My '04 coupe has 17,000 miles and I was told today that all four needed replacing. The reasons given me by the dealer were two: (a) because the front and rear tires on the perf/sport package are different sizes, they cannot be rotated, which would have made them last longer; and (b) the G35 tires are made of a "softer compound" than normal tires (which allegedly promotes better tracking) and which consequently wears faster.

Both explanations seem like horse**** to me. Common sense says that I should not have to replace four tires this early in the life of a car.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? If so, have you tried to get reimbursed by Infiniti?

 

Welcome to owning a performance coupe. Summer-only max-performance tires like Michelin Pilots that came with our cars tend to last only about 20k miles. I need to replace my rear tires at 23k miles here... you do seem to need new tires bit early, but if you drive aggressively, then 17k is not too bad. I used to own a Supra and I once got 8k miles out of my rear tires... lol. I was doing lots of powerslides, though They were Bridgestone S03s that costed around $230 per tire... If you want longer lasting tires that will compromise you in performance, go with all-season high-performance tires as they last much longer than summer-only max-performance tires.

 

To rotate the tires you have to dismount the front tires from the rims and switch sides, repeat for the rears. Dealers charge about $98, tire shops $40-50.

 

Your dealer and the others are absolutely correct. High performance tires are expensive and wear quickly. In fact your 17k miles is not too bad, I've heard of guys replacing their tires around 10k miles. However, if you want the maximum potential of your car it's a tradeoff you need to make. If you want to get a longer lasting tire, go for it, just be aware that your car will not accelerate, stop, or turn as well as it can with the stock ultra high performance summer tires.

FYI there is a wear indicator number for the Pilot Sports of 220. A longer life tire will have an indicator number around 400. The lower the number the faster the tire wears.