Didn't know that the stock tires were so hard to find on this vehicle when we bought it. All 4 tires were bald at 40,000 miles so my choices were: 1) Replace with 4 tires from the dealer that would wear out again in 35,000 miles for a cost of $1200 2) Replace the rims with 18" rims from a suggestion I found online that another Highlander owner did

I went with Option #2 and here is my cost breakdown: 1) Bought 4 brand new rims from oewheelsllc.com. The OEM highlander 19" rim is 19 x 7.5, with 5 x 4.5 inch bolt spacing, 60mm hub pilot and a 35mm offset - the Lexus RX is 18 x 7, with 5 x 4.5 inch bolt spacing, 60mm hub pilot and 35mm offset. Since Lexus is toyota everything matched perfectly including lug nuts. 2) I then got 4 Continental CrossContact LX tires in the 245/60R18 size which match Toyota's original size tires on the 19" rims

My cost was $1200 total including shipping, mounting, and balancing for all this. What this means is that next time I change tires I now have lots of different options with prices as low as $104 per tire as per tirerack.com for this size tire.

19 inch Bridgestone Dueler 400 tires that come standard on the Highlander Limited are very hard to come by. I was faced with needing a new tire because of a nail in my tire. The tire could not be patched or plugged. Contacted Toyota dealerships and tires stores within a 60 mile radius of my home. No one had a tire in stock. Furthermore, was told that tires were on national backorder and one would not be available for 2 months. Complained to Bridgestone and Toyota about this major problem and finally Bridgestone came thru for me and located 1 tire at one of their stores in Florida. They had it sent by UPS to Tennessee for me. Thank goodness!!! Advised Toyota service manager at local dealership that he needed to talk to the higher ups about this problem. He assured me he did. Also, Bridgestone said they would start carrying these in stock when they could get more in. I hope so. Beware!!!!

Update from Sep 1, 2009: Just wanted to give an update on the tires. Was told a few days ago at Toyota while getting an oil change that my tires are worn out and need to be replaced. They have 35,000 miles on them. Bridgestone has no tread warranty so no help there. The estimate Toyota gave me was only $1,049.00 to replace them.#@%&*!!! I hope they are easier to find now than they were in January when I had a flat and no one had any. The price of the tires is outrageous for the poor quality. Researched online and there are still only two tire choices for this vehicle . Bridgestone and TOYO in the P245/55/R19. Both tires got very bad reviews from other Toyota Highlander owners. It seems that everyone has had problems with both kinds of tires. Buyer beware. Love the vehicle but the tire situation sucks. Toyota really messed up on this.