New to the forum and not sure if this is covered somewhere, but I am looking for any reviews or recommendations of a 19" ultra high performance all season tire. I am looking to upgrade my stock 18" wheels. If I move to a 19" wheel, I will need to get new tires as well. I am torn between the Pirelli P Zero Nero all season and the Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2 and wanted to see if anyone has any experience with either tire.

Thanks

Welcome to NICO and Happy Chrimbo!
I am on my second M35 and I had Ventus S1noble-2 tires on my previous M. The newer M has Goodyear Eagle RS tires which are "ok" but I don't recommend them and they will be changed to Ventus S1noble-2 early next year after I wear these down some. I will again be buying size: 255/45zr/18 as they are wider and look more aggressive without sticking outside the fenders. And YES, I consulted with my Infiniti service guy, Tire Rack, and my installer - all assured me they would NOT be a problem on the OEM 18x8 wheels and they weren't. Here is a link to a video comparing the two brands you mentioned as well as others:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... +S1+noble2

I also did a pretty extensive amount of research before switching from my usual Michelins to Ventus. I made two posts - one at the onset, and another after a few thousand miles. Unfortunately, that M was totaled so the updates stopped.

hankook-tires-update-2-t587072.html?hilit=ventus

As for switching to 19" wheels, I considered it, but decided against it because that will raise my car another inch off the ground. To compensate for that, I would need to switch suspension to coil-overs, etc. That will change the ride quality of the car and I don't want that.

IMHO 19" is too small. If you are going to get new wheels get 20". The lower profile tires make the car handle so much better. I hated the OEM 50 series tires, they were too squishy in the turns. I'm a Yokohama fan personally but I also went for summer performance tires and said screw the snow. Hopefully the snow doesn't screw me

I was looking at 20"s but did not want to break the bank on new wheels and tires. The 19"s are a good compromise. I looked at the Yokohama S. Drive but as you know here in NOVA, you don't what is going to happen with these winters. I checked tire size calculator and will be running a 245/45/19 which would not mess with the odometer

Larz: I'm curious as to how going from a 18" to a 19" wheel would necessitate switching suspension? Going from a 255/45/18 to a 255/40/19 yields the same height tire, with only 1/2 inch drop in sidewall height.

wideopn11: I am with you; a 20" is just right on these cars. It has been my experience that more tires are available in a 20" vs. a 19", and that prices are cheaper due to the popularity of 20" sizes.

Smoov, in my vast experience with tires and suspension (which is absolutely zero), just figured that my car on an 18" wheel is (x) inches off the ground and adding a 19" wheel would raise the whole car by (x) +1 inch. Is that not correct? Also since you mentioned going to 255/40 instead of 255/45, will that increase risk over potholes and railroad tracks?
My only concern was raising the car an inch and I stuck to 255/45 as it has more sidewall (if that is an accurate assumption).

Larz, there are a few factors at play here. If we take tire size out of the equation, going from an 18" wheel to a 19" wheel would only raise the car 1/2 inch. Think about it like this: if you measure out from the hub, (or center cap) the wheel at any given point is a 1/2" bigger; but is 1" larger measured across the entire face of the wheel. So yes it would raise the car 1/2", but also of concern would be clearance to the wheel well, fenders and such. This would also be 1/2" closer as well.

Wheel size can be compensated for in any given application with tire sizing. In its simplest terms, when you increase wheel size, you decrease sidewall height. The goal is to achieve the same height (or very close to) wheel and tire package. For example: a 255/45/18 is the same height as a 255/40/19, as is a 255/35/20. Section width is another factor, but for purposes of this conversation, I will not get into that.

I hope this helps.

Continental DWS are an excellent AS tire. If I didn't go with a summer/winter setup, I would go with them. Great traction in the snow for an AS with good dry/wet weather performance.

I recommend to play around with this http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp. Shows you exactly what changes from wheel size, to tire size and more.

Thank you sirs ! great information and I now have a new toy to play around with.

By the way ... Having done much research into tires, I would like to make an overly finicky and geeky observation about one item related to wheels and tires.

Because those "calculators" are not absolutely precise and can only be treated as a good starting point for speedometer and odometer error calculations!

if you wanna know the likely speedometer errors very precisely ... because the wrong tire size could make the speed difference be more than a few miles per hour. Basically, these calculators assume a "standard" tire size and make no assumptions about tire sidewall stiffness, tire profiles, etc.

The issue is that different tires are not perfectly identical for the same size tire. Due to sidewall stiffness differences, aspect ratios, section profiles, section widths, etc., one tire may flex a bit more than others. This makes the actual rolling diameter under pressure with a typical car load slightly different from tire brand/model to another model - sometimes even from the same manufacturer.

The best way to compare, and what tire size is the best to use when changing wheel diameters, or even going from one model of tire to another, is to use the "Revs/mile" numbers and specifications that places like Tire Rack, and the manufacturer, provide. This is generally provided as a measurement based on a "standard" tire pressure of 36 psi and with a "standard" car weight (as I recall, this is 80% of the rated tire load, but don't remember exactly).

So, start with the OEM tire in the correct OEM size - look at its spec for Rev's per mile. For our cars, this will be somewhere between 770 and 820 revolutions per mile depending on the model year and tire you started with (for the 18" and 19" and 20" wheels we have).

Then look at the tires, and/or for the wheel, you are considering and check its revs/mile number. The ratio of these two revs/mile numbers (old to new ... or vice-versa) will tell you exactly what the speedometer error is going to be (assuming that both tires will be inflated to the same nominal pressure of about 36 psi) regardless of all size and aspect ratio and profile issues. Differences of a psi or two (higher or lower than 36 psi) will not change this revs/mile number much, by the way.

Multiply (or divide) that revs/mile ratio by 60 and you can figure out the indicated speedo for an actual 60 mph (or vice-versa ... depending on which tire res/mile was the numerator of the division).

Now, whether a given wheel and tire fits under the wheel depends on other factors ... wheel width, offset, tire aspect ratio, section width, section profiles, approximate diameter, etc.

One of these days, I need to spend some time to update my tire calculations spreadsheet (it is in the stickies) ... I have a bunch of different models in there and there are a number of new tire models available now. If anyone wants a copy of my old spreadsheet (it is an Excel file) to use for their own tires and wheels, please let me know and I will send it along.

Z