The G Finally Gets New Tires

[JHof]

Jeez, my car has got nearly 60,000 on it !!!

The tires --Michelin Pilot Sports that came with the car when I bought it--finally got worn down enough so that they eventually demanded instant replacement. All 4 of them, all at once.

The fronts had begun to "thrum" as I drove to work, and when I braked it sounded like the front bearings were dying; the fronts throbbed like an arrythmic heart all the way to dead stop. It was a disturbing sound. Monday, while parked in a Pizza Hut lot, I turned the tires as much to the right as I could, and when I observed the tread wear, I realized that the inside of the tire walls were both cupped and worn down to near cord. You know, because the G Coupe is so close to the ground that you can"t really see much of the tires and how they are wearing, you rarely have any visual clues as to how the tires are doing. You have to make a POINT of observing your tires.

I'm about to take off on a 4-day, 800-mile Holiday Road Trip and I realized that there was no way I could make the run with my current tires. One of them --at least--would die, of that I was certain.Yesterday it rained, and when I went to accelerate away from a red light, I spun my rear tires like a fool would and the azz of the G started to get in front of me--and I didn't even want to do that. The whole set of Michelins are near-bald and it's their time. It was time for new rubber.

The G has a problem with tires.The car--like it's little brother, the 350Z-- has assymetric front/rear tires; 225/45 ZR 18s in front, but 245s in the rear, so just finding a match at the few tire stores in my little town was difficult. One store would have the 225s, but no 245s, and everybody could 'order" the tires but they might not get them until next week-- The Holiday, you know.

I settled rather than selected. I would have rather had a set of Goodyear G-Force tires, but I could not find a assymetric matching set for my car anywhere in town.

I bought Coopers. "ZEON", they call them.... "ZEON 2x5" for some reason-- it's part of their tire name but I have no clue what it means. I like Coopers. They have a really good rep for adhesion, heat performance and wear. Coopers are on a lot of Indy Cars and sprint cars. I have Coopers on my Spare Car, the ancient 200SX, and they are fine tires for that car.And, they're made in America, in Indiana by Hoosiers, so all the replacement bucks that I'm putting on the plastic stay here in the good 'ol USA.

They cost nearly $650.00 for the set, but I think they are worthy. And the car suddenly handles much better and corners like it was meant to.

Anyway, the G no longer thrums when I drive it, and wet roads are fun again.

[MastaYu]

sounds good

[Mr1der]

Hope the treat you right.

I'm pleased with my Hankook K106's for the Civic...they grip well enough for a cheap all season...not as noisy as some people complain about

[Bubba1]

I'd be interested to hear how your Coopers last. Torry's (Ezcheeze15) quest for new tires for his G while at NICOfest Carlisle was an entertaining (though stressful) ordeal. not so easy to get those tires quickly

[OriginalWheelman]

I love Cooper tires. I run them on everything. In fact, I just took the Weathermasters off the wife's Civic for a new set of CS4 Touring. I swear their slogan should be "Cooper - Tires that stick.".

[JHof]

The day after I had the new Coopers fitted to the G, I went off on a 700-mile trip.While cruising down I-75 at about 80, I noticed a mild, three-beat wobble in one of the front tires and also realized that the car was drifting ever so slightly to the right. With my hands off the steering wheel I could drift out of my lane and into the next one on about a seven count.Upon my return, I revisited the tire store (Firestone) and the manager re-balanced all the tires for free and offered a 4-wheel alignment for $50, so I took the deal and now the car runs perfectly straight down the road and the little wobble is gone.

I also put my new tires to an informal test, just to see how well they'd perform, and I discovered that the Coopers really stick on hard, sweeping turns. I entered the interstate on a tight radius on-ramp, pushed it to the limit and found myself doing about 80 on the curved ramp, and the car held on very well. They do seem to have a low-frequency hum on certain pavements, but that nearly vanishes on newer, smoother surfaces.