Spec V Snow Tires?

[Sals Dad]

My first Datsun! ( or are they called Nissans these days? )

Actually, it's for my wife, her little econobox commuter Sentra. Just happens to say "SpecV" on the back, whatever that means . When she test-drove it, she said "this is fun!" and the kids liked it, too. So what's a guy to do?

I wish I'd had more real price data when shopping, so here's mine: '07 leftover, paid under $18,000 even after the dealer BS (since when do they have a separate line item for "sales fee"? I nearly walked...) Plus sales tax, of course.

Questions -

1) I want this to look like a stock Sentra, and will remove all the badging, and maybe the spoiler. Unfortunately the third brakelight is integral to the spoiler. Any ideas? I think the rocker panels will stay.

2) Tires - It came with "summer" tires (225/45 R17 IIRC), and they did OK in today's light flurries, but still... Probably need a set of rims and all-season or snows. What will fit onto this car? Any suggestions?

I'd rather go cheap, maybe from a boneyard, and don't care about appearance - the uglier the better. Winter potholes are hell around here.

Thanks, Sal's Dad

[gotak]

First of all. You want to keep the spoiler because of as you said the brake lights (it's one more sets and one less chance for cops you pull you over). It's also the best thing to hold onto to open or close the trunk. I did the new car buying thing with the showroom 2.0 and I scratched my head about the trunk. Didn't seemed to have any good place to put my hands, plus I wear my (Canadian) engineer's iron(actually stainless steel since iron rust and is a health hazard.) ring and I felt like I would scratch the paint eventually if i keep putting my mitts on the trunk proper. The spoiler's plastic so I don't care as much.

Tires, since you have summer tires there are no reason to get all seasons since you plan to swap during winters.

I run 205/55R16s on steel rims (SE-R though so slightly smaller front brakes). You'll most likely need to stick with 225/45R17s with the larger front brakes sine the 16 inch rims barely fits for me. I use Gislaved Nord*Frost 5 tires and they are really very good. Those two major storm that hits the North East of the USA and us in Toronto weren't a problem. Totally time I needed a push was 1. Due to me stopping to let a guy walk past my drive way and getting stuck on the snow plow ridge. If you want better handling over super snow traction you can look into Continental TS810s my brother use them on his BMW 3 series and they are pretty good as well. There's also the Dunlop M3s or Wintersport 3Ds which are suppose to be good but I did saw a RX-8 with them on that was stuck on a up slope. And of course the one that everyone talks about are the Nokian winter tires which are widely consider the best winter tires you can get.

Finding rims is going to be a pain since no one seems to know what fits yet. All I did was go to a local store and have them put on steel rims. It fits but my offset's not what it should be. Still they are only winter rims and once rusty I'll invest in some cheap alloys. Salt can eat away at alloys so you want to get cheap ones or steels for winter.

[nametakennow]

1. It is a stock Sentra. If you mean a base model, the front bumper, side skirts, rear bumper, and spoiler are all different, possibly a few other minor parts.

Anyway, I think de-spoilering would look nice. You could take it off and just tuck the wire somewhere, though you'd need to fill the hole in the trunk, so your best bet is to get a stock trunk off a car that doesn't have a spoiler. I doubt enough Sentras have been crashed yet to be able to find one in a junkyard, but call around and give it a shot.

As for debadging, aside from the Nissan badges on the trunk and the grille, you can take off the other badges with a hairdryer and some floss. Heat the adhesive with the hairdryer, then run floss under the badge, should come right off.

2. You have plenty of wheel/tire choices. Head to Tirerack, their site is the easiest to use and when you put in your vehicle info they'll give you proper tire sizes. You could also do some hunting for some stock steel wheels off a base Sentra to put the snow tires on. That'd probably give you the best all-weather capability as they're skinny and small.

Welcome to NICO!

It's Nissan nowadays, by the way .

[gotak]

Eh don't buy stock sentra rims. Will not fit 4 lug vs the 5 on the SE R and SpecV. Also mostly will not clear your 12 inch brakes.

[nametakennow]

SE-Rs are 5 lug now?

Whoops, news to me. That changes things... Hmm...

[Sals Dad]

Looks like I need 17" alloy rims, with "performance" snow tires. Plus the tire pressure sensors ($200+ per set).

Starts to turn into real money - $1160 is the best I can do at TireRack.com:

Quote »17x7 Sport Edition D5 Silver Painted -- 4 $99.00 $396.00 225/45QR17 Bridgestone Blizzak REVO 1 Blackwall -- 4 $112.00 $448.00 SCHRDR 315MHZ SENSOR 5.5 NM -- 4 $52.00 $208.00 REQUIRED VALVE SLEEVE -- 4 $2.50 $10.00 Hunter Road Force™ Mounting and Balancing FREE! FREE! UPS GROUND 2 Business Days $100.48 [/quote]Over $1160.

So maybe just a second set of tires, on and off twice a year 'til I find a bargain. There's a guy locally who posted Pirelli P6's on craigslist - over 20,000 miles, but $50 for the set. What do you think? Just til April, when the summer tires go back on... Feels foolish, taking the cheapskate way out!

[gotak]

You can skip the TPMS really... just check your tire pressure yourself. I am actually happy I don't have that on my car (doesn't come on the SE R in canada?).

If you go without the sensors it just means there's a light on your dash. If that's not going to annoy you then just don't worry about getting it.

For you the issue is that it's late in the season so they aren't stocking all the tires anymore. The Dunlops were on sale at the start for like 90 bucks or so.

Btw the General Altimax are actually Gislaved Nord*frost 3s and they are only $94 on tirerack. General and Gislaved are both owned by Continental... You can go for those they are pretty good. Plus they accept studs if your area allows them that makes them pretty good on ice. Down side is Q ratings so limited top speeds and it might feel a bit soft but you shouldn't drive so far in the winter with ice and snow anyhow. Up side to Q ratings is the that means a softer tire which usually means better traction in snow and ice.

I say these should be pretty good since the NF 3s are the predecessors to the NF 5s I am using (they skipped 4 for some reason).

One more thing for that price... you should consider a local shop since you'd save on shipping. My tires with steel rims came to 900 bucks Canadian and our local store prices are higher then your's by far. You should be able to get a good deal locally just ask if they can beat the Tirerack price. Of course they might not do TPMS but that's a luxury not a need. The TPMS sensor is a thing you don't want to have in your winter tires anyhow since you have to go to your dealer and get them to teach the computer which tire is which. And you can be sure they'll charge you a pretty penny for that.

The problem with the swapping tires on and off idea is that if the person who's doing your swap isn't careful they can damage your TPMS sensor. And again you might have to pay for sensors. I am still going to suggest you look at steel rims (cheap) and local store.

Modified by gotak at 9:51 PM 2/10/2008
Modified by gotak at 9:51 PM 2/10/2008

[Sals Dad]

My local guy said go to Tire Rack - hinted it was less than he would pay.

I don't think there is any way to get steel rims to fit - according to various tire sites, and the dealer (who quoted $2846 !!)

I went ahead and ordered - 17" rims, General Altimax Arctics, pressure sensors - from TireRack.com - came to about $1100 delivered. And I got the shipping confirmation email within about 14 hours!

Now to convince her that she loves to drive the truck...
Modified by Sal's Dad at 6:17 PM 2/13/2008

[frankie001133]

Hi Guy's, I was reading through all your comments on this thread and I just got a 2008 Spec V and had a nightmare trying to find steel rims that would fit. In the end, I got fed up and bought the General's and am happy with the purchase, but not happy to see what my mags will look like after the winter

I have 2 questions,

-If 17 inch steel rims won't clear the huge front breaks, how will that tiny 13inch spare rim/tire in the trunk fit in the front if a flat were to happen ? (the saleseman was stumped when I mentioned that to him, so we came to the conclusion that if a front flat were to happen, you would have to put the spare in the back and the back in the front) pretty messed up eh !!!

-What are these sensors you guy's are talking about ? Where are they located ? Cause now you got me thinking that I should warn my mechanic about them when he swaps my tires come spring.

[nametakennow]

That's a dumb spare.

I've never seen a 17in steel wheel, but if you found one it would clear the brakes assuming it had the right offset. About 15 is the largest they ever seem to get before companies start using aluminum/alloy like they should anyway.

[frankie001133]

What exactly does "dumb spare mean. I looked at it and it does not look like it will fit in the front.

As for the 17inch rims that you have never seen before, my mechanic got me 1 to bring to nissan to see if it fit and it did not.

Sorry if I phrased it wrong before, but I am talking about those black metal rims that everyone uses instead of their mags come winter time.

[Sals Dad]

When I swap out the tires (I am watching eagerly for the UPS guy!) I'll try the mini-spare on. Maybe I'll even take pictures!

[nametakennow]

By dumb spare I meant that it's dumb that it doesn't fit, it wasn't a special term, haha.

As far as the wheels, I think you had the term right, I've just never seen a steel wheel that large. They're generally tiny.

[JimmyMorris]

It does fit. I hit something laying on the highway (it was dark and it looked like a roofing shingle) and bent my left front rim and put a nice big bubble in my tire so i put the spare on and had no issues. Those rims are expensive.. =(

[gotak]

Senors are built into the valve stems i think.

anyhow i think those generals will do you guys good. Just don't go above it's Q rated speed.

[Sals Dad]

The 17" wheels offer a pretty tight fit! Note the wheel weights glued inside the rims.