Okay, the 235/45/18 Goodyear's suck and refuse to balance.

Has anyone gone the route of swapping them out for a different brand?

If so, what did you go with? Did they balance better? Get rid of the steering wheel jutter at highway speed?

Seems like there aren't too many options for this tire size yet

 

Replaced mine with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. The difference is like night and day. The Michelins track better, are stickier, and seem to wear better. The only drawback to the Michelins is that they seem to be a little noisier than the Goodyears.

 

I did the same thing. I have to say the Goodyear GS-D and Pilot Sport A/S are about dead-even in handling, though the Goodyears seemed to stick slightly better when accelerating from a standstill. However, you throw rain or snow in the equation, they quickly become potentially deadly. I think the Pilot Sport A/S is about the best all-around tire you can get. They're pricey, but good. I was going to do the Avon 550's, but I haven't seen enough history to risk the purchase.

 

I am running PS A/S now and it is great so far... much better in grip that the RS-A it replaced

 

I've got the Avon 550's and have had them for over 5000 miles. They are far superior to the RS-A that the car came with. And for $50 less per tire, the choice was not too tough. If you are never in snow, the 500's have a more aggressive tread pattern/compound.

 

I had balance issues with my Goodyear Eagle F1-GSD3's too, they wouldn't balance at all but I got a roadforce balance done at discount tire and they've been rock solid ever since. If you haven't tried that yet I'd recommend you do. Ask for a "roadforce" balance. They'll try to charge you $10 per wheel but if you whine like I did they may do it for free like they did for me (of course I bought the tires from them so I had some leverage)