I've been meaning to post this thread for awhile now. Right before I sold my car to bklynsmoeVE, we got him some decent rubber and went back to factory spec camber(just kidding), and right before I threw away that original tire I had on the car since I bought it back in 06' I snapped a pic of it because it looked kinda fishy to me. I was the second owner of the car and the original owner looked like he loved the car dearly. It almost looked like it was hiding in a garage since 92' which was probably the case since it looked in such great condition inside and out. I went to replace a bulb once, and pulled out an original looking brown headlight bulb made in Japan. Made a thread about it a few years back and people said it was very possible. Seeing as there were so many original parts on the car, I thought theres a small chance that tire might be original too. Reason why I think this is, because it's a V rated tire(148+) and a Yokohama AVID H4 tire. I remember reading the car came from the factory with V rated Yokohama tires. So can anybody confirm this possibilty? Here are the pics of the tire in question. Thanks.

 

It might have depended on when and where it was from.

When I bought my first Maxima, it was a couple years old and I think it had 40k miles. I can't remember the tires on it, but I am positive they weren't Yokohama. I know that I replaced them after only owning the car for a couple of months with some Dunlops, which were only H rated.

 

wow I didnt know that the max came with V rated tires? I got a gxe though, and when I bought mine it came with 4 tiger paw tires on it, and they made the car ride soo good, thats why I put so many miles on it. I bought it with 176K on the clock. Ive got one douglas tire on there on the front axle. Would that make a difference in the performance? Its a douglas x-track tire from wally world.

 

1. you don't want to mix tires- especially on the front axle since a small change in diameter (even from varying tread depths) causes both front wheels to rotate at differenct speeds while going straight. this loads up the differential and causes additional wear.

2. The Avid H4 isn't as old as the Max was. They didn't come out until well after the Max was made. I think around 2000 or so.
If you still have the tire, you can look at the date code stamped on the side to verify.

3. original tire size for the SE was 215/60/15. GXE used 205/65/15.

 

That's some serious inner wear on that tire. You probably should have done something about your camber angles.. I bought my current Max with 87k in 2004 and both headlight bulbs were those brown ones you're talking about, I also figured they were original, but it could be that replacement bulbs were brown up until a certain time.

 

The SE came with them because it can do 145+
Matt are you sure about that? I've been learning about 3rd gens since 04' and I would always read the tire size was exactly the same as GXE. Actually Im 90% sure of this because in the center counsel, it says the tire size to be 205 on that little white paper that tells you how much weight the car can support. Im gonna have bklynsmoeVE quadroople check.

But yeah, it sucks that isn't the original tire. Was kinda hoping it was

Yeah that tire wear is from all the hot laps we've done with negative camber

It's possible that they were replacement bulbs, but I'd like to hope they were original.

 

My 89 SE and 91 SE both had 215s new and the white paper you speak of in the center console lists 215s as well.

 

whats the difference in the 205 and the 215? Height maybe? Ive got 205s on my gxe but the 215s are a little cheaper.

 

205 and 215 are the width's.. the 65 and 60 are the sidewall heights. So the 215/60/15 is wider and lower profile than the 205/65/15 (though very slightly), which makes sense being on the "performance" SE.

 

Well I took a very nice pic here for you guys.. Says 205/65R15.. Just like I remembered it. So what does this mean? VE's came with different types of tires or something?



Honestly I feel like Im in the 3rd gen twilight zone at the moment since I went so many years knowing one thing and now Im being told a totally different thing. Hopefully the pic above can bring me back to reality. Even looking at those 205's on the SE saw blades, theres already some love handles hanging out on the sidewall. Going to a 215 would just be even more and doesnt seem to make sense. But if you guys are saying you have 215's what can I say?

 

I always thought all 3rd gens had 205/16/15's as well.. So this is somewhat surprising to me too, though not it's not a big deal or anything. I mean, it's not like the 215/60's are going to make a huge performance difference or anything.

 

The FSM only shows the VE-5 had a V-rated 205/65/15 vs. others had "non-rated" tires.
But if you go to the dealerships and ask for tires to fit the car, you will quite often be told 215/60/15 was the original tire, and that was what came on many of them from the factory.

At the end of the day, it's not much different. The overall diameter is 1/4" shorter on the 215, which gives you slightly better cornering and the small amount of additional tread width adds more of the same. it's 1% different in total circumference, so your speedo isn't affected either..

 

yep and SE rims are slightly wider than GXE's, i think by half a inch

for sure GXE had 205/65/15 stock, i think SE had 215/60/15. not that its a difference even really

 

the SE did have the 215/60/15 if remember correctly