Greg, thanks for the additional info. I guess a more basic question is "why di you switch from the Potenzas to the Goodyears?" Were you unhappy with the 'stones (performance, noise), was it a price decision, durability, or other reason? Thanks!!

 

Nomad1600,

Basically it was the short treadlife. The OEM Bridgestones were great performing tires, but they lasted less than a year. These tires only had 22,000 miles on them (a lot more than others have reported in this forum, so I guess that's a good thing). Also, I tend to favor All Season ultra/high perfomance tires rather than summer tires for their all around capability in most driving conditions.

On my last car (2004 Acura TL) I ran Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's. I would have done the same on the G35S, but they are not available in the 225/50-18 (front) size. I had two sets of the Michelins on my TL and got around 40K miles each time. The worst set of All-Season tires I had on my TL were Pirelli P-Zero Nero's. They only lasted 20K miles.

So far the noise level of the Goodyear Eagle F1's is on par with the OEM Bridgestones, and their performance thus far has exceeded my expectations. Price was not an issue since the Goodyear's and the Bridgestones are essentially within $10 - $20 of each other (each tire). Also, because I have the G35 Sport with the staggered tire setup, there are very few choices if you retain the OEM sizes. Specifically, the Tire Rack (where I purchased them) has only two - the OEM Bridgestones and the Eagle F1's.

Lastly, all of the reviews I have seen had high praises for the Eagle F1's.

Time will tell if they live up to the hype. If not, I will go back to the OEM Bridgestones, or perhaps by that time we will have more choices.

Regards,

 

$6.50/hr.....



What did you expect?

 

I expect the job to be done right! Given that their business is solely to sell, install, and service tires I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation - regardless of their hourly wage.

Regards,

 

I know, I would expect the proper service with well trained techs, I was just making a snide remark on the kind of people hired now.

When I was a manager of an Oil Field instrumentation company, I paid about $4 ABOVE the going wage at the time and I expected the best from the people I hired. If they wanted to keep that job, they did it right.

Now days, it's just the "bottom line".

 

Good idea keeping an eye on them. Every time they put your wheel on that machine, it seems to leave some sort of mark. If they were sloppy enough, you might have been arguing for a new set of wheels. I don't know if you'd win that one at a business that pays the employees 6.50 per hour.

 

+1 Often better to make someone totally redo rather than try to suboptimize and correct them at every step.

 

Greg,

Can we ask how much you paid out the door for the job for the four replacement tires??

 

onthebeam,

My total with mounting and balancing was $897. I bought my tires from the Tire Rack:

225/50/18 - $371.68 (includes Shipping from Reno, NV)
245/45-18 - $429.25 (Includes Shipping from Indianapolis, IN)
M&B 96.00


Regards,

 

I replaced the tires on my '03 Coupe 6MT (18" staggered) with the OEM Michelin Pilot Sport. I had a good price from Costco in Concord, CA but they were always so busy with their first come, first serve policy that I gave up after a few tries and went down to the street to America's Tire where they matched the price but gave my road hazard insurance as well. It took them only 40 minutes and I was happily on my way after a quick inspection of the tires. When I got home, I realized that while they mounted the tires correctly on the wheels (larger tires on the larger rear wheels), but they had mounted the wrong wheels on the axles. They had switched the left front with the right rear. So I had staggered wheels, but they were staggered right and left, not front and rear! Also on the two wheels they switched, the unidirectional thread was now backwards. I called them, drove back and had them correct it. It was weird that I really didn't feel any difference in noise or handling with the tires/wheels all screwed up like that. Anyway, I pay more attention now with tire installs.

I'm also thinking about the Eagle F1 AS when I'm ready for new tires on my '07 G35S. I'm now at 13.5K and I have about 4/32 on the rears. With the recent rains here in Northern CA, I've lost traction a little bit on the OEM RE050A.

Another interesting tire story for me was that my '07 G35S sedan was delivered from the factory/dealer with 3 RE050A and 1 RE040. I had to go back to the dealer when I noticed it after about 100 miles and they swapped it with a wheel/tire from a new sport sedan on the lot. I hope they didn't sell the other car that way.