Tires for 2003 Pathfinder

[kristin517]

Hi,

I am in need of new tires for my 2003 Pathfinder. The OEM tires that came with the vehicle were Dunlop Grandtrek TG35 (size 255/65R/16). These have been discontinued. They were the best tires that I ever had on the vehicle, and I have never been able to find any that matched their performance. The last 3 sets of tires I've had were brands recommended by whoever I went to for new tires at the time. I've had Michelin LTX M/S SL, Milestar SU307, and Mastercraft Courser HSX Tour.

I am not looking for some crazy performance tires for speed racing, off roading, etc . but it would be nice to be able to drive in the rain without spinning tires, especially when they are brand new. Has anyone had good experience with a certain tire for their older Pathfinder? I don't know why I am having such a hard time finding tires that are decent for my Pathy.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Kristin

[atraudes]

I'd recommend hitting up TireRack.com and see what they say. Each tire also has plenty of consumer reviews so you can get an excellent idea of what to expect.

No affiliation, I've just been really satisfied with that aspect of their site.

[Kev90]

I have purchased a bunch of tires for a lot of different cars and was a engineering co-op at a tire manufacturing plant during college. For highway driving and towing the Michelin LTX are always a great tire for a truck/SUV. They get excellent life and solid wet weather traction. However they are a bit pricy. I don't know how long ago you purchased a set but Michelin had tweaked the formula every few years. But they typically last 70k or more. I have even heard of people putting over 100k on a set. I am also a big fan of Cooper tires. They are more middle tier priced and I have had 3 sets with great luck. The General Grabber is another well priced tire. TireRack.com has great reviews and has a ton of info. Discount Tire is my favorite place for tires and makes the process easy. Also if you don't like your new tires in the first month or so they will change them out for you. Their customer service is lightyears above the competition.

[Kev90]

At the end of the day make sure you purchase tires with a brand name on them. From my manufacturing days the quality/inspection of the cheapo tires is not in the same ballpark as the tire brands everyone has heard of. So stick to the following well knows brand such as Michelin family ( Michelin, BF Goodrich, Uniroyal), Goodyear family (Goodyear Dunlop, Kelly), Bridgestone/Firestone, Cooper, Pirelli, Kumho, Toyo/Nitto, Continental/General. My opinion is tires and brakes are the top things you never skimp on for a car cause tires are the only thing touching the road and if your brakes don't work then you and your car will have serious issues.

Hope this helps in your tire selection process.

[kristin517]

Thank you to everyone who responsed. So, I have looked around and read some reviews on the suggested tires sites. Now I have a question for anyone with experience in using a different tire size than what the manufacturer specs are. As I said earlier, my pathfinder calls for 255/65R/16. Haven't been able to find that size in the Dunlop brand, which I was highly satisfied with for the original tires. However, I did find these (https://www.amazon.com/Dunlop-Grandtrek ... B004QL5SXS) but they are size 245/75R/16. I've read different things about using a tire size that is different from that which is suggested. Mostly the cons are that it will effect your speedometer reading. Can anyone attest to using a different size tire, or what other issues I might have (especially for a Pathfinder, if that applies)?

Again, much appreciated! Kristin

[Kev90]

Nothing wrong with mounting a different sized tire as long as it fits on the wheel and doesn't rub on anything. However many people with lifted trucks mount the largest tire they can and live with the rubbing. So trim pieces to reduce the rubbing. You need to make sure the width of the tire is a suitable size for the width of the wheel and it is for the same diameter wheel (assuming you are staying with the same wheel). I have mounted tires many times that are within a 1/2" in diameter as the speedometer is only slightly affected, but you can sometimes get a cheaper tire in a more popular size or have a larger variety to choose from. Check out https://tiresize.com/calculator/ and you can compare tire sizes. The stock size is a more odd size and has less availability than other sizes.

255/65-16 tire is 29.1" tall, 10" wide (stock)
245/75-16 tire is 30.5 " tall 9.6" wide 4.8% speedo difference. speedo says 60mph actually going 62.9mph

From experience without a lift kit the 245/75-16 will rub when turning. I have the same size dia tire with a 2" lift and the front tires rub on the plastic liner behind the front bumper during sharp turns while parking. 255/70-16 are 30.1" tall (3.4% speedo difference) and will also just barely rub depending on the load in the truck. The 245/70-16 is nearly the same size (29.5", 1.4%) and has a much larger size variety plus no rubbing. The Pathfinder doesn't have huge wheel wells so you can go too big or it will rub.

The Dunlops you are looking at is only available in that one size for a 16" rim. My personal opinion is after Goodyear purchased Dunlop they have changed Dunlops focus to solely performance tires and moved away from truck tires. All of the currently available Dunlop tires for trucks/SUV have very spotty coverage of tire sizes. Goodyear makes all Dunlop tires, made at exactly the same plant on the same machines. Goodyear has a significantly larger availability of tires in the Truck/SUV section.