yup. and if the Z is anything like my mr2 was. you will go through about 4 sets of back tires to each set of front ones. and in during the race season (the black one was built for SCCA solo AutoX) it would go through a set of back tires in about 3000-6000 miles if i was lucky. damn thing just ate them up.

 

You can rotate L to R but not F to B.

 

The best "preventive" maintence to do on the tires, in my opinion, is simply to do regular alignments.

I got an alignment at 5k and plan to do it at 10k. At 5k mine were almost ALL out of spec. Also, had to walk them through with my service manual data and TELL them the specs. Their machine didnt have the 350z in their computer. I am still trying to verify rear toe angles. I'll probably end up havin to go to Nissan pay $200 just to get the rear toe angle, then go back to my other places.

Basically, I believe paying $90 for a front/rear alignment is a non issue to maximize wear on the tires, considering they are not rotational.

 

doing it that way, you will end up paying more on alignments than new tires cost........

 

The only way you can do that is if you get them unmounted, swapped, then remounted, and then finally balanced.

 

gotta love staggered wheels with directional tires!!!!

 

Assuming an alignment is $100 and having it done every 5k would be approximately $500 by the time it hits 25k. Assuming each tire is ~$250 *4=$1000, the total price for tires+service etc I would think would be an $1100-1300 job. If the tires are able to surpass 25k that is 50% of the cost for new tires and is gravy. I haven't had to get new tires yet and don't know the costs, I think the $250? per tire is fairly conservative.

I think ppl forget that they are supposed to get alignments done on regular intervals. You don't wait until the tires are chewed up or when you start veering.

Lastly, considering the possible toe issues on this car I am keeping a close eye on it, at least to figure out the wear pattern over time. Once i the wear pattern is established I'll probably cut back my alignements to 7-10k possibly, but still keep an eye on it.

The maintenence cost for this is small as a percentage of the car.

Any idea what tires will cost (comparable to my stock ones)? I have the Touring model with 18" wheels w/ tire pressure sensor.

 

tire rack has then ranging from about $130-230 depending on what you are looking for.

of course there are cheaper or more expensive options.

it is a good idea to get your alignment done often (normally every six months to a year) but a lot of it depends on how you drive your car. During race season, i would have my alignment done before every event i went to, then changed back after wards (i had a friend that owned a shop that had a laser alignment rack).

otherwise i would chew through tires in about 1000 miles with the camber and toe settings i ran.

even with normal factory settings i didn't get that many miles out of my rear tires.

i guess to each his own, and if it helps you sleep at night, then so be it. i guess it just depends on how much you drive, and how many miles you get from a set of tires.

 

thx for the follow up. I think with the pre-2004 front toe issues I'm a little paranoid and want to stay on top of it, at least for a while longer. I drive semi aggresive (70% street/30% freeway) and do the avg 15k miles/year. thx again.

 

no problem. with that amount of driving, i can see doing an alignment 3 x per year. I drove about 25,000 miles per year, and doing it at that rate, and the speed i ate through tires, i couldn't imagine paying for 5 alignments a year. i just got lucky and could do them for free (well a case of beer as payment) and did that on average about every 3 weeks during the summer. I wouldn't have changed the alignment during race season if i had to pay for it. (during the winter i drove on stock all seasons and didn't do much alignment wise) i also ran really sticky soft tires as my street tires to with a horrible tread wear rating.

but it is better to be paranoid than not do anything about it. i **** about changing the oil and transmission fluid. (after every race weekend i did it, and usually every 1000 miles normally) there are too many people out there that dont fix it unless it breaks, so any kind of preventative maintenance is good.