Im test driving a bunch of 2004 and 2005 g35s right now and ive noticed a lot of the cars with factory 18" wheels have a loud tire roar coming from the rear. Its not even a steady sound, sort of warbling. 3 of the cars ive driven had that.
And the 18" suspension felt stiffer too.
Then today i drove one with 17's and it was quieter and had a softer ride.
I like the LOOK of the 18s but here in LA the roads are terrible. Potholes and cracks and steep curbs everywhere. Im thinking maybe i should go with the one with 17s.

Has anyone else driven both kinds? What did you notice?

 

FYI......All summer performance tires (18's or 19's) are noisy. Especially if they have more than say 12,000 miles.

Something to consider if your looking at an automatic trans vs. Manual......

In 04, if you did not get the performance tire and wheel package,(18"), you did not get the Limited Slip Differential.......So, you may want to consider that in when your shopping for your car.

Also, in 05, the Limited slip was only available with the sport suspension and 19" in wheels.

I use 17" snow tires in the winter, and the noise and ride is noticeably different.......

The 17" tires will give you a better ride and less noisy, but you will sacrifice the LSD if thats important to you.

 

I have 20"

 

Get a quality tire like the T1R put on and you wont experience the noise. The stockers were horrible and wore out fast. Although most performance tires will wear fast, I've found the T1R to be excellent with handling and noise right down to its wear limit.

 

I have the oem 19s and all I can say is it might take a little while to get used to but now I barely even notice it

 

Does the tread on the higher quality tires (18" and 19") wear out faster-rated tires........are teh 18" and 19" tires Z-rated?

When replacing these tires whats the price difference between 17" and 18", 19"?

 

My 07 came with 17's.... I just purchased stock 18's off an 04 coupe.... When I first got them, they didn't feel like they would take a corner... really soft grip. Then, after putting more pressure in them, it was a lot better. As for the ride, I have the standard suspension, not the sport one... so my ride is pretty smooth, soft, great... and I didn't notice much change with the 18's. The tire tread is a lot more aggressive on the 18's so I hear it a little more, but had them on for a little over a month now and I don't even notice it anymore... besides, how often do you ride around without a radio, phone call or friend talking to you... even the slightest noise erases any road noise!

Good luck!

 

The tires are Y-Rated, not Z, which mean up to 186mph. Which you don't need since the max speed is ~155. Price isn't that much different, but it is harder to find 19" than 17"

 

There was, at one point, where the G and Z experienced premature tire wear becaues of the agressive suspension specs from the factory. The 03s and 04s were especially notorious for this. Supposedly they fixed it in 05 and up, but I have an 05 with the sport 19s, and my fronts did the same thing after 10k miles. I replaced the fronts with the same bridgestone re050 235/35 19 on stock wheels (because they were cheaper and gave me a slightly lower profile) and had an alignment done and it hasn't come back since. I'm at 50k miles now. Not sure if it's the alignment or the size tire that fixed it. I was only off by .4 degrees in toe.

I think the main thing is if you keep the alignment within specs and in actuality have the settings right dead center of the factory tolerances, then the tire wear shouldn't be a problem.

 

Yeah i wish i could find a car with a NON sport suspension with 18s. I dont really want to go wheel shopping myself, it just looks better with the 18s but rides better with the 17s.

btw I dont drive very aggressively. So the limitted slip differential isnt that big of a deal to me. Does it help out for grip on wet roads?

Like i said the road are like bosnia here in LA. MASSIVE potholes and horrible patch jobs all over the roads. How easy is it to blow a tire or ruin a wheel when you're driving on the 18s with low profile tires?

 

We have good roads in Dallas, so not sure about this specifically, however I would note that the tires I have on mine now, came with the wheels, they are low profile but kinda wrap around the edge of the rim a bit... hard to explain but I think they actually give a bit of protection. Wheel shopping for the factory 18's shouldn't be that bad, besides if you have the 17's on it with good tread you have time to look for a nice set instead of settling for something that might not be as great. EVERYONE is switching out wheels all the time, really wasn't hard to find a nice set (in my area at least). Oh, and tires seemed to be a better buy on the 18's compared to the 17's, but the 19's were CRAZY expensive.... just some food for thought!

Good luck finding the perfect car, you will love it no matter what you get!

 

thanks. im excited to be getting one. Just getting impatient.
haha i was about to put in a bid on an 05 with aftermarket 19s. What do you can CRAZY expensive?

 

I don't remember off hand how much the price difference was, and I was only looking at discount tire and tire rack... but I would suggest looking up the tire specs for each set of wheels and see what the price differences are. Also, since the tires are staggered on the coupe you cannot rotate tires front to rear (rear tires are wider) so the tread life isn't so great (at least for me the rear tires got slick pretty quick ).

 

How much do the 19's weigh?, I am thinking of trading my 18's with my boy for them.
Can you still get winter tires for the 19s also?

 

What about the suspension components?

Is the difference in ride quality from 17"s to 18"s all because of the tires, or are the factory suspensions different for those two tire sizes?