It's tire time!
 

I'm looking to replace the tires on my 04 SL. The car is stock so a performance tire isn't needed. I'm looking for an all around decent tire with good life, good traction in wet and snow and isn't too expensive.

I used to always buy BFGoodrich Traction T/A's but those apparently are no longer made. Does anyone have any first hand experience with a decent tire for under $150/tire?

Well according to the ratings the Michelin Pilot Sport AS tires are great in wet and snow traction, check then out on tire rack and look at their survey's. I was looking for these tires in 18" for a winter tire, but I found some blizzaks for real cheap on CL so those will go on when the snow starts:D

Love my Bridgestone Turanzas. They are the 225/55 17's. Very quite on the highway and very good in wet and snow.

i use to have nitto 555 extreme pro 2's there about 170 a tire but they were awesome ... traction is pretty good with them and overall A+

Did you look in the wheels and tires section? A thread in the 5th gen section asking almost the same thing you are got moved there by a moderator recently.

Put the OEM Goodyears back, I tried Pilots and the 100 bucks more a tire didn't give me much more. Went back to TSAs and they rock in every condition.

RSA's are nail magnets, I've never had worse luck with any other tire. KDW's are pricey, but they last forever, and tread through water like a navy seal. I put them on all my daily's.

Michelin Primacy MXV4 best tire I have ever owned, super smooth on the highway, good on the wet and good on the snow. I had two sets of those RSAs and the Primacys are far superior in every respect, in my opinion.

Ill look at the reviews on the tires mentioned. Has anyone heard good things about the General G-Max series tires? Ive read nothing but good reviews on these and I can get them for $129/tire.

I thought I'd never find a fan of RSAs, its RSA's you're talking about right?

Absolutely the worst tire out there, the only worse tire than RSA is an RSA with a nail!!!

You want to spend 300 bucks a tire go ahead. I spend 150 and get the same peformance. In fact in rain and ice I saw no difference. As for nails you do realize it's not the tires fault that you ran over it?

You CANNOT be serious dude; you saw no difference in traction????

Do you work for Goodyear?

Dry road no, rain Michelin was better but not enough to justify 100% more a tire in price. Ice, the TSAs made it through the worse ice storm OKC ever saw and a blizzard in Flagstaff just fine. You all also fail to mention the TSA's threadwear rocks them all bigtime. You keep paying 250+ for Michelins I will keep buying RSAs for 150.

Enjoy driving (make that skidding) on your set of RSAs. Great tires!

Never skidded once bro. Including being in Flagstaff, AZ in middle of winter. Worse conditions in the country and they did just fine on ice and snow.

I have got to agree with xoomer on this. Plus where are you getting your numbers from? NTB has the RSAs for $232.99 and has the Primacys for $244.99, so the Primacy is a little more expensive but only $12. So for another $12 a tire you get a far superior tire. Also tread wear rating on the RSAs is 260 and the Primancy is 620. Primacys will last a hell of a lot longer than those RSAs

RSA's are used on police cars here. Not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. Maybe it's because they get a deal on them, idk...

Primacy? That tire is a piece of crap. It's not even the same class. It is a low performance touring tire. The right comparison to the RSA is the Pilots and the cheapest you can touch them is 280 bro. Plus I have no idea where you are getting that price for RSAs? Mavis has them for 199 for people off the street and I have a wholesale account with them and get them for 150. So even for ppl off the street are saving $90 bucks and I am saving 130.

For under $150 a tire, in all-season with good wet and snow traction, I would check into the Yokohama Avid Envigor. It comes in H and V speed ratings, and the H on Tire Rack is about $130 (225-55-17) and get's a good snow rating, with a treadwear of 560. It looks like it would be a great choice of tire in your budget. Here's the link if you want to check it out.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....L&autoModClar=

My two suggestions would be Hancook Ventus V12's if you want racing tires or Continental ExtremeContact DWS for all season tires.

I have to agree. There are plenty of great tires discussed but I too looked at the Yoko's. They are listed in Tirerack and also in Consumer's Report. Continental Extremes and Cooper Zeons are also a Best Buy. Under $150. Don't know if you have NTB up there but they have some decent sales on some brands and also a price match. I got myine during the buy two get two free special in October. Saved a bundle. HAd to get the alignment pkg with it but I was going to it anyway.

Oh, I forgot. Tirerack has detailed test data and also some short videos that they compare different tires. Check it out. Helps before you decide.

I still have these sitting around...

http://forums.maxima.org/wheels-tire...rt-plus-s.html

:cool:

Unless he swapped out rims the 04 SL has a 17" rim. The SE has the 18".

I just ordered the General GMax tires. I got a good deal on them too. I read nothing but good reviews on them so I figured I'd give them a try. I've never been a fan of Goodyear passenger car tires. Their high performance and truck tires are great, but the regular tires kinda sucked to me.

The GMax tires are fairly new so I figured that I wouldn't get much of a response on them. I'll keep you guys posted on how they perform!

I've got the Conti DWS on the front, they are great tires, and mine were only $170 with installation, my friend has had them on his 325xi, and he loved them too, I would definately reccomend them

Don't listen to any of the crap they say. Or at least when it comes to a performance tire. If you want true unbiased feedback about tires, then visit an autocross or time attack forum.

Hey 04vqmaxsl,

I've had excellent results with the Continental ExtremeContact DWS. A few of my neighbors copied me and put them on their Nissans, Infinitis, and Jags. This will be my first set of tires since I bought the car that has yielded me more than 1 year of driving. This past week was the 1 year mark and the tires still have more than half tread left, and the little rubber "wings" still show on the sidewalls.

I do squealing launches from stoplights regularly.

Check the tires specs/performance at Tirerack. They are solid, all-seasons with a high speed rating. I live in Northern Virginia, so yes these tires see 2-4 inches of snow from late Dec to mid March.

If you particularly need excellent snow performance go with dedicated snow tires(either studless or studded). check local laws before ordering studded.

Exactly. It always amazes me that people mention tire rack and fail to mention that DWS's are #1 in category. The only place they don't shine compared to the Pilot Sports is dry traction. Not that it's bad, it's just not as great. Other than that they're much better in the wet, the snow, the wallet, and they last longer.

I started running Conti Extreme Contacts back in 99 and the only problem with them was they would end up being a little noisy. A problem Continental corrected with the DWS's and while they were at it they bumped the wear rating to an incredible 540. I've never driven on a better performance all season tire.

Yeah they are, it's the best tires I've had to deal with the rain. Can't beat the price or performance of them overall.

I just replaced my RSA's for $180 each at 48k. I am normally a Yokohama man but don't care for the Envigor after installing them on my 96 max.

Yea, I hear those winters in AZ are brutal......... Up here in MN, where we actually have winter, The RSA's were garbage.