STL_Z_Seller

Just curious as to the tire rotation method (since the front and back tires are different sizes)? Is it just left to right? And if so, does that significantly reduce the life of the OEM tires?

Also...are there all season tires available? I looked on tirerack.com and couldn't find any. Do those all seasons make a difference as far as driving in rain or snow in St. Louis?

Thanks for your help...

Lyle

mikersoft

The tires are unidirectional, so they cannot be rotated side to side.

-Mike

jran76

iTrader: (1)

The best you can do is balance them every 3-5000 miles, you can expect 10-20,000 miles on a set of these depending on how you drive....

These tires will not drive well in the winter, they are not rated for snow/ice. If you plan to drive in the snow, I would pick up a set of winter tires/wheels. You should have no problems in the rain.

geeZer

You can move unidirectionals from side to side by remounting the tires to try and even out treadwear problems. If they are wearing evenly, its probably not worth it.

STL_Z_Seller

jran76,
sounds like keeping up w/ the tires on this thing is gonna be pretty darn expensive. The OEM replacements were like $275 each. I couldn't find any fitted for all season or winter use. Any other suggestions?


mikersoft
and
geeZer,

thanks for the reply!

Lyle

Luke@tirerack

although the OE tires are $223 front and $232 rear, there are better and less expensive alternatives but none of them are all-season tires

Boomer

18" 225/45s and 245/45s right? No all season tires available yet, but get rid of the OE tires. Their winter performance is way substandard and Bridgestone 03s are a much better tire and wear rated at 220 vs 140 on the OE 040s.

I have 17" tires and just changed to Michelin Pilot Sport A/Ss all season from Tire Rack.com. I had them balanced with "ForceMatching" by a Hunter balancing machine which forces both tire and wheel to match each other's high and low spots to make them round as a unit even though separately they may be slightly out of round. This process places the tire and wheel under load on the machine and simulates actual road travel.

I asked the owner of the shop how often I should have the balance checked since I couldn't rotate. He told me unless you lose a weight or hit a curb, no further balancing is necessary. The brochure he gave me says you should have the tires checked every 10,000 miles or 1 year.

I owned another car with staggered wheel sizes and the shop which balanced my tires, on an older Hunter balancer, always checked them for free every 5000 miles with this type of balancing. I put 128,000 miles on a 91MR2T and the shop rebalanced 2 tires while I owned the car, free of charge. Hunter has obviously improved their machine and I drove home today with perfect feel and ride.

For yourself and anyone else, look up www.hunter.com and you can get a look at their technology. I paid $20 per wheel for a lifetime balance, barring accidents. The ride is also smooth as silk with the right tires. Dump the 040s, buy Bridgestone 03s or Michelin Pilot Sports, in my opinion. For less money, get Kumhos or Sumitomos in your size. The owner showed me some light feathering already happening on my 040s on the outside of the tires w/1600 miles. This is an alignment problem many of the early preorder Zs have had. Mine is a little different because the feathering is taking place on the outside of the tread, most problems have have been wear on the inside.

Whatever, the alignment needs to be checked on all these tires; a dealer in Tulsa,OK. is aligning all new Zs sold at his dealership to be safe and avoid the damage that is happening on a number of the new Zs. THE PROBLEM IS EXCESSIVE TOE-IN OR TOE-OUT, TOE-IN WEARS THE INSIDE QUICKLY AND TOE-OUT THE OUTSIDE QUICKLY. Do yourself a favor and get your dealer to check the alignment, its cheaper for Nissan, who has been replacing damaged tires with toe problems as early as 4500 miles. That will not change your tires' behavior on snow or even on dry pavement under 40 degrees. A poster over at 350frenzy.com reported dangerous slippage on dry pavement at 27 degrees. Good luck. Some of the max performance tires are better in snow and ice than others, you might consult LUKE@TIRERACK on this thread as to any rec's he might have.