hey guys, I'm actually surprised I searched and couldn't find what I was looking for. I know you CAN use other tire sizes, I've seen people using 225 stock tires, 235's, and even 245's. But I can't find anything about how it feels, pros, cons, etc.

I have the stock 225/50/17's on there now, about to buy 4 new tires in the next few days with an alignment. I'm looking at either
225/50/17 <--- stock
235/45/17 <--- Seems to be popular on the org
235/50/17 <-- Tirerack.com guy recommended this.
My problem now is traction... but that could be because I have used crappy tires right now on cold ground so my question is for the guys with some mods done. Right now I have intake, headers, nwp bop, nwp spacers, and the spec-v tranny swap. Getting the 3" BRM catback in a month or so with a custom BRM test pipe. With the cold ground I have no traction in 1st or 2nd when I get on it, that'll probably change once summer comes so what's your experience with this?
I'm stock height also, not lowered yet, prob won't be for a while.

Should I go wider or buy better tires and stick with stock size?
Does gas mileage change? (I went from avg 16.5mpg to 15.0mpg after the spec-v tranny swap, kind of regret doing it but my trans blew and it was cheaper.)
Ride comfort/noise?
Traction? (I know skinnier is better for snow/ice, don't care)

Thanks.

 

the difference between 225 and 235 is minimal year so it really doesnt matter much there. THe higher aspect ratio will always be more comfortable but again with such a small difference it wont matter what you choose. All season tires can have good traction if you get a nice brand. I would just buy some nice summer tires and enjoy them the short time you can but summer tires dont last long and its hard to get a mileage warranty on them. I can ride on summers all year round down hurr lolz on the 15mpg, I thought my 21 mpg was bad

 

I like the look of 245 45 17 myself and it stays close to OEM diameter to keep speedo in check.

Currently running 245 45 17 snow tires on OEM and have to stay I still like the look even with the snow tires.

 

I run stock size on my lightweight (17 lb) 17" rims for winter using an all season tire. Of course, I have summer tires on my 18" 350z rims that I trade out when summer comes.

I have intake, spacers, headers, 3" catback, BOP, manual engine mounts, and HD2 kit. I find I have plenty of traction on my all season 17"s and they are Nankang, nothing special, but I researched and they rates high in comfort and traction areas. So, yes, I think a lot of your issue is likely crappy tires. But research, just because a tire is expensive, there israrely a correlation to quality or traction/performance.

You know your driving style and conditions better than anyone. Keep in mind too, just because its summer, it's going to rain. A wider tire helps traction most effectively on dry roads. Wider tires tend to not channel water as well and definately decreases road connectivity on uneven and broken surfaces, not to mention snow if you did end up HAVING to run them come winter.

I'm not just pulling in my experience here with my '03, but other vehicles and specifically my '89 Maxima. Had many rim and various tire sizes on that car!

 

Just for reference...
2002 SE Stock Tires - 225/50/17
2002 GLE/GXE Tires - 215/55/17

*Not that you are stuck using stock sizes

 

Tell me about it, it's nothing wrong with my car, just NY roads where I live you get nothing close to highway mileage, the highways around here more resemble a racetrack with potholes than a highway and most of my driving is done on the turnpike which has a light about every 50 feet. When I drove down from NY to va beach last year I got a nice 27mpg the whole ride down on I95. THAT was a nice change lol, but I have no idea what it'll be with this new tranny, well see.

Thanks for everyone's input so far too, it probably does have a lot to do with the crappy tires, whatever I get will probably be either passenger or all-season with a tread wear of over 450, and good dry and wet traction ratings. I found some good ones on tirerack.com lol just can't decide on a size... My tire spun out so badly at one point my friend in his 4cyl accord almost beat me... Lol i mean it was like 30 degrees out, so there's that, but that's why I'm a little hesitant to buy 225's right now.

 

Www.tire-easy.com is another option. Simply have to get a local to mount and balance.

 

last time I checked there are plenty of 225/50 17 tires available for sale... if the oem size you are using is 225/50 17 why upgrade? just get a really really nice set of tires and be done with it...

 

Not sure if this helps.

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...cs-thread.html

 

I've probably ordered 3 or 4 sets from this place. All good experiences. I had to switch from tirerack for tax purposes when tirerack opened a distribution center in my state.

 

Tire size really means nothing much as long as the outside diameter is correct and it fits.
Your thought and time should be in picking the best TYPE of tire. A better 205 will outperform a mediocre 255 every day in every way.

Also why are you getting an Allignment

 

I've had the car about 2 years now and it's never had one since I bought it, also it drifts ever-so-slightly to the left. Nothing serious though tire wear seems straight on the tires.

I have no interest in picking crappy tires again either lol, I mean I'm not mr. Moneybags lol but I could go up to $150/tire so I plan on getting something good, my real thought is would a 235 tire of good quality perform better traction wise than a 225 tire of the same quality, and how would this affect everything else like comfort and mpg? I know the 235/50 is a slightly larger diameter (.2" approx) and a 235/45 is slightly smaller by the same amount.

Found that info here: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Chris Gregg says he has no problems with traction on 225's and he has similar mods to me so it sounds like the quality of tire I have is the problem so far

 

I spend more time driving my car than looking at it. The things that I look for in a tire are traction, wear rating, road noise, but more importantly the ride quality. Six months ago I bought a set of 215/55R17 Bridgestone Turanza Serenity tires at my local Costco for $600 (they had a $100 coupon at the time). They're the best riding tires I've owned and road noise dropped significantly.

If I had to deal with poor road conditions my main concern would be ride quality first, unless you're a glutton for punishment. I have KYB GR2 struts on my car and love the highway handling but find them a bit stiff on rough roads. The new tires have definitely helped to dampen the latter. They have a high traction rating too but getting traction on snow and ice is always going to be tricky. Most people seem to keep a set of winter tires for that purpose.

I stopped tracking fuel economy a few years ago but it does seem to be slightly better now, the previous set was Michelin that lasted for 75K miles but I never cared for them. We just put a set of the Serenity tires on the wife's 2001 Camry (also replacing Michelin) and the difference in ride quality was pretty obvious.

BTW: My Maxima is stock but it will still spin the tires even on dry pavement if I want it to.

 

My car "can" spin the tires even dry....if I make it. You can trash on the car and spin even good tires all over the place. So when I say I have good traction, I do, even when aggressive....but I feather the throttle to control against wheel spin.

But I understand the OP is struggling even at low/partial throttle.

 

Sounds like cheap bald summer tires being used in the winter.may i suggest 245/40/17

 

It will take some sticky *** tires to stop wheel spin on a Maxima. FWD and a serious lack of power going to the wheels (being applied to the road) due to the sloppy nature of the front end (stock setup, especially non-SE)

Remember hte only thing they will ever adjust on an allignment is the FRONT wheel toe. That's IT.

You have to specifically ask for camber to be adjusted, and most places won't even do it, or you have to pay extra.

In short, allignments on this car can be a waste of money. Better off paying JUST TO GET IT CHECKED, most places charge about half to check it. Then if the toe is out you can pay the extra money to have it adjusted if you want.

Never fall for the "4 wheel allignment" price. You should never pay that. They cant' adjust shyt on this car.

 

+1......4 Wheel alignment is robbery.

 

Damn lol, I know when I used to work at Mavis the kid there adjusted everything front and back... Maybe ill just do the tires and then see if it still drifts after.

They're not bald, but I went through some times and ended up having to buy used tires at one point so they're all diff makes and wear levels. Partial throttle is ok under 4k rpm, even WOT, but above that im fighting to find the right spot where itll grip In 1st-2nd.

So what do you think? 225/50 or 235/50? Or am I just over thinking bc of my crappy tires? Lol. Don't really wanna do 245

I like the turanzas btw... Think I might get em in w/e size

 

IMO, you are only talking about an aesthetic difference between the two, with the 235/50 "filling" in the wheel well a bit better visually.

 

Im running Continental ExtremeContact DWS 245/45/17, the sidewall is a little soft so I put a little more pressure in there. Running at 38ish psi with no issues. Very smooth and performing tire. I would hands down say the best tire I've rode on. And look at the treadwear rating! 6 Years / 50,000 miles warranty for a Y-rated tire.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....CDWS&tab=Sizes

Oh and good luck with the 3" BRM exhaust, I have one too!

 

I have these exact tires in 225/50R17. They are great on wet and dry roads but all over the place on snow or ice. Thought I was gonna die a couple times this winter. I'm looking into a set of snow shoes for next winter.

 

Not the back. The only way to adjust the back is to literally remove the hubs and shim them somehow, I don't even know how it's done. It's a massive job.

 

No my fault lol I meant front and back on other cars. Sorry bout that. So the back on our car can't be adjusted at all then? Hm.. Ill make sure to not fall into that trap lol thanks

 

We don't get much snow or ice out here in Kalifornia, and to be honest I don't even know if they're rated for mud & snow. Odd that they're acting up, my car tracks like it's on rails now, on dry surfaces anyway.

 

They are listed as all weather. And you are correct, on dry pavement they are great. Not bad in the rain either. But worthless in the snow.

 

Why buy all seasons in a place that doesn't get snow? Summer only.

 

Thanks man I can't wait to get it lol, just hope the drone isn't bad but I hear vibrant makes a good resonator for that. How long have you had your extreme contacts? I'm reading reviews on tire rack from people who have had them for 50,000-90,000 miles. i like that they score an 8.8 on dry traction too.

 

Northern Cali gets snow, not sure how much, I'd assume maybe a little less than NY or the same if you're in the northernmost part of Cali.

We just had a pretty decent snow storm out here about a month ago, brought down 2 feet of snow. 3 in some areas. I'm sure that's nothing compared to Canada but nobody was prepared for it here so it took almost 3 weeks to plow it all.

 

Yah this year was crazy for snow, parts of the us that normally get nothing got more than some places in Canada

 

I have them too. Best tires I have ever owned on any car since the good old days of the BFGoodrich Comp T/A's VR4s

 

and parts of the US that normally get 500"+ got almost nothing. Fracking nonexistent ski season

 

Observation about Summer vs All-season. My personal observation with Summer tires (not tried them all mind you) has been that BELOW a certain temperature, approximately LOWER than 50-60 degrees.....summer tires can get really stiff/hard. The issue to me with running Summer tires all year, regardless of whether it snows and traction issues, is if the temps fall below 50-60 degrees that traction even on dry surface is reduced and there is increased potential for flat spots after sitting over night. Once the tires roll and warm up, the flat spots work their way out, but doing this day after day is going to create flat places. I knew it was time to swap over to my winter tires/rims when my summer tires were getting harsh on colder mornings and felt just a bit out of round until after about 10 miles of driving and getting warmed up.

So, although I agree with the argument of evaluating if you truly need an all-season tire, I DO NOT think the decision should be based solely on type of precipitation, but also year round temperatures.

 

what u.s got was what we use to get back in 02 03 but lately canada had some light winters

 

The least expensive tires that meet the safety and performance you require.

Assuming it was the same brand tire you would have a hard time distinguishing any of the below from inside in a stock car:

225/50/17 <--- stock
235/45/17 <--- Seems to be popular on the org
235/50/17 <-- Tirerack.com guy recommended this.

 

Good points Chris, that seems much more important, I've heard that about summers before

 

I should stay away from those summer tires then lol until I get rims for summer, winters around here can drop to 5-10 at night in jan-feb. thank god it's warming up finally lol.

 

you wouldnt want to have the summer tires on in the winter in NY anyway. Even the slightest amount of ice or snow doesnt work out on full summer tires.

 

Where are you guys getting all of this 17" rim stuff from? Did your cars come stock with 17's?

Mine has stock 16" rims. I need new tires and was going to put the same size that is currently on there - 215/60/16

Any thoughts on this...... good idea?....bad idea?

Note: live in s.w.Idaho so I need some half way decent snow capabilities but generally it's going to be used on smooth highways in good weather.

 

yes, the vast majority of 2000-2003s came with 17s

 

Gemner is correct.

Also, Dunlop Winter Sport 3D's were the best tires I ever had for snow. 235 45 17's. I beleive they've been replaced by a 4D or something similar to that.