Just bought this car last week and tires need replaced. Car has 24,500 miles on it and rear ones are about shot and the front ones have tread but have the 30mph and less low speed noise. From what I have read on here that may be due to cupping? I thought that problem was only on 2003 ? These are the original tires Potenza something? 17 inch. Just really wanted to know average life span ? Thanks for your input.

 

My Potenza RE050A (19") lasted about 18k miles. If those tires are Original, then thats probably a higher life than average. If you had cupping issues, your tires would be worn within a few thousand miles with very uneven wear.

 

My 3rd Set of Potenza RE050A (19") lasted about 51,750 miles.
That was before lowering my car on Eibach Springs.
This new set has only 500 miles...we will see...

 

This issue (feathering/cupping/uneven wear) has been talked to death on this forum and every other V35/Z33 forum.

From what I know, things that help are:

^Frequent Alignments (every 4-6k miles)
^OK Bushing condition (meaning deformed bushings are a huge NO, not just torn)
^Using tires that have a continuous tread patter, like the michelin PS2, Continental DW, OEM Potenzas
^Lowering - not sure why but lowered guys don't get feathering as much, but do have increased tire camber wear w/o camber kits. I personally think it's because the compression rod bushing is preloaded more and reduces compliance for reduced movement and consistently better alignment and reduced deflection. That's a far stretched (no pun intended) reason.

I would stay away from tires with steeply raked tread, like the T1-Rs. They produced AWEFUL feathering on my car, but it also had worn bushings and bad alignment. I'm 3k into my new tires and they are very, very slightly feathering (Conti DWs). Going to get another alignment at 5K. All front end bushings minus the upper arms replaced.