Tire Selection for 2007 G35 Sedan

[usctrojan]

Hello all. New to the forum and just became an owner today of a 2007 Red G35 Journey. I'm still smiling. It is awesome. Anyway, my question is: I'm going to purchase some 18" custom wheels on the aftermarket. The stock wheels on my G35 are 17" so I can't use the current tires. I have no experience with tires and wanted some feedback. I think I'm heading towards 225 45 R18. I barely know what that means. My question is what brand and why? Michellan, Toyo, Nitto, Yokohama, Hankook, Falken, etc. I don't know what separates these brands. If it helps, the tires aren't for racing purposes. Just want something to look good on the commute to work. Something to last awhile and still give good performance. Southern California, so no cold winter weather issues. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Oh and since I'm replacing my wheels and tires, I need to find a home for the 4 OEM wheels and tires. They won't have 100 miles on them before I change them out, so brand new.

[zozoka1212]

Welcome to nico

I would suggest to start at http://www.tirerack.com . You can find a good selection of tires. You can type the size in and compare. Also can read review about tires.

have fun and enjoy your G.

Zozo

[usctrojan]

Thank you. I will take a look at that site.

[joe603]

I love my Toyo's! They're inexpensive and perform well in dry/wet weather.

[zozoka1212]

Toyo's are really good tires. I love them. That was my first choice but the Falken came out cheaper and close to Toyo quality. I don't know but I'll know in couple of months. So far I am happy wet and dry traction and now I have over 1K mile on them. I want to see them on the snow before I can say how good they are. For the Toyo I would have to pay another $200.

zozo

[usctrojan]

Anyone feel like ranking manufacturer quality maybe by tiers? Like top tier mfgs might be who? Then 2nd Tier? etc etc. Is Toyo middle of the road?

The custom wheel installer I'm about to purchase from said to me that Toyo's in her experience were really noisy. She said Michellans or Pirelli were good tires. Is she just trying to steer me to cheaper tires to keep her margin high?

Thanks for the input.

[zozoka1212]

I have Pirelli on my other car. They are wicked tires but tooooo much $.

zozo

[kickservebt]

You need to go to tirerack.com. You can see surveys of all the tires for your car. It is very obvious what the better tires are.

[clmays1]

Tire rack is definitely a great place to start, all of the major tires have reviews from many users. Are you looking for a summer tire (sticky best grip) or do have a need to drive below 35 deg F. You can still get a great performing all season tire, just curious to you needs.

[2mhighside]

Just to add my two bits. I ran the Toyo Proxis when i first got the car but melted them off under 10k. Im running a set of Yokohama ES100's which are so far great. They have lots of traction and seem to be a little softer. The thing is they just stopped making the ES100 and have come out with a newer tire to replace it. If you are lucky you should be able to pick up a set of the ES100's cheap. I think I paid $220 a tire (275 30 20). Being you are wanting 18's they should be cheaper. Good luck

[gwoods]

I have Kumho Ecsta SPT'S on my 07 and I love them. I did 235/45/17 but wish I had done 245/45/17.

Forget about brands look at the ratings. There are 3 rating on the side of the tire.

My Kumho's are 320/AA/A

320 durometer means that in gov test the tire lasted about 25,000 miles. A tire typically trades grip for duration. So if you want an tire that will handle you are not going to find that in a tire that lasts.

AA is the traction rating. On wet concrete a AA traction tire can withstand .041 G's before it slides. On wet Asphalt a AA traction tire can with stand above .54 G's befre it begains to slide.

I buy tires every year so I buy the best tire that a Kumho, Toyo, Hankook ect offers. IMO they are just as good or better then a Michelin or Pirelli and about half the cost. If you don't like them or they wear quickly so what they were cheap!

my 2 cents,

Jeff