I had a screw stuck in my tire yesterday so I went to a tire place to get it fixed.. They were looking at my back tires (the screw was in front on the passenger side) and said my back tires are bald!

I have 14k miles on the car and the guy said that with low profile tires they are only expected to go 15k. Is this really true or is he just trying to get $$. I figured he was just trying to get money so I left with just my tire getting fixed for free...

I have been going to the dealer for brakes issues and they have not mentioned any problems with my tires..

So for the sport tires (where you cannot rotate them) is this normal? I haven't even had my car for a year how can I need new tires..

 

14,000 miles is pretty normal for sport tires if you drive aggressively. I've heard of people only getting 10k out of performance tires, and some are lucky and get as far as 20k.

look at the tread yourself. Use the penny test. If the tread doesn't go past lincoln's hairline, you're in need of a replacement.

 

10k on mine (including a track day). You can search for other threads on this.

 

Yea its bit insane, but that is the price for performance. Like needing winter tires to swap out your performance tires. In my case I think I will, once my oem tires wear out, which they will since I cannot rotate them, I will go to nonstaggered tires. Perhaps with rotation I can add 5-10,000 more miles and not sacrifice too much performance.

Lunchman

 

Did you look at your back tires? If they're bald, then he's correct and he's not trying to get more money from you. If there's still plenty of tread on them, then you made the right choice in leaving w/ just the tire fixed.

Low profile tires typically are performance oriented tires so you're not going to get the 50K miles you can out of some "regular" tires. That said, if you don't lower your car, have your alignment set properly, and don't constantly peel out and burn rubber, you can probably get over 25K miles out of a set of 200 to 300 wear rated low profile tires. On my last car, I got about 23K miles out of a set of 235-40-18 Yokohama ES100s - and this was with lowering and camber wear issues.

The truth of the matter is, even if the tread on a tire lasts a long time, you don't want to drive on them for like 3+ yrs anyway because the rubber itself starts breaking down from all the constant heat cycling.

 

On the Sport, the RE050As only has treadwear rating of 140! That's the same rating as my WRX STi's stock RE070s, sticky, and barely legal as non-DOT race compound. They will wear quicker, it's a given. You might want to raise the pressures to 35 or 36 cold for better wear, less tread rollover. Compromise that ride a little, it's ok, plus get better handling. Stock recommendation is 33 psi. Good luck.

 

You should look at your tires for yourself to see if he is bullsh&ting you. Easy enough. 1/16 is legal (but suicidal) in most states. Tires become dangerous with less than 1/8 in. (Washington's head on an OLDER quarter) because water is incompressible and cannot get away from the tire fast enough.

I have about 12k on my stock Bridgestone tires. I have smoked and chirped much of the tread off my rears just because I can, but I dont think they will last much longer. Fronts may last 20K. I am considering GY Eagle GS D3 for my next set since the treadlife rating is 280, double that of the stock Bridgestones, but if I smoke 'em off like the stocks it may not make any difference. Have to go to to 235 in front and 255 in back (these sizes actually MATCH the Infiniti rims, unlike the stock tires which are smaller than the ideal measured rim.)

 

IsaG35 - I'm with you, time for some new tires, at least on the rear. I'm in the same boat, also with a visit to the track last night. I'm going out today to price some tires. aozmaxed is right on with the thread count, sticky, sticky, leads to new tires in about that mielage (currently have 12500 ). Oh well.

 

I was wondering what tire combo would be acceptable alternatives to the stock setup w/ the '07 18" wheels, the front tire size is very uncommon and limits my choices to 2 or 3 (on tirerack.com). The 235/255 should bring Kuhmos into play.

One question, I'm not up on tire specs, just to be sure, these "new" tire sizes won't effect the speedo and other computer settings such as ABS??

 

My understanding is that 245/45/18 and 225/50/18 are approximately the same size tire. Therefore you can go non-staggered in this setup, allow for rotation, and not change the speedo, abs, suspension, etc. That said, not sure how much the effect of simply changing the size of the tire by a 1/2 inch in diameter will effect the electronics. I doubt they are that sensitive, given some variations to tire manufacturers.

I am leaning towards 245/45/18 for my setup.

 

So using (4) 245/45/18s will work out OK even though the rear rims are an inch wider?

I don't mind the narrower front, wider rears as long as I'm able to have some tire choices. The stock tire sizes just don't have much to choose from. I'm not really in the know regarding tires, but I've got to assume the staggared setup does make a difference in the way the car handles the turns at speed, and I do like to press the car a bit

 

Let me tell you, though, if you decide on a set of great street perf Kumhos, the Ecsta STX is an excellent handler, reasonably priced but has tons of stick, gradual break away and very little squeal. Some Solo 2 hotshoes even used these in wet autox'es. Not bad. Good luck on your replacements.

 

i've read that many ppl here use 17" same size tires for winter, and i don't think any of them has had any issues with abs, vdc, etc., so running the same size all around should be ok.

 

The diameters of a 245 and 255 rears are 26.7 and 27.0 in., respectively (.3 in. difference, a bit more than 1%). But if new tread starts out at 12/32 (.375 in.) then after the 255 is less than 1/2 worn it will match the dia. of a new 245. Therefore IMO the diameter difference is insignificant. Similar argument for fronts.

 

My car (07 G35X) came with 225/55/17. I ran 255/40/18 all around for a few thousand kms with no issues what so ever and they were about 3/4 " smaller diameter, but much wider.
I have now ran 245/45/18 tires for almost 10,000 kms which is the ideal diameter for the X as compared to stock diameter.