Just bought a new 2005 G35x and am not all that happy with the stock Turanzas. I have the standard 17" wheels and plan on switching between Blizzaks in the winter and a high performance tire in the summer. Oddly, Tire Rack. com (my preferred tire dealer) has very few recommendations for high performance summer tires. Does anyone know why? My previous car was an Audi A4 that went through OE Continentals (very bad), Michelin Pilot Sports (better but short lived), Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position S-03 (superb but noisy) and finally Potenza RE950's. Does the G35x need higher profile tires to fit the suspension geometry? Anyone have any recommendations for high performance summer tires?Thanks

Welcome to NICO!

I am not an expert on whether the G35x needs special sizes to fit the rear or front, but I would be surprised if that is indeed true! What is the width and offset of the wheels that you currently have on the G35x?

Your idea of getting snow tires in the winter and max performance tires in the summer is a good one! One thing I would recommend is getting a spare set of wheels while you are at it - to make life easier and not require multiple mount/balances twice a year! Rex (see his sig) has a set for sale that would do you well, I'd think.

You might consider calling Tire Rack and seeing if they have better recommendations than the ones that the web configurator recommends. I'll also take a look.

Z

The problem is with the tire size. There just aren't a whole lot of higeh performance tires in 215/55-17. Searching on Tirerack for this size only yields only 2 tires total under high performance summer or greater. There are plenty of matches in 225/50-17(25.9") and 225/55-17(26.8"). Both should should fit. The 50 profile would be slightly smaller in diameter and the 55 will be slightly taller than a 215/55/17(26.4"). Other than that, you're probably going to want to start looking for a better wheel size to work with. The trend for high performance tires is to have a low aspect ratio. As such, there are fewer tires now that are made with such performance in mind in sizes that few people use.

Just keep in mind you'll want to keep the front and rear tires the same size since you have AWD. This will keep the center diff happy.