I'm considering buying a 350Z Roadster and have a couple questions about the tires.

-- What's the consensus on how many miles you typically get from the OEM tires? (I won't be doing any racing or hard driving).

-- How well do they perform in the rain? (I'm not concerned about snow.) I"m more concerned with braking/hydroplaning (i.e., safety) than with handling/cornering.

The reason I'm asking is that the other car I'm considering buying is a Honda S2000. After reading reports of limited tread life and poor wet-weather performance, I found a poll on an S2000 forum that showed that 75% of the owners get less than 15,000 miles on the rear tires, and 50% get less than 12,500 miles. (The stock tires for the pre-S004 S2000's I believe were Bridgestone Potenza S-02's. The 2004's come with Bridgestone Potenza RE050's; dunno how they might be different.)

By the way, am I correct in presuming that while a tire's tread life depends on what car the tires are on (as well as how the car is driven), its wet-weather performance depends mainly on the tire -- and so would be comparable between the Potenza RE040's that come on the 350Z and the Potenza RE050's that come on the S2000?

Thanks,

Damien

 

The traction ratings on tires are for wet weather performance. I think the stockers are rated as an A, so they should be pretty good. I had no problems, but I remember that when the Z first came out there were some people who were unhappy with the performance in the rain. Just makes things more fun IMO.

Wet weather performance depends primarily on the tire compound, with the tread pattern really only useful for hydroplane resistance. Grassroots Motorsports tested some directional tires in the correct orientation as well as backwards, and got pretty much the same performance in the wet (they weren't testing for Hydroplaning though). I wouldn't worry too much about the wet weather performance of the tires, since those will eventually wear out and you will be getting new ones anyway. If you don't like the performance of the stock tires, just drive carefully until they wear out and then get ones you like. I do think the tread life is a valid concern though, since you will be living with that as long as you own the car.

As far as life goes, I got 16,000 miles on my front tires and 20,000 miles on the rears. I commute on a mountain road and did several AutoX's and two track days with those tires. To me they worked very well (but I might have low standards - I drove pickups before I got the Z).

My new tires are Yokohama AVS ES100 in front and Hankook Ventus Sport K104 in back. I've only had light rain the past couple days in these tires, but they seem OK. At this point I can't remember exactly how the stocks felt, so I can't compare them directly.

I have 26000 miles in the car now, and the Yoks seem to be wearing pretty well, but maybe a bit faster than the stocks.

My next tires will probably be Falken Azenis 115 (or something like that). Dirt cheap and hard as a rock. I've got race tires now for AutoX, so I'm going cheapo on my streets.

I love the S2000, and would have bought one if it was available in a hardtop. Either choice would be a blast to drive.

Good luck!

Oh yea, as far as roadsters go, I prefer the S2000. The Z is just too heavy IMO (still an excellent car though).

-D'oh!