 size. This got me a slightly stiffer tire than the old Latitude Tour HP tires, and the additional height I wanted. The guys at Discount Tire got them on in about 45 minutes, super fast service. Drove it home and they're night and day difference on how well they balanced. There's a VERY SLIGHT vibration at around 80mph. But it is very slight. I'm going to put 100 miles on them and then go back for a rebalance if needed.

Thoughts from the experience. I'll never buy BFG K02's again. I know lots of people like them, but maybe I'm just more picky than others. They're junk in my book after this experience. For more aggressive tread I will stick to Michel AT or Nitto's next time, as they've always treated me well in the past and balanced out perfectly.

Other thoughts... Discount Tire is fantastic, they stand behind their work and what they sell, even when it is not necessarily their fault a product is not good. I will use them for every single tire purchase going forward.

And for fitment, the 275/60R20's fit perfectly without any rubbing, and on stock wheels without any spacers. And if you wanted to go wider, it looks like a 285/60r20 or 295/60r20 would fit as well, but may require a small spacer if you're on stock wheels.

Need pics of the defenders on your LX truck please. Full photos would be ideal. Thinking about upsizing defenders. Love the Michelin's by the way, unless you off-road heavily, no need for them!

 

[NKP Garage]

Need pics of the defenders on your LX truck please. Full photos would be ideal. Thinking about upsizing defenders. Love the Michelin's by the way, unless you off-road heavily, no need for them!

For sure.... Here are pics with the new 275/60r20 Michelin Defender's. Pics are in Low/Normal/High. And then back to Normal with the wheel turned all the way to the right and all the way to the left. The closest part is the rear of the tire when turning outward against the mudflap plastic, but it doesn't touch. If you went up to a 65 profile it would definitely touch and require a tiny bit of trimming, but the 60 fits with no issues so far.

 

[NKP Garage]

 

[NKP Garage]

 

[NKP Garage]

And this is a photo of the stock sized Michelin Latitude Tour HP's 285/50/r20, in "normal" height.

 

[NKP Garage]

And here is the BFG KO2's in "normal" height. They fit the same as the new Michelin's in the same size. They looked great. Handled well. And didn't balance well. Google around and you'll see plenty of others with the same issues with the KO2's. Just not quality controlled well enough for me personally. If I were in a jeep or something slow I may have kept them. But the toll road here has a speed limit of 80mph, and you do 90mph regularly. Even a little off balance or poor tread alignment is noticeable.

 

[NKP Garage]

Went up and back down a fairly rough rock trail with the new Michelin Defenders, to see a property that was way off the main road. It was pretty rough and in a few places I didn't think we would have enough traction to get up certain large slick rocks that were in the path. But to my surprise the Defenders crawled right up every single inch of the entire 1/2 mile stretch up the hill without a slip. And crawled right back down just as confidently without sliding. That was about the roughest off-road driving that this LX will be doing.

 

[NKP Garage]

Almost time for brakes. I've never been a big fan of resurfacing rotors, I always prefer to do rotors and pads all at the same time. My Front's are ready to be replaced, but the rears can probably go for another year still. But since I'm going to get in there will be replacing front and backs.

I've always gone with OEM Toyota on my Cruiser, but this time I went with the Power Stop Z36 kit. From everything I'm reading they're very good pads and rotors on the Z36 kit, but time will tell.

Anyone have experience with the Z36 Power Stop brakes on a cruiser?

Also, if you're looking to purchase a set, Advance Auto Parts has them on sale at cheaper than anywhere else I could find.

 

[Bunga]

The TRD brakes for this rig are manufactured by stoptech and are excellent.

 

[NKP Garage]

The TRD brakes for this rig are manufactured by stoptech and are excellent.

Do you have a link to the parts/numbers? I wasn't able to find them listed when I searched over the weekend.

 

[Bunga]

Hi,
There is a split in 2015, when in MY 2016 they went for a larger set of disks, but the pads ARE StopTech Street Sport pads, verify at the stoptech website for your year Online Catalog : mine were 2015

StopTech 309.13040 Street Performance Rear Brake Pad
Stoptech 309.13030 Front High Performance Pads

I use this for one handed speed installs- Lisle 29100 Quick Quad Pad Spreader, I think the bleeder was 10mm but don't quote me. I had to use the bolt through the hole on the face to get off the front rotors. I also had the galling on the mounting bolts, please order hose as they truly are a single-use dealer-only part.

Personal taste. I did the rears first to bed them properly. I can't get the heat into them with good front pads. Super interesting how it helps the balance so much. I thought my factory pads were OK but very spongy, but with the TRD on the back, you can see really how BAD the factory compound its for grip. (Great for dust, bad for feel and torque.) I don't consider the TRDs bad for dust at all, far less than OEM BMW/Audi.

 

[NKP Garage]

Did the brakes on our 2009 LX570 over the weekend. I went with PowerStop Z36 heavy duty towing brakes. But the procedure is the same no matter which brakes you use.

Very easy truck to work on and the brake job from start to finish was around 1 hour. That's with using a normal floor jack and no air tools. I'm not a professional by any means, but here's the walkthrough video I did incase anyone else is doing their Land Cruiser/LX570 200 series brakes for the first time.

 

[Undefined]

Thank you for the wealth of information you've shared in this thread.

 

[NKP Garage]

Thank you for the wealth of information you've shared in this thread.

Absolutely! Always happy to help others.

 

[NKP Garage]

Yearly inspection time. She definitely needs a good wash and wax.