Tire poll. What are you running?

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TeeMax
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General Exclaim UHP 235-40-18


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SunLitSandMax00SE
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Kuhmos 225/40/19

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PBfrEAk
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Falken Ziex 512's...18in.

I'm SOOO mad they quite making them because I need two new ones and don't want to buy all new tires yet...luckily winter is here!!

Winter tires on stock rims soon!!
MinisterofDOOM wrote:That sucks. Black steelies actually don't look bad, though. I considered getting a set for my car just for the stealth look (since my stock wheels are a little scarred anyway). It's hard to find glossy black ones in FWD offsets, though.

Just don't go putting fugly hubcaps on them.
I like the look of gloss steelies with chromed lugs.
MinisterofDOOM wrote:Just got a set of Falken Ziex ZE 512s put on friday.

The car feels a ton better now (of course that could just be the fact that my tires have tread again...). Both ride quality and handling/responsiveness are increased. I haven't driven in wet or snow yet, though. The tread pattern looks like it should provide much better wet traction than my old tires.

Also, this is the first time I've ever run directional tires on any of my cars. Anything I should do differently (aside from not rotating them so they're backward...)?

With the new ones, they stick like glue and the trunk goes all over the place. Fun...
Oh and the Falken's have VERY good traction IMO and I've never had a problem in the water. As for the snow I've only drove them once in the snow but when I did I tried everything I could to get them to break loose to no avail. Granted it was rather slushy conditions...I was still impressed. You shouldn't have to do anything other than make sure you don't put them on backwards like you said!!

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SVTCOBRA
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Falkens on the Max (loud tires, grip ok)Yoko Avids on the G35 (new tires, ok so far)cooper lifeliner's on the other G35....they were on there when I bought it (hard tires)Potenza re750's on the cobra (sticky- dry and no hydroplane)

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PBfrEAk
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Your Falken's are loud??

I've never heard a peep from mine...not even a squeal around sharp turns.

What kind are you running??

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SVTCOBRA
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I'll have to check when my daughter gets home from school.


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the converted
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Falken ziex ze-912's nice so far. Quiet, good grip dry and wet. Not really high performance tires but sure beats the crap out of the re92's.

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SVTCOBRA
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PBfrEAk wrote:Your Falken's are loud??

I've never heard a peep from mine...not even a squeal around sharp turns.

What kind are you running??
They are ZIEX ZE 512 with 6.5 - 7 /32nd of tread


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PBfrEAk
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Thats really weird. My backs are bald (well, they were on the front but I rotated) and the Fronts have almost all of its tread.

I've never heard anything...well that I noticed anyway.

Is it like a humming?? or a howl??

I'm actually really disappointed that they discontinued the 512's.

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SVTCOBRA
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Maybe I'll rotate them over the weekend and give them another listen. Hard to describe the sound. It's not too terribly loud, but noticably. Probably, more of a low howl. Doesn't bother my daughter at all.

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PBfrEAk
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idk if this would make a difference but are you running them in the correct direction??


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SVTCOBRA
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You know, the guy I bought the car from was extremely picky about his car....but, I shouldn't assume.Good point though, I should check that out today when my daughter gets home from school.

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lightsout
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BF Goodrich G-Force Sport245R40...

they stick like JB Weld to the road!!

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SVTCOBRA
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PBfrEAk wrote:idk if this would make a difference but are you running them in the correct direction??
I did check and they are mounted properly. Haven't rotated them yet. Will see if it's just an issue with the ones' on the front.

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Trav1s
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On the 3 set of tires.

We replaced the Potenzas that came stock on the car at 28k miles. My dad is a Cooper Tire dealer and he got a very early production set of Lifeliner Touring SLE H rated in the stock size 225/55r17. They had a very open tread pattern that handled water and snow very well until they reached the end of life (see wear bars). Highspeed handling was predictable and stable but on extended drives (8-10 hours) the expansion strips and the firm sidewall was annoying. At times, they could really sing on textured concrete roads (I-70 from Columbus to Indy drove us nutz) We got 36k miles out of them. There was more fair weather life in them but we hit something and damaged one so we replaced them all.

Currently it has Mastercraft Sensys01 (The Mastercraft twin of the SLE Touring which is no longer available) This is a T rated tire and has a more comfortable ride. For long trips we are much happier with the choice. However, highspeek handling does suffer some but not enough to complain about. They have about 20k miles on them and have worn very well. These do handle wet much better than the SLE ever did which I am happy about.

Some of my gripes with the SLE's have been addressed in the replacement for them: CS4 Touring These tires (the first set sold in the Midwest) are on my G20 (B15 16" SE wheels in stock G20 205/50r16) and they are more stable in wet weather, have a higher tread life rating and a more forgiving ride without compromising handling. I have noticed they are not as "sticky" as the Sensys01 or the SLE's we had on the Maxima but predictable. This winter will be the test to see how they do in snow and ice.

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SVTCOBRA
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Hey, I've got the Lifeliners on one of my G's. Bought the car used and the dealer had just put them on.So far they've been pretty good. They seem to be a hard tire and have a tendency to spin easily. But, otherwise drive fairly well and are wearing nicely.I assume they are fairly inexpensive since the dealer put them on.

DMoreau
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BF Goodrich traction t/a on my maxima and g-force sport on my 240

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dr-rjp
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Kumho KR21 Solus. 225/60/15.

Super quiet, comfortable ride. Great handling. 85,000 mi. warranty.

Amazing what a difference it is going from 215 to 225 widths.

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Trav1s
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SVTCOBRA wrote:Hey, I've got the Lifeliners on one of my G's. Bought the car used and the dealer had just put them on.So far they've been pretty good. They seem to be a hard tire and have a tendency to spin easily. But, otherwise drive fairly well and are wearing nicely.I assume they are fairly inexpensive since the dealer put them on.
The SLE was the premium touring tire until it was replaced by the CS4. Their prices are middle of the road and IMO alotta tires for the $.

T

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SVTCOBRA
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btw, daughter had a 99 G20 that she LOVED, until she lost it in the rain in a curve and slightly totaled it. Was at the beginnnig of the school year.She now has a 00 Max SE. Has everything except heated seats. I see you have one of each!

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PBfrEAk
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//Thread Jack//

Hey dr-rjp,

are you the same one who made the vid on streetfire about steaming the engine of the integra with the little shark steamer thingy??

jw

I thought it was a great vid if you are though...it was a little long but very nicely narrated and very informative!!

\\End Thread Jack\\

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MinisterofDOOM
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Just thought I'd post an update on the ZE512s now that I've had some time in snow and ice with them.

So far I've been very happy with them. They're certainly not snow tires, but especially for performance-focused V-rated all-seasons they've proven quite good in the snow. I imagine it's partly due to the narrow tread strips and excellent water evacuation design. They will spin out under throttle, but braking is very predictable and the tires communicate well. You know where the threshold is. Lateral support is great. Powering through snowy turns proved much more stable and predicable than I expected. There's a bit of sideways slip up front but nowhere near as much as I had with my last all-seasons (a set of Federals, I believe). They don't plow much at all.

Especially in the thick, wet, gooey snow we've had around here lately, these tires are doing an excellent job.

I have noticed that the rear likes to try to rotate out under HARD braking in snow and ice, but that's going to happen with any tires in this car, and again thanks to the Falken's predictability it's easy to manage.

Ice performance isn't bad, but could definitely be better. I didn't have these tires siped, though, so I can't expect too much. Depending on how bad winter gets in the next couple months I may end up having to have them siped. For now they're adequate.

MaximA32

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I've been running my Yokohama AS430's for awhile now and I just drove cross country on them. Along the way I drove through just about every atmospheric disturbance you could imagine. They did me very well through the rain in Indianapolis, IN, through the ice storms in Oklahoma City, OK and performed extremely well in the 6+ inches of snow I saw in Flagstaff, AZ. I'm now in southern California and I expect to have no troubles on the dry pavement that prevails throughout the year in this area. My vote goes to yokohama's all the way.

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A.Tech
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Yokohama VS4s

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PBfrEAk
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Siped?? I feel dumb asking but whats that?

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MinisterofDOOM
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Siping/sipes/however you want to put it are the grooves in tread blocks of tires.Most winter tires have numerous smaller, narrower lateral sipes that significantly increase traction in snow and especially ice. The sipes help the tire "bite."

The narrow wavy lines on these Blizzaks:

You can have your tires "siped" like that (though it'll be straight, not wavy) at a tire shop for a few bucks. Very helpful for winter. That's what I was referring to above.

MaximA32

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More sipes=more traction=goooood

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kzoosho
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Kuhmos for me . 215/30/18

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davskins97
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Falken Zeix 512'sWore 4/32's in 10,000 miles, probably should have rotated sooner. I have a stick shift so the occasional chirp happens but I don't burn my tires, I am too old for that. Shop I trust said they are the softest rubber compound they have ever seen. However, wet and snow traction after rotation with 8 or 9/32 of tread absolutely ridiculous, which I would expect a soft tire to wear faster but get better traction, at least that has been my experience with Goodyears. My previous set was Cooper Lifeliners and they had very similar traction with 20000+ miles on them. I also found a noticeable vibration and road after rotating them on the now left rear. I also get the auto-merge option with them (pulls so much to the right it will merge off the interstate), even though my alignment has been set and checked by a different shop. I have a friend with a Maxima and Falkens with the same issues. I will never buy a set of these again, although if you don't deal with snow you will get what you pay for as far as tread life. I just don't want to deal with replacing tires that often. I will be replacing these before next winter for sure.

whiteI30
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I'm running these super cheap Kelly tires, like $47 a tire, maybe even less. They suck, nobody buy them! At the time I was broke. They hydroplane all over the place when it rains, and there is plenty of tread left.


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