OK. Here is the latest in my tire saga. The Wide Ovals (235/50/17) went back in the 9th hour of the 30 day guarantee, due to them starting to act like they had Parkinson's disease....shaking at speeds. Rebalanced and they still never felt right. Told one or two exceeded road force limits...yada yada.. they are history.

Move on to a set of Avon Tech m550's in the 215/55/17 size. Great initial response! I loved them! Smooth, quiet and balanced without road forcing first time! 800 miles later......here comes the shakes! Similar speeds and all. Check them and I am told one is out of spec. Tire Rack replaces it and I have one of their recommended installers check all of them and road force all of them. He says the reported bad one is OK, it is another one that is bad! So we replaced that and he balances them all. But they were all kind of close to being at max spec. Drive away, and ....surprise! Shakes! Keep in mind the car was just checked for aligment, etc, and no problems reported.

So I speak to Tire Rack and they offer a new set of anything else I want. They will credit the set of tires, minus shipping. Most people I have spoken to and from what I see on the forum, say it is probably bad quality control and I have sh*t luck with tires. I am not going with an Avon or Firestone again. Too much bad luck for me. I know alot of folks have great luck and I did for about 800 miles with the Avons. I have narrowed it down to the 225/55/17 or 225/50/17 sizes as they are close to the original. And depending on the tire makers, and the variation in each of their products, I see that the specs can be pretty damn close to factory size, for some of their models. I have narrowed it to the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and the Bridgestone Turanza LS-V. Both get good marks, and the Bridgestone is rated really well in it's category. I know it is a Grand Touring tire, but I am not taking 90 degree turns at 100mph any longer. I want something that fits, balances and stays balanced, and provides good wet/dry performance.

I am asking Tire rack to maybe help out with the cost of installing another set of tires. I see they have done it for some on the forum previously. At 100.00 a pop for installation and balancing, this is getting stupid.

I'll update when it gets squared away. Good luck with all your tire purchases.....

Maybe I should just ride my bike.

 

wow, louisdarke, sorry to hear you've had so much trouble. Definitely keep us posted as to what happens next.

 

I had the Wide Ovals installed on my sedan before my roadtrip. I've put about 5k miles on them and they are still riding fine. So far so good, although I will be re-installing my aftermarket wheels very soon so I may not put many more miles on them.

 

UPDATE: Took the car in for it's 11,250 oil change, but instead of going to Infiniti, like usual, I went to a favorite Nissan dealer instead. Hey, they had an oil change special for 11.95, why not? Anyway, my guy there asks if there is anything else I need, and I mention the issue with the balancing of the tires. He says he'd like to take a crack at them and he won't charge me unless they make an improvement. So I tell him to give it a shot. He does it and says that a couple of them weren't balanced right. What!?

Well, it's been almost two full days, and these suckers are straight up balanced! Now I ain't jumping the gun yet and saying all is well, but I can't believe all the "experts" couldn't get it right and this Nissan dealership did so far. Best part is they only charge 34.95 for a rotate and road force balance! Not 99.00 like the Infiniti dealer. So my guy says if by Friday they are OK, I need to drop by and pay for the balance. Hell if they stay balanced for the whole week, I'll pay gladly, and buy the bast#rd lunch! I'll keep a running log as it progresses.......

 

Sweet!

 

Check this out! I was checking the tire pressure on the tires and noticed that when they rebalanced the tires, and they are still running great, they put the two front tires on going in the reverse direction of what the sidewall shows as the correct direction!??

So I guess I gotta call the dealer and see what's up. I hope it doesn't mean the only way these will balance, is if they are running in the opposite direction up front. Then again, they feel good and maybe that's the secret. Is there a down side to this? They handle just fine and I couldn't notice a thing, until I looked at them.

Unbelievable. Just when you think it's over...they pull you back in!

 

Well I've had it. After all the time and expense trying everything I could to make these Avons work, I decided to order a set of Bridgestone Turanza LS-V's in the 225/55 size. I know they are a grand touring tire, but it will suit my needs just fine. They are rated very well on Tire Rack. Although so were the Avons. I guess I got a bad set of Avons??? Just can't understand how they could be so good for 800+ miles and then take a shi* on me. Oh well, you live and learn. Perhaps they need to improve quality control.

As long as I can go fast in a straight line and they balance with no trouble, I think the Turanza LS-V's will be just fine. I'll update you when they are on and rolling.

***UPDATE: The Bridgestones are very nice so far. No vibration and they roadforced well under the spec limit. I'll keep my fingers crossed. They ride and handle very similar to the Avons, and are better looking too, I think.