I am taking my '07 G35 Sport to The Tire Rack 12/13/06. They are using my car to come up with some winter tire and wheel packages for the 2007 G35. Will let you know what they come up with.

 

Casey, good times, thanks on behalf of the community!

 

I'm VERY interested in this as well... dedicated snow shoes and rims will make swapping out much less of a headache

Hope you get a deep discount for the use of your property!

 

What about replacing the summer tires on the stock 18s for a G Sport with just snow tires? Is this advisable or not? Is it better if we get a tire/wheel snow package? What are the advantages?

 

Couple things if you just change the tires (and not the wheels) ...
(1) Its a pain because of the mounting/balancing that you need each time to swap just tires
(2) The salt etc in winter would mean that you need to keep up on your rim maintenance -- if you go with a steel winter rims, you can skimp slightly.

Its just much more convenient to go with wheels and tires together.

 

One thing you need to keep in mind is that a new set of rims needs the TPS sensors, I think Tirerack.com charges $260 for those in addition to the rim cost.

 

TPMS sensors are not required. I don't have them on my 17s and all that happens is for a minute after the car starts the tpms light blinks. Then it goes solid for the rest of the drive.

As long as you pay attention to your own pressure and can live with the light, it'll save you some cash.

 

So how much does a snow tire/rim package cost (on average) as compared to just a snow tire package?

 

tirerack's 17" package for the '06 g35 was 880 bucks or something like that
4 17" rims and 4 blizzak ws-50s. There's no discount for a package.
the rims were $107 each and the tires $113.

for most people cheap 17's would be what you'd go for for rims, so it'd cost roughly 450 more than just tires.

if you swap the tires on and off your summer rims, it's on average 75-100 bucks to do that all the way around twice a year. So in a couple of years the extra rims pay for themselves since most places will do swaps of mounted tires for free as part of the free tire rotations.

 

I agree with everyone go with snow and wheel package. For my '03 I went with just tires and used the stock wheels. First it was $40 each time which meant $80 a year for the swap over. The wheels end up getting scratch especially in the lug nut area. You have to sit in the sitting room for 1 to 2 hours waiting each time. Then the last time they couldn't get the balance right and I had to go back 3 times to get them rebalanced.

Then you have to decide when to put them on, meaning if you hear its going to snow big time the next day do you rush down and hope they have time to swap them? Or put them on early and then it never snows for the 2 months.

 

Boy that sounds like a lot of work .....

Am I glad to be living in Austin or what !?!

j/k -- enjoy the tire swap you guys !

 

OK. So how do you get 4 mounted wheels/tires to the place that is doing the swap, and how do you get the 4 wheels/tires they took off back to the place you are storing them twice a year? Will the 4 wheels/tires fit in the back seat and trunk of the G? Do you put them in garbage bags or wrap them up to keep from messing up the car's interior? Do you rent a truck twice a year? I asked the dealer about storing them for me and doing the swap and he said doesn't have the room to offer that service. All kinds of hassles with switching tires twice a year no matter how you do it. And then you have to drive on crappy winter tires and wheels on most of the days of winter when it is not snowing?

I was looking at just immediately replacing the OEM summer tires with high-performance all-seasons but can't find a good size match for the fronts. The Winter Sports Package option on my 2003 G35 6MT (all seasons replace summer tires) has been fine for my needs. Unless and until Infiniti offers a similar option on the 2007 (which does not look likely) this may be a deal-killer.

For a sedan, we should not even have to have this discussion. Sedans are bought for driving year round in cold/snow climates, it's not like some 2-seater sports car thats just used in the summer.

 

How do the all-season tires perform on your 03 G35? Does it snow where you live? Can you please share your experiences while using these tires on a RWD 03 G35 during winter.

 

Any good tire place will bag the tires for you. I store them stacked flat in my garage. all 4 fit in the back seat if you try. Otherwise 2 in the back 2 in the trunk.

I absolutely disagree with you. Any good performance RWD vehicle needs snows if you live anywhere where there's significant snow or a significant portion of the year is below freezing. It's not just 2 seaters that are for performance.

 

In truth they sucked. That is why I put snow tires on in the winter. There is no such thing as true "All" season tires. They are 3 season tires. Good for dry, rain and a "little" bit of snow. Which is worth more your tires or your life

Think of it another way. By not driving on your summer tires you'll get longer life out of them. Maybe enough to pay for the snow tires.

Anyone who has a true winter season should put snow tires on unless you have the option to stay home everytime it snows and can wait for the streets to be cleared.