Just changed out my stock Potenza's with 40,600 miles on them. My Z is an '05 bought brand new... I haven't changed my stock tires since I've been a member of this forum.

This isn't a post to brag or anything. I've seen a ton of threads bashing on the stock Potenza's about how they only last like 10,000 miles or so and what not, so I just wanted to share my experience with them and how they're really not THAT bad of a tire.

I would say maybe 2/3 of those miles are freeway miles while the other 1/3 are city miles. I know some of you guys are going to say I have been really "soft" on my tires, which is true to a certain extent. I almost never burn out from a dead stop, but I do speed quite a bit (gotten pulled over 6 or 7 times since I've owned the Z -- all for speeding ) in general.

PS: For those that care which tires I'm going with next, I found a great deal about a year ago from a fellow forum member who sold me all 4 tires/rims (with only 500 miles on them) for $300, so it looks like I'll be sticking with the Potenza's until I decide what aftermarket rims/tires I'm going with in the future.

PSS: I know the mods are going to move this to the "Wheels/Tires" sub-forum, but figured I would post here in the 350Z forum anyway since no one goes to sub-forums

 

dang...40k miles is alot.

I dont know how long mine will last...im at 3800 miles right now. I do alot of spirited driving, but no full on burn outs or anything. Mostly hard cornering and a small drift every now and then.

But when i do need to buy new tires, id probably go with the bfg kdw2 or goodyear f1's for their performance benefits.

 

Mine had 20K with room to go. They were not the stickiest, but they worked.

 

Yeah I like these tires too. Unfortunately for me I have had a couple punctures in the sidewalls (nails) so have had to shell out for a couple of new ones. .....and then yet another puncture but luckly it was repearable.

 

I've got 21K, but the back tires are at about 3/32 and the fronts are 3/16. 40K is pretty amazing. Any feathering/cupping? I've got an '05 Touring and the fronts have tremendous cupping.

 

You could push the tires to 40,000 miles sure. Don't know how safe I would feel especially in the rain.

 

Very true. But here in sunny California we don't get much rain

The rear tires were COMPLETELY bald/flat when I changed them (call me lazy, lol).


TreeFiddyZee: I had no cupping or feathering problems whatsoever.

 

If you take turns going 5mph and if you start in 2nd gear all the time then yeh, these are the tires for you. Other than that, potenzas blow chunks. Thats why the 2nd gen wrxs didnt perform as well as they could in car mags.

+Thread wear depends 100% on the driving style.

 

HMM, I dont seem to have any problems with potenza's. Very nice tires in my opinion.

 

damn... i'm around 40k miles now and more than half way through my third set of tires. i guess auto-xing on my street tires doesn't help.

 

mine made it to around 31k miles.

 

mine had to be changed at 20,000 miles...i did a few donuts one night and it killed them

 

I've got 18500 miles on my original stockers. They still have decent tread but they feel 'uncomfortable' in the rain like i'm on the edge of control. I have to slow down to 70 or my sphincter puckers. I'm thinking of changing to some all seasons in the spring. Anybody have any experience with the Eagle F1 AS?

 

If you take a minute to notice, you'll see that there are as many posts in the Wheels/Tires forum today as there are in the general 350Z forum. A lot of people who understand and know the benefits of the sub-forums visit them daily. If one of the mods would have deleted it for blatantly violating TOU #5 then nobody would have seen it.

 

sphincter puckers


anyway, im running on toyo t1r's (i know, off topic) but just rotated them after 20,000 miles and had plenty of tread left so i assume i should get 40,000 out of them.

changed out from the potenzas after 500 miles so i cant comment on those.

 

Hehe, I knew you guys wouldn't delete it because you guys are cool

 

Please elaborate?

Who buys a Z and drives it like that?

There is nothing wrong with the stock potenza's. If they were as bad as you suggest, Nissan would not have put them on the Z.

 

I dont' know whether I count, 'cause the rears had to be changed out at 24k but I am still running stock potenza's on the front and I am at 47k! Unfortunetly , I have to change out all 4, thinking of going with toyo proxes 4...don't know yet!

 

Yeah, it cracks me up when I see all the negative comments about the stock Potenzas. I autocrossed on mine for 3 years and did quite well. They are very sticky and with the stiff sidewalls, handle well. I got 18K out of the rears and the same out of 2 front sets (first set replaced for feathering).

They are high-performance summer tires, they won't last forever (> 15K miles), they aren't made for driving in snow or ice and when worn, they aren't drivable through standing water. They're not designed to do any of that stuff either so you shouldn't expect them to.

FWIW - the Toyo's have always been popular as a cheap replacement but one of the common complaints is that they don't handle nearly as well as the Potenzas did. The Toyo has softer sidewalls which will give you a better ride, but at the price of handling performance.

There are no perfect tires, every one is a compromise of sorts.

 

You contradict yourself. How did you autocross yours for 3 years? You must have gotten a second set of them after you used up your old ones?

Potenzas are no "high-performance summer tires" ill tell you that much. They are sold as all-season tires for the Z as well as many suby's, not "summer tires". As a matter of fact, what kind of car company sells "summer tires" for their car? Almost none. MOST cars come stock with "all season". It wouldnt make sense otherwise.
As you said, they blow in snow, water, slippery conditions.
As far as dry grip, Potenzas score low, very very low. Compared to a REAL "dry performance" tires, potenzas are ****. They are not good tires. I dont understand why anyone would argue otherwise.