The car's not a DD, and the road noise can be muted with the the volume...

I have time on my side regardless of which tire I choose as my present 18's still have some wear left to them, and the 19" rims that I want have a 6-8 week national back order.....

 

Perfect!!!!!
Thanks!!!!

 

275/305 hey that's me! As far as tires best for the street are Michelin hands down, don't care what anyone else says....however they are not the best for the pockets.

 

Would agree that PSS (or PS4 or whatever the new ones are called) are great tires but are not pocketbook friendly.

I have run some pretty decent alternatives - for the type of driving I do, hill and valley runs, pretty much the only thing I use my Z for these days. I've reported on them over the years here and elsewhere. Here's a brief recap of some of them that I really like at price points a fair amount lower than Mushylins.

Note reference sizes of 245/35 and 275/35-19 unless noted. Additionally, these are all Max Performance tires (no all seasons UHP, no 200TW DOT race tahrs) because car is only used in fair weather conditions. My price comparisons are based on these sizes and current prices on Tirerack.com

Continental ExtremeSport - OK, well, these are not on my Z, they're on my SL and given the nature of that car, I cannot be more pleased with them. They offer amazing response and grip and very importantly, handle the power of that car easily. In Z sizes, they run about $230 less per set than comparable Michelin PS4

Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position - probably the most versatile of the tires I've run on the Z - they do it all well. Good grip, good response, good wet handling, overall, a favorite. Comparable size set will run $400 less than PS4

Kumho Ecsta PS91 (255/35 & 285/35-19) - These really surprised me. An upgrade to the old Ecsta LEs which had a good rep, these tires were easily the quietest, smoothest, grippiest, and nearly the most responsive I've run on my Z, next to the Michelin PSS I had when the car was "new to me" eight years ago. I would buy these again. And at a bargain basement price of $680 a set (almost half of what the PS4s cost), maybe I'll stock up! Haha.

Sumitomo HTRZ-3 (No longer made!) - Had these in OE sizes, 245/40 and 275/40-18s, and 245/35 & 275-35-19 sizes. These were easily my favorite "budget tire". I couldn't put 'em sideways when I tried. Great response, ultimate grip wasn't what the PS4s offered but more than enough for me (and I emphasize again, "for MY type of driving"). I've had four sets on different wheels and they're still on the ZR I sold a few years ago. Running strong, no issues (even though current owner isn't a "hill racer" by any stretch. Point is, they're not worn out with 20k miles on them. These typically were about the cheapest tires I'd consider running. They ran about $700/set a few years ago. (Although I did have a set of LingLong $250/set on my Z32 and they were fine for commuting and occasional runs up in the Berkeley hills.)

Others sorta worth mentioning....

Had a set of Hankook Ventus RS4 (DOT race tires) - Very sticky, a little dead-on-center feeling (note all the above emphasize "response", my big deal in tires) but didn't have 'em on long enough to give a full assessment. They're in the Extreme Performance category.

Yokohama - can't remember the name but they were in the UHP category. Not a huge fan of Yokohama but they were OK for the time I had 'em on the car. (Not long) And no matter, they're no longer made.

Yokohama AD08R - these were on both my Nismo 33 and Nismo 34 for a while (as well as on my still existing '03). Can't put 'em wrong. These are their close-to-DOT-legal race tires but most people ran them on the street. They weren't hugely responsive but grip.... amazing. They pretty much required gear down, WOT to get 'em to break free. Probably a great tire in a high horsepower application. But they weren't cheap (purchased new). I grabbed the first set of them brand new on the used marketplace and at that price (~$750?), they were great to have - my Niz loved 'em. Bought a second half done set for $350 and they were fun as well on my '03.

Toyo Proxes One (not the T1 that still exists). Had these on a set of Z34 Nismo wheels. I got them really cheap on SimpleTire.... something like $700 for the set! But they were a closeout I think as they disappeared shortly after. They "did their job" but they were probably the deadest tire I've driven on. Response was "Ehhh, OK" but NOT worth the Michelin type prices ($1400 or so) they originally commanded. They don't exist any longer so no matter.

There's others that I've forgotten (or on my other cars) but these were the ones worth mentioning. I've ridden/driven others but most aren't worth mentioning.... like the Federals. Noisy, uncomfortable. (NOT RSRRs though so no judgement there.)

Hope this helps some.