I agree with people saying things about tires. They make day and night differences. The hardest part is pick a good tire. If you don't do your research and buy a set you have to live with it for the next 20,30k or more miles.

OEM tires aren't really good at the end of their life. Well most tires aren't good at 4-5/32. My oem on my 07 needed replacement at 13k miles. On my 08 I have 17 and they need to be replaced soon.

 

Okay thanks for the clarifications.



1) IF I GO THE ALL-SEASON ROUTE...I have read intersting reviews on the all-season Nokian WRG2 as a good alternative to snows. Anyone have them on the G35?? Perhaps that’s a good choice for me – ie hassle free , no second set or rims, etc, etc,


2) IF I GO WITH SNOW TIRES, as after all, they are safer, extend wear on the regular tires, etc.I do have some questions:

 

Not necesserly to keep the cost down but to make sense. Smaller you tire is the better it is. You are fine with 17's all around. Also the wider the tire less traction you get on snow. The deal is you have to cut thru the snow to have good traction. If you have wider tire it will be harder to cut thru. It will try to stay up.

I would not recommend keep changing the tires on the same whel 2x a year. More you change the tires the bigger the chance they screw up the rims at the shop.

Also you can get cheaper set of used rims. I'd go with that instead of the steel one. They don't look really good on the G. Check out some local newspaper or online market. There are few cars have the same bolt pattern. You can get rims from those guys also.

I think Ford Mustang , Lexus, Mercedes, Nissan to name some.

 

May want to consider why tracked vehicles work well, it is called floatation. If you 'cut' through the snow you are always driving uphill.

 

I had a very similar experience including the loaner car. I wonder if the wobbly feel you describe is actually the car trying to follow every grove in the pavement (tram-lining)?

I had about 29K on the factory RSA's when I replaced them. Before I replaced them the car would tram-line like crazy, the steering was painfully difficult to turn and the ride was harsh. It was so bad that every time I took the car to the stealer for an oil change I complained about it. They aligned it, checked the suspension, etc, etc.. but in the end said it was the "design of the car"... I've had crappy rentals that were easier to drive - hell, my Ody minivan was more fun to drive!!!

I just replaced the GY RSA's on my 07 G35x with Michelin Pilot A/S + tires (also +1 on the rims) and now it literally feels like a new car. The new tires made ALL the difference in the world. It's actually fun to drive the car again!

Sunil

 

Agree, all the difference.

I gave up the RSAs last winter and got Pirelli Carving snows on alum rims, and this year got Yokahama ENVigor for summers.

Why they put crappy RSAs on this car defies logic in terms of the number of potential customers who got turned off on the first test drive !

 

When they are new they are not too bad. It just when they age they crap. But that is true to many tires.

 

That is true, but the RSA's stank in a special way when they got old. I'm pretty convinced that something was seriously wrong with one or more of them such as shifted belts or something else beyond normal wear.

Sunil

 

I put Yokohama Avid Envigors on my M35 and they made a world of difference. Now that I drive a G35, I'd probably go with the Yokohama S Drives (but I live in Florida)

 

As a recent G35x buyer at about 25,000 miles with original RSA's, I can say the tramlining was *terrible*. It was disappointing.

I threw some new Michelin Primacy MXM4 97v rated tires on it and the difference was immediately evident. Quieter/smoother ride, tramlining almost nill, and hitting patches in the road doesn't practically throw me in the other lane anymore.

I am not a tire-pro so take my purchase with a grain of salt, but loose research told me these were pretty good tires, and I am personally not disappointed one bit in getting them. Worth every penny.