My wife's cousin told us over the weekend that her RSA's had to be replaced. You guessed it - cracking on the sidewalls (one of them bad enough to cause a flat).

When I asked if Goodyear 'fessed up to the problem, she said they took care of them fine, but the dealer told them "it was Nissan's fault, since they call for too little air pressure for the tires".

She had about 25,000 miles on the tires, and they got a new set for about $20 a tire, so they came out okay. But I think it's almost funny that Goodyear throws the blame back at Nissan. I have run my RSA's at 30psi (cold) ever since I got my car (Nissan recommends, what, 33 psi?). But if the rubber on a tire will crack just because you run them at 30, it sure ain't Nissan that's at fault.

 

3 psi is not a huge difference. I would but my bottom dollar that most people ride around with there tires underinflated. With that being said almost all tires sold would blow out. Take a look at most cars when sitting on level ground they sometimes look almost flat. Underinflation could eventually put a lot of pressure on the side wall. I keep mine at 33 psi cold just to keep it with the way thay say it should be. It amazes me that a car company would by from a tire company and then have you to have it too low for what the manufactor wants. This smells like the finger pointing between for and bridgestone. I would think nissan told them what pressure they wanted for there vehicles. If that was the case then goodyear should have told them it was to and could cause problem. I guess the people wanted at goodyear wanted get the the contract.money

 

When I had my in-laws' 4 RS-A's replaced at 6000 miles; Goodyear store said that some batch of tires were over baked, that's why they cracked. What pssed me off was that Goodyear paid for the all 4 tires, but we had to pay for the mounting and balancing. Ckecking mine regulary.

 

that's funny b/c when I asked Goodyear about the tire pressure for my RSA replacements (dunlops), Manager said "It's whatever you car Manufacturer recommends."

they simply sold Nissan a cheap tire (or atleast a large bad batch).

only thing i paid for was road hazard. i called GY until they told the garage to give me any set of 4 tires for free of equal or lesser value of the RSA.

 

Actually, the 33 psi is for SLs. The RSAs come only on SEs, which have a recommended psi of 32.

The difference between 32 and 30 psi will not cause the internal cracking associated with these RSA tires.

 

I, too, have been having problems with the RSA's and have been battling Goodyear for _MONTHS_... Here is my latest update: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....42#post4614442 . My cracks are so big now that I can see them from several feet away.

 

You still drive on them?

 

The tires that many auto manufactures are almost always crap. The continental tires that came on my 2004 SL are garbage and they have plenty of tread on them. I highly recommend the Goodyear Assurance Triple Tread tires if they make sizes for your wheels. They are rates number 1 in consumer reports and if you look at them, they look like they are some excellent tires. I am going to get a set for my car in a couple months.

 

Correct.

When I was still using my original RSAs, I would try to keep them at 35 psi cold. But checking them only once every two months, they would slowly creap down to about 32 psi cold. I replaced them at about 32 K miles and 3 of the 4 tires has very small cracks on the inside (away from the curb) sidewall-tread interface where the cracks were hard to see. You needed to remove the tire from the car to see the cracks. I went with the expensive but very nice Michelin Pilot Sport tire. (I hate to support the French, but they do make a good tire.)

 

gee now i wonder what are the best tires