Which tire do you prefer and why?

Yeah it's that time for me to replace the ol Potenza's on the G.

 

none.... go up a size to 235/50/18 in the front and 255/45/18 in the rear. that opens up a world of new options

 

+1 - except that you don't have to go up in size on the rear, 245 / 45 / 18 comes in a lot of different brands. 235 / 50 / 18 change on the front opens up a lot of options.

Do NOT buy Goodyears, have just taken F1s of my G, they suck. Switching to the new Michelin Pilot AS Plus to see if I can break 10k miles on a set...

 

All depends on what ur looking for, I went with continental DWS. It's a UHP all season, slight drop in performance from the potenzas for a jump in comfy-ness and tread life.

If you want potenza performance go with sumo HTR Z 3s

 

F1s are the worst tires known to man. I'm trying to find the quietest and softest-riding tire right now as we speak to get mine replaced.

Not too keen on the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S since the F1s are an UHP A/S tire and they suck.

Recommendations, send them please, cuz I gotta get this done today.

 

No idea how they'll last long-term, but have had the Sport A/S on for a day and so far they're great. Quiet, turn in and stickiness is at least as good as the F1s, and they're actually ROUND (no more wah-wah-wah-wah as the Goodyears rotated...).

I did a bunch of research, quite a few people said the regular Pilots got loud pretty quickly, and didn't wear well. The new version of the Sport A/S are the Pilot Sport A/S Plus, with slightly different engineering - so far so good. BTW, Michelin has a $70 rebate going on right now.

EDIT:>> Interesting, here's a review from Tire Rack by an '07 G35 Sport driver:

These are simply the best tires I have ever had on any car. To enable me to put Michelin Pilots on this car, I had to go up a size - 235/50-18 (front) and 255/45-18 (rear). But given the limited selection in the OEM sizes – 225/50-18 and 245/45-18 - I felt the extra money was worth it. The tires I replaced - Goodyear Eagle F1's were absolutely awful. The Goodyear's were very noisy and wore out at around 20,000 miles (not too good for an All-Season tire). The Michelin Pilots are quiet, smooth riding, but yet grip the road as well as any performance tire I have ever had on my car. The dry traction is phenomenal, and wet traction is exceptionally good. Cornering ability is equal the OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's that originally came on my Infiniti (these tires only lasted 18,000 miles). This is the third set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's (the last two sets were on my 2004 Acura TL). With the last two sets, I got about 35,000 miles out of them each time. With my Infiniti, I would be happy to get around 25,000 miles since with the Sport model you cannot rotate the tires due to the staggered tire size. Also, I have experienced some accelerated wear (regardless of the tires) in the rear due to the 4-Wheel Active Steering. Overall, I am very happy with these tires and would wholeheartedly recommend them.

 

I almost bought a set of Bridgestone Turanza by upsizing the front to 235. Grand Touring tire, which would be like blasphemy on this board, but my mom has them on her X and went for a ride the other day - you can't hear anything but the engine and the radio...like ZERO road noise.

So, considering the Turanza Serenity line since I don't track my car at all. Cornering would probably suffer a bit.

 

Hm this thread has been very helpful.

Thanks guys!

 

I went with the Kumho Ecsta all around. (Cheap tires) but they get the job done on my sport model. I went up a little bit in size .3" but they make the space between tire and body smaller. The handling is absolute crap compared to the potenzas but they definitely wear a lot better than potenzas. BTW since my car eats tires I figured I'd buy cheap ones and just replace them more often. (Road noise isn't to bad) I've had them roughly 5k miles thus far. I find cornering I need to go a little slower (approx. 5 mph) in hard curves compared to the potenzas. Just depends on what you want to do.

 

Jack, Ecsta ASX or SPT (A/S or Summer versions)?? I have had SPT's on other cars and liked them and considering them as my option when the stockers wear, but your post makes me weary.....

 

I have the ASX All-Seasons (sorry it took so long to post I just got back to finding this thread). I decided to go with the cheapies since I seem to eat rear tires.

 

I ran Ecsta SPTs before and am now running the Bridgestone RE050s. I'd say for about 75% to 80% of my driving, can't tell a lot of difference, the Kumhos seem to be about as quiet and they ride good and I think they look good. Where I notice the difference is in hard (like really hard) cornering, the RE050s seem to not want to rollover as easy on the front. The rears of the SPTs were very planted but the fronts in hard corner seemed to lose traction a little and the sidewall is soft enough that hitting some good bumps in a hard corner is more noticeable. But again, this is during HARD driving and really not noticeable otherwise.

The main reason I went to the Bridgestones this time is to try and get more mileage out of a set. I better to considering they're a lot more. If I don't, I'll probably be back to the Ecstas. Another benefit to the Bridgestones is they're asymmetrical so they can be swapped from side to side to help combat improper wear.

Lastly, the Bridgestones have just a smidge narrower tread pattern than the Kumhos. My sidewalls on the Kumhos were vertical where the Bridgestones they're stretched a little. If I was to lightly bump a curb with the Kumhos, the tire would just barely hit first where the Bridgestones leave the wheel out to get eaten, which has already happened once now. This is with 245 fronts / 275 rears on a 19" wheel.

 

Excellent Info Sredish, good review. For the $80 or more per corner for the RE050s it looks like the SPTs will work just fine for this ride like they have the others...... I rarely push this car, and I expect the SPTs to be plenty good compared to my current OEs. My side to side wear I hope is OK so I think front to back rotations for my X will be ok. and I will be going +20 (0.4" per side) on width so that should make up for the lack of curb savers (I remember this happening on my STi when going to SPTs with OEM widths).

Again Thanks!!

 

The review on TireRack of the SPTs was pretty good. They performed really well on their track testing, especially considering the cost versus the others.

One more thing I forgot to add is the RE050s do a little better in the rain and wet roads. I do remember the SPTs wanting to let loose on wet stuff a little easier. I'm not going to lie, the RE050s hook hard and don't slip as much but I rarely remember the SPTs slipping either, maybe just a little in the rain.

I would like to try some Michelin Pilot Sports as well, but again... $$$ The main reason I went with the RE050 over the MPS was a customer of mine at the time was a major Firestone/Bridgestone dealer, so I was able to save just a little. I tend to wonder if the Michelins are any quieter than the Bridgestones. IMO, the Kumhos and Bridgestones are pretty similar there.

 

I remember the SPTs were great in the water, even deep stuff, until less than 1/2 the tread was left then they got a bit sketchy in deeper puddles like those that build up in the small trenches formed in the roads where cars typically travel.....