I recently bought an '08 G35XS here in Minneapolis. The car came with 18" Dunlop Sport Maxx All-Season tires. With winter fast approaching, I put on my 17" snow tires and wheels...Dunlop Winter Sports. They have about 13,000 miles on them and have a good amount of tread left. I used them on my rear wheel drive '05 G35 with great success.

Ever since I put them on last weekend, there is a rough sound when I'm accelerating from a stop, cornering at slow speeds, or coming to a stop. Once I'm over 20mph I don't hear it anymore....or maybe other sounds are dampening it out. I checked to make sure nothing is rubbing. So my thoughts are that it's either the tread noise or my AWD. Can you think of any way to test if it's my AWD? I want to make sure my AWD isn't working overtime. I also thought that since these tires are slightly smaller in diameter than my all-season tires, maybe my car is sensing slipping and the AWD is turned on, but then I would probably notice my slip light on.

Thoughts?

Thanks much...

 

I assume you checked wheel fitment before sticking them on the G35. Also assume this noise was not present for the first 13,000 miles.

Are the wheels OEM or aftermarket?
Do you need a centering ring to mount these wheels on the G35?
Diameter & offset OK?
All tires properly inflated and holding pressure?
Impact damage to tires?
Balance OK?

 

I assume you checked wheel fitment before sticking them on the G35. Also assume this noise was not present for the first 13,000 miles.
MY CAR IS BRAND NEW...ONLY 600 MILES. THERE WERE NO PROBLEMS WITH THE TIRES ON MY PREVIOUS G.

Are the wheels OEM or aftermarket? AFTERMARKET
Do you need a centering ring to mount these wheels on the G35? I DON'T THINK SO. THERE ISN'T ANY VIBRATION AT HIGH SPEEDS.
Diameter & offset OK? THE TIRES ARE 215/55. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY OFFSET?
All tires properly inflated and holding pressure? YES

Impact damage to tires? NO
Balance OK? YES

 

There's a bit more to it than matching up a bolt pattern and wheel diameter.

Here ya go. Someone put a lot of work into an accurate description of offset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offset_(wheel)

Read this to understand why centering rings are almost always needed on non OEM wheels.
http://www.wheelsnext.com/content/wheel_tech.html