Hey Guys. First time poster here. I'm looking for a little advice. I got my G35 around Thanksgiving and I live in the Metro Detroit, MI area. I have the performance tire and wheel package on the 2003 Coupe. This, of course, came with the Michelin Pilot Sports. I have learned the hard way how useless these tires are when it snows. I've already been stuck 3 or 4 times. This was my first new car purchase and I'm not exactly a gear head, so I didn't even think to ask if these tires were only for the Summer when I purchased the car.

Anyway, I'm looking for a solution to my problem. I was going to swap my tires for some good all-season tires (Michelin Pilot Sport A/S or Continental ContiExtremeContact). However, I can't find any all-season or winter 225/45-18 tires. So, this leaves me with a few options.

Option 1: Put 225/40-18 all-season tires on the front and 245/45-18 all-season tires on the rear.

Option 2: Put 225/40-18 all-season tires on the front and 245/40-18 all-season tires on the rear.

Option 3: Buy 2 wider wheels for the front (very expensive, at least to match the Ininiti ones) and put 245/45-18 all-season tires on the front and back.

Option 4: Buy 4 new wheels, 4 new tires, get whatever winter tires I want (Bridgestone Blizzak LM22 probably), and swap the wheels during the cold season.

I called my dealer and they said I could probably get away with 225/40's on the front, but they didn't say if I needed to match them with 245/40's on the back. Does anyone know what advantages/disadvantages there are to using 40's instead of 45's?

Obviously, Option 4 would be easy, but it would also be very expensive. I know a lot of you just buy a new winter set of wheels, but I was just exploring a cheaper option. I was wondering if anyone found a good solution using Option 1 or 2. Other than that, can anyone suggest some affordable wheels that are also reliable and look nice?

Thanks to anyone that can offer me some advice. I'm sure some other people in colder climates with 18" wheels have dealt with this problem. It was really cool to find this site. I didn't realize there was such a dedicated community of G35 owners, and it's great to see all of the cool mods people are making to an already amazing car. Thanks.


2003/Coupe/Desert Platinum/Premium-Aero-Wheel Packages

 

Aren't the front rims the same width as the rears? I heard people say that 245/40-18 on the front is fine, because its the exact same circumference as the stock 225/45-18. I was planning on doing that with the ContiExtremeContacts myself. Let me know how it goes

 

Well, as I'm sure you may have noticed, this topic was discussed on many occasions in this forum. The quick story is: buy a dedicated set of snow tires (and wheels). All-season tires...on this car...just don't quite cut it. It's passable with very little snow on the ground...clearly better than the summer tires...but still not the best choice out there.

Generally, you don't want to go with a lower profile tire (for snow-related driving). In fact, what most people have done is drop down a wheel size (from 18s to 17s). In order to maintain a similar diameter to the stock configurations (so as to not upset the VDC system and the speedo/odometer), a slightly larger profile tire is used. For instance, I swapped out my (F) 225/45 18s for 225/50 17s and my (R) 245/45 18s for 245/50 17s. Ideally, you want to stay within 3% (plus or minus) of the stock wheel & tire configuration. There are a few sites that provide a calculator to compare different tire sizes...definitely look into that.

'03 G35 C Prem Pkg, Navi, Aero, Performance Wheel & Tire Pkg

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Thanks for the advice. After some dicussions with someone who has much more experience than me with buying wheels/tires for nice cars, I've deviced to buy a new set of tires for the winter. I think I'm going with 225/45-18 (front) and 245/45-18 (rear) Blizzak LM22's. However, I think I'm going to pop the Blizzaks on the stock wheels and buy some new wheels (BBS or ASA's) for the summer with the stock Pilots. I decided to stay with 18's for the winter because they'll look nicer, especially on the stock wheels. It's a hefty price to pay, but I was going to need a new set of tires either way with the crazy snow here. My goal is to stay under 2K for the winter tires and the new summer wheels. I'll post pics once I get the new wheels.


2003/Coupe/Desert Platinum/Premium-Aero-Wheel Packages

 

Yeah, 18s are some serious $$$. Definitely post pics when you get a chance. Good luck...and enjoy!

'03 G35 C Prem Pkg, Navi, Aero, Performance Wheel & Tire Pkg

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