Walked out to a flat tire this morning. Rear tires are bald and ready to go and I am ready to get rid of the Turanzas. Already researched the F1 GS-D3 and I live in FL, aware they are no good for snow. What I don't know is what specific size/scenario I should go with for a 2003 Sedan.

Should I do a staggered 225x50x17 in front and 235x50x17 in rear?
Should I do 225x50x17 all around? (most cost effective scenario)
Should I do 235x50x17 all around?

Thoughts, comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Tires are for a 2003 Sedan, stock alum. alloy 17" rims like these:

 

i run 225/55-17 bridgestone turanza ls-v's on my '05 sedan with the stock rim. they are a real good fit and do everything i need well. i researched them on tire rack and saw how well they were rated. so far i am real pleased with them. i did have a set of the goodyears you are interested in on my '03 with stock rims, and they were 235/50-17. i had issues with them not balancing well, and ultimately replaced them with Michelins. also in the 235/50-17 size. those were just fine. i've also ran a set of avons in the 215/55-17 stock tire size. i think any of these sizes are fine for our cars and it really just comes down to personal choice.

 

Great input, thank you. I went with 235/50WR17 Avon Tech M550s. Did some more research on TireRack after reading your comments and that looked like a good tire at a good price. Thanks.

 

Why not M500? Do you really need all-season capabilities of M550 in Florida?

 

Why the hell would you buy Avons for your g35???

I mean it's not Porsche...but it's not a friggin Altima either.

 

Avons got a bad rap?

 

Some people have been having balancing issues with the Avons....and at best they seem to be just "average tires". No one has really RAVED about them,,,the only raving has been how decent they have peformed at sucha cheap price.

I mean if you drive like a Granny...then I guess any tires will do.

But if you push your car and you value performance...I'd go with something better. And you do drive a g35, not a camry....so I think it only makes sense you get some PERFORMANCE tires. Besides, the tires are whats keeping you connected with the road and really the most important thing IMO. God forbid you were pushing your car too hard, on those average tires, the car spun out...how much would that cost you versus the savings you got on those avons?

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

I just put Avon M500 on my sedan - the improvement over the stock RSAs is amazing - whatever you do, don't buy RSAs. The M500 is their high performance summer tire, and they most certainly won't be driven like a grandma on my car - even if my wife drives

I've had no balancing issues here, and I saved half the price over Goodyear GSDs. I haven't had any of the flat spotting issues you'll read about on the forums at tire rack either.

As I give the car back to Infiniti in another year, I'm pretty confident I can get them to last at least that long. If the tread is looking slim next fall, I'll put on my snowtires to get a few extra miles out of the Avons.

 

235/50/17 all around is what I run right now -- works great!

 

It's simple - for max performance, get a max performance tire. For anything less, get less. 235/50 -17's all around for stock rims, regardless of tire manufacturer.

Avons are OK, Continentals are OK, Kumhos are OK, blah blah blah, but the Goodyear F1 GSD3's are in a different league (with the Michelin Pilot Sports, et.al.). Balance them on a Hunter Roadforce balancer, and you're good to go (very fast).

My $0.02

"See my tail lights - run, tail lights, run!! - see my tail lights disappear, disappear little tail lights, bye bye!!"

 

If I could throw down $900 for a set of tires every 20K miles, I'd go with the GS-Ds. However, I'm not made of money and seeing that the M500s are half the price, I'm willing to risk it. My 03 still has the OEM Turanaza EL42s and it's clear these SOBs are the only thing holding my G35 back. I bought the car with 20K miles and the previous owner must have been a grandma because they were only worn 80%. I've done my best to beat the hell out of them over the past year and 10K miles and they still have 50% tread left They just won't die. I accepted a transfer to Atlanta so I'll no longer have a need for all season rubber anymore....thank God I'm just going to make these tires last until I get down there in a couple months.

After researching the 215/55R17 vs 235/50R17 setups, I'll be sticking with the 215/55R17. The EL42 is super narrow for a 215 width tire and the M500 is nearly .8" wider in a 215 (that's nearly an inch). That means it has a more blocky shoulder which will improve the visual presence of the tire. The contact patch is about .5" wider which is good too. The 235/50 will fit, but it is significantly wider. Too me, that's a recipe for reduced at the limit feel. I have no issues with putting on wider rubber, but the setup needs to be ideal and the 235 seems to have too much bulge for my liking. I know many people have reported no problems with the 235/50 in terms of feel, but I'm not willing to risk it for $500. The other problem with 235/50R17s is that they're 3 to 4 lbs heavier. To me, that's a big deal. That's an addition 3 to 4lbs of rotating weight in the absolute worst place, the outside diameter of the rotating axis.

 

Preach on Brotha Dave!

 

You'd be very lucky to get 20K from them...

but it WOULD be the fastest, most fun, and safest 14,000 miles you'd ever driven

 

make sure your tires are within 3% of the OEM tire diameter. use this calculator:

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html