first off i appologize if there is a similar thread, but i could not find one.

i have a 2003 touring stock rims (18/8 front and rear)

the factory recomends: front - 225/45/18, rear- 245/45/18


i mainly use my z for normal everyday driving.

i was wondering if i put the same size tire all around, will the tires last longer because i'll be able to rotate them?

how will the performance be affected?

thanks

 

rotating is overated, running the same size all around can ruin the stock height stagger and shift the weight distribution messing with the balance of the car.

 

Unless you have aftermarket wheels, you can not rotate without taking the tires off the wheels. The front wheels are an inch less wide than the rears.

Otherwise, running same the same size tire is FINE. If you have questions, ask SubyDude.

 

it'll mess w/ your VDC/TCS, take away some understeer (or induce more oversteer)...personally, I love the feel of the Z having the same tires front/rear, but my Z is much less of a DD and more for autoX/Track days now.

*if you want to rotate your front and rear wheels, there's a bolt on the brake's that prevent it - all you have to do is take the bolt off.

 

I doubt you will pick up much, if any, miles and performance will be effected.

 

Do you have VDC?

 

He has a 2003 Touring model with stock wheels, so his front and rear wheels are the same size (18x8”).

--Spike

 

Good read!

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/pr...t_2/index.html

 

I'm running 275/35F 275/40R and in hindsight should have just run the 40 series all around. Oh well.

Edit: In reference to above article.

 

I have a 2003 Performance model, and like your Touring model, the car has VDC.

I can tell you that running all-square (height and width) works fine with snow tires since that is what I have on my car right now. But, these are 225/55-17” on 17x7.5” rims and not the 18x8” rims you ask about.

I haven’t run all-square with my summer performance tires, so I’m not sure if the better gripping and wider summer performance tires will operate safely and well as all-square with a VDC-equipped car.

--Spike

 

I still think you are better off with the staggered height, they did not test a staggered height nonstaggered width setup, and they attributed the neutral handling to the matching widths, and not necessarily the match heights all around. Do you currently feel as if the handling isn't where you want it with the 275/35/18 and 275/40/18 setup?

 

^Hmm Good point. I don't know exactly how the car would feel with same heights. Right now, my car is understeering a little bit, but I still have to play around with the Sway bars a bit until I get more comfortable. All in all, I've been very happy with how stable the car is with the 275s all around.

 

nothing wrong with a allsquare setup as long as the sizes are right. I ran it for 6 months.

 

Your comments were directed at istan, so please forgive me if I’m jumping in here inappropriately. But, I would like to ask your opinion since you make useful posts with good information.

My Setup: I’m running Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, front 245/40-18" and rear 245/45-18", on 18x8” wheels. I really like this arrangement since it provides nearly neutral steering. Truthfully, it took a little while to adjust to the faster turn-in that happens when going from 225’s to 245’s on the front. I do like the neutral steer I get from all-square tire widths.

I agree with the post you made earlier on this thread:
My experience with snow tires is that “all square” and rotating tires works, but I don’t think it's reasonable to extrapolate this experience to summer performance tires.

For my setup, I decided to respect the height stagger when running summer performance tires. That decision was driven by the VDC feature on my car. And, I’ve never been a big fan of rotating summer performance tires.

Something else (a question for anyone reading here): I wonder if the Z’s stock suspension and it’s integral configuration will allow anything wider than a 245 tire on the front without experience bump-steer and less than optimal handling.

--Spike

 

I'll have to read it later.

 

If I was running stock sized wheels, this is the setup I would be running as well, my usually recommendation for people on g35driver who want wider than stock tires on the OEM 18's is 245/40/18 and 245/45/18 and for the OEM 19's is 245/35/19 and 245/40/19 or 255/40/19 since the rear wheels are .5" wider. I recommend these sizes so the tire "stretch" is close to the same all around so the tires respond similarly in most cases. All g35's have VDC, so I always recommend staggered height setups, too many people have run into issues when not doing so. If my car was track orientated, i would def be running a square width setup or close to one such as a 275/285 stagger, my widths have to do with the width of the wheels I run and compromising for lip size etc. No matter what widths I would run, keeping the diameters F/R as close to stock as possible is always the first priority for me, this keeps the VDC working correctly and helps to minimize any balance disruptions the nissan engineers built into the staggered height setup such as weight distribution and forward rake.

 

Then as several members have mentioned, I also recommend that you do NOT run the same size tires all around.

 

ive ran potenza re01r's 245/40 up front and 245/45 in rear vdc was perfect and it handled awesome. many of the autocrosser's setups are all squared. I still dont see a problem with them as long as the sizes are correct.

 

Well stated, and I believe your comments are accurate. Thanks for the reply.

--Spike

 

David, Thanks for the response. I usually follow your advice, and will do so here as well.

My all-square snow tires are working well, but I don't believe I can get the same result with all-square summer performance tires.

--Spike