^ Maybe it was an alignment thing, I found out the hard way with my TL that if your alignment is out of spec just the right amount, your tire life (treadwear) can go down the toilet pretty quickly.

Went from 9/32nds to 4/32nds in less than 5k miles!

 

What tires do you have on? RS-A? She had the Bridgestones which is a grippy summer tire. Grippy tires wear out faster especially as she burns rubber often when taking off.

I bought my 2010 Maxima 19' wheels and stock tires with 500 miles on it. Now at about 20k miles on the tires already, I am just about halfway on the thread.

So, the RS-A do last longer than the Bridgestones.

 

Mine came with the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's. They've lasted to 26k. A good tire, grippy, good in the wet stuff, but man are they loud since they are worn. I am switching to Potenza RE760's next week when my Vossen CV1's get here. WOOT!!!

 

I know that most people here seems to gravitate more towards the 19's and Michelin Tires/Primacys and whatnot but I think the tires I have on the above link are very good for what they cost, the tread is awesome and has that aggressive look as well, not to mention that these were sold as stock tires on the Lexus' not long ago.

Obviously Lexus wouldn't have used these on their cars if they weren't great for comfort, road quietness and awesome performance in wet or dry traction.

 

Man, what a pain to get anything from Nissan! After reading the blogs here and also talking locally with other performance car owners, I am really convinced that the Continental DWS tires are going to be awesome!

I got an excellent quote from Discount Tire (they were the only store that would offer me a credit for my lightly used Goodyear RSA's). Then I had the thought that my Nissan dealer might do something for customer satisfaction, especially since this is my second Maxima purchased from them - and the first one was totaled in the rain, spinning off the road in Goodyear RSA's, which they are apparently known to do. With an extra 35HP on the 2010 Max - and since Nissan apparently switched to Michelin tires on their Infinity M, it is not only a bad choice but really is irresponsible of Nissan to put these awful Goodyears on this vehicle. I had trusted them to provide for my safety, and that includes not just airbags but making supplemental product choices that keep me from having a wreck in the first place.

So the dealer sent me to Nissan Customer Care to start a case for possible credit on the existing tires. After several days of deliberation, they decided to offer me $250 total for my 4 RSA's, making the clear point - several times - that Nissan does NOT warrant tires. Their offer is just $50 more than what Discount Tire offered me, and talking to the parts manager at my dealership, she can't even get the tires but quoted me a price of $220 each ($12 more than Sears) saying that her cost is $210. What?!

Long story short, the Discount Tire guy came down another $44 - plus I get a free GPS under a current rebate offer direct from Continental. I took that deal! (And Nissan's offer isn't really good until next Wednesday when they "get it in the computer" - so lame!)

 

I hear your frustration's man, but Nissan is right about one thing and all the manufacturers do this, if there is ever a issue with tires, or if they decide to blame the tires for the issues, as in Nissan's case, they don't have any liability and warranty for the tires. It typically has to be taken up with the tire manufacturer.

While that is typically the case, it was NISSAN'S DECISION to CHOOSE these tires for the Maxima, not our's so they should accept some responsibility in that decision. Plus, all the vibrations,noise, and grip issues with the RS-As aren't exactly a defect in the tire or vehicle. According to Nissan, and it was confirmed by my Goodyear dealer, the RS-As are designed to have those characterisitics b/c they are designed to be a aggressive sport all season tire. So since it's a inherent trait of the tires, there really isn't a problem or defect in them. I personally think that reason is BS b/c other tires companies like Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental, Yokohama, etc can make the same kind of tire with a better ride quality, lower noise, little to no vibrations, etc. So to me its either poor engineering or just utter laziness on Goodyear's part.

 

Noise and a stiffish or even harsh ride are reasonable expectations for a hardcore performance tire - or for that matter, runflats (due to the stiffer tire carcass structure required to support the car's corner weight and other forces in the absence of internal pressure).

Tire vibrations (that suggest difficulty in getting an acceptable balance) are not. Poor grip in anything but winter conditions worse than light snow - maybe an inch or three - should not be a characteristic of any tire that's billed as any subspecies of "all-season".

For an "all-season" kid's tire swing hanging from a tree branch, I guess they'd be OK.


Norm

 

At 1400 miles, I decided I'd had enough of the Goodyear RSA's, and bought Bridgestone Potenza RE760s. I've had them for a couple of weeks now, and I think the difference in handling is considerable. Best of all, I put the RSAs on Craig's List and sold them for $200. I had a half dozen more inquiries over the next week and a half. I'm sure plenty of drivers will be perfectly happy with the RSAs, and at that price, a bargain. My tire dealer recommended 40psi on the tires (cold) and I drove them like that for a few days. Nissan says 33psi as you all know. I tried them like that, and I decided that I liked them better at 40, which is what I'm doing for now. I've measured the tread, center and at sides (9/32") and will watch for uneven wear.

 

Wow! Sold your RS-A for $200? That was an awesome deal for the buyer. You could easily have gotten $300. As for the Bridgestone RE760, definitely great tires. But they wear out pretty fast. My wife's M35 came with it. We changed them at 9000 miles for Yokohama Advan S4 255/40/19. And sold the used up Bridgetones for $200.

Just have a schedule to balance tires, rotate tires and do your alignment. You will get great life out of them.

 

Hey man, how do you like your Yokies? I was taking a look at the S4s are possibly considering them as a replacement since there price is really nice and their ratings on tirerack are pretty high/very good? I have had Yokies before, and except for some flat spotting in cold weather, they were excellent brand.

 

I think that 40 is a little high unless you're taking it autocrossing, and 33 is definitely on the low side. Try splitting the difference. Experiment with different pressures, starting with 2 or 3 less in the rear tires (unless you normally carry rear seat passengers and/or lots of heavy stuff in the trunk. See what 37f/34r feels like, for instance.

Bridgestone tires seem to generally be more responsive than many other tires. Even the (much) older RE-92's which have been roundly bashed on the 5th Gen forum here and on several other sites for other reasons do have crisper turn-in than many tires that you might choose as replacements.

I'm guessing that the RE760 has been developed from the RE750, which I do have some decent experience with. I've got about 14,000 miles on them, with a heavy dose of hard cornering and fairly frequent hard braking, and they still have about 50% usable life remaining. 340 treadwear, just like what the 760's claim. The only thing that might make my situation a little better is that I've set the alignment to better match my particular driving.


Norm

 

heres the NITTO NT05 TIRES....bought them for my max for some better grip, they grip amazing compared to the stock RS-A'S

 

john !!! your car need some washing.. lol
i read great reviews about those tires and will consider them when i get my 19s

 

I just purchased a new 2010 Max last week. I am selling my stock wheels/tires. The wheels/tires have 620 miles on them. Please PM me if interested. Thanks

 

Folks will need to know whether your have the 18" or 19" wheels and tires.

 

You tried 40 and 33 and nothing in between? Isn't that sort of extremist? But then our nation is currently divided into two extremist groups, so I guess that is the way things are these days.

Unless you do your driving on either a motocross or curvy mountain roads, as you watch for that uneven wear, you will find 40 psi will wear the center portion of your tread off before the shoulders, shortening tire life.

When we reach the 40 psi area we are getting into an area where the tire does not have as much sidewall flexibility to protect the belts. The suspension is not designed with 40 psi in mind, and begins to perform somewhat diffferently at 40 than it would at the design/recommended psi. The few times I carried 40 psi, I noticed a slight tendency for the tires to bounce over bumps instead of absorbing them and hugging the road; that could be disastrous in a sharp curve.

I would try an 'in-between' psi. I have carried 36 front and 35 rear for the last six months, but just yesterday switched to 37 front and 36 rear. These are the psis that are giving me even tire wear. I would have two less psi in the back than in the front, except I often have back seat passengers.

In glancing back thru this thread, I see Norm Peterson is doing pretty much the same as I am doing, and he is one of the few 'resident experts' here. When Norm speaks, I listen.

 

If you want a tire for ride and quietness, I suggest the Goodyear Assurance ComforTred Touring - I have switched to them on both my 2000 Lincoln LS and my 2003 Jaguar S-Type and been very satisfied with them. You can check out the ratings at click on the CarMinivan tab):

http://www.goodyeartires.com/cfmx/we...S#passengerTab

However, if you want performance, this is not for you. It's just in what you want out of a tire.

 

what are the size?

 

Right on! I appreciate your insightful comments here.

 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha

 

 

Wow! I just got the 245/40R19 Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires put on my '10 Max - SO AWESOME! I am not an expert of any kind, so I didn't think I would be able to tell the difference until either a high-speed or wet weather drive -- but I could totally feel the grip on those tires as I pulled out of the parking lot. These are totally race car tires in my estimation, and comparatively inexpensive, too! I am loving 'em already. Goodbye Goodyear RSA's!

Oh, and now I have an appointment to sit around for an hour and a half at my Nissan dealership while they replace the lug nut and stud from a very bad cross-threading apparently done during dealer pre-prep. Aaaagh! Give me a break, I've only owned this car for 2 months..

 

Nice to know you feel immediate difference. How much did you pay for the tires, drive out?

 

"I'm guessing that the RE760 has been developed from the RE750, which I do have some decent experience with. I've got about 14,000 miles on them, with a heavy dose of hard cornering and fairly frequent hard braking, and they still have about 50% usable life remaining. 340 treadwear, just like what the 760's claim. The only thing that might make my situation a little better is that I've set the alignment to better match my particular driving."

Norm, I'm curious about how you've set your alignment, and with what goals in mind. What did you do, and how much?

 

Oh, also meant to add that I'll give Norm's suggestion of 37F / 34R a try.

 

It's car-, suspension stiffness-, and somewhat use-dependent, and I've even been known to swap between specs for an autocross day right there at the lot. The primary goal is better front grip at mid-corner, modified only slightly by concerns for tread wear for the street use setups.

Just so you know, my normal street driving frequently goes above 0.5 lateral g, and the street settings that I've ended up with were "snuck up on" gradually and have been found to work from experience. I'm not going to post my actual numbers. They're not particularly secret, just too aggressive for most peoples' daily driving.

I've never tweaked the Maxima, as that was my wife's DD (and has been recently put into "long term on-loan" status). I lived with a little more understeer than I might have preferred.

The Mustang is only street-driven at this point in time. Stock camber spec is
-0.75° ±0.75° and all I'm going to say is that where I'm at is slightly more negative than the negative end of the factory range. Although that sounds like a lot, I've got almost dead-even treadwear after 17,000 miles and all four tires have a projected life of >40,000 miles based on that amount of wear. I have Koni yellows and stiffer sta-bars.

The Mazda has been set up for occasional autocross and the negative camber up front is clearly visible (stock is -0.6 ° ±1°, and I'm well outside its max negative OE spec). Stiffer springs with Illuminas set full stiff, lowered only slightly. Where it is now is really a little too much for street-only driving, even mine, so when either it or I retire from autocrossing I'll dial it back half a degree or so. This is the car with the RE750's for DD use and the one with the suspension arrangement closest to the 7th Gen.

I don't think I ever set the Malibu's camber within factory range spec in the 31 years that I've had the car, preferring always to set some amount of negative camber. The latest sets were well outside the factory range for DD use and WAY outside it for autocross (stock = 0° min, +1° max). I typed and you read that right - the OE camber spec for that car is positive . Both were compromise settings dictated by other considerations, mainly being that while I was willing to swap camber back and forth at the autocross lot, I wasn't going to set up parallel strings and do toe twice per event as well (on that car there is a significant toe change per degree of camber adjustment). This car does not use struts, and there are a number of suspension mods.


Norm

 

$669 plus tax. That included a credit for the RSA's (4,700 miles on them). And Continental is sending me a free TomTom GPS under a current promotion. My first experience with Discount Tire. It was a good one.

 

I also just realized that Nissan Customer Care said they are giving me a "$250 service credit" for my discontentment with the RSA's. I had thought before that meant a 'buy back' of the tires, but am thinking now that may just be a credit I can use in addition to the savings I received at Discount Tire towards my replacements. Hopefully I won't need $250 worth of service on this vehicle before the credit expires in 6 months, but it will at least cover the first rotation and a couple of (over-priced) oil changes. If that is as I understand it, then that is a pretty nice thing. That'll help smooth over the unfortunately several bad Nissan-related experiences I have had this go-around.

 

Yes I have those on my LS430, very nice, quiet and wear beautifully...

 

Just a follow up to my previous post:

Oh, also meant to add that I'll give Norm's suggestion of 37F / 34R a try.

I changed the tires that evening as per above, and I must admit, the ride is improved and I feel that the straight-line tracking is better as well. I don't typically have backseat passengers or loaded trunk. Thanks Norm!

 

how do you guys feel about falken tires?

suggested by the person who is modding my car...

thanks.

 

I have used Falken tires in the past, and had good service from them. They were a very good tire for the money when I bought mine back in the 1990s. I haven't used Falkens in over ten years, so can't speak much on how good they might be these days. You should go to tirerack.com and check out all the ratings and comments on the Falken tire you are considering.

 

Tire Rack does not carry Falkens, but I think DiscountTireDirect and VulcanTire do.

Beyond that, it depends on what you're looking for. I wasn't too happy with the ZE512's that I had - not that they were bad tires or anything like that, just that they were billed as being a much sportier tire than was actually the case (I did get over 35,000 miles out of them). Mostly it was a mattter of "turn-in response" being significantly softer than suggested, which may or may not matter to any given individual. Falken has since "repositioned" them, putting "all season" ahead of "performance" in their categorization. FWIW, the ZE912 evolved from the 512, but I don't have any experience with it.

On the other hand, the RT615 line is still a decent street tire class autocross tire, and quite a few people on other boards seem to like the 452.


Norm

 

Hey what do u guys think of these pirelli's? They are pretty cheap, maybe bc they're all season tires, I need opinions. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....toModel=Maxima 3.5&autoModClar=SV with Sport Package

 

Does anyone know if the Goodyear AssuranceComforTred Touring tires come in the P245/45 R18 96V size at all? There website says it can fit the Max's 18 inch tire size but doesn't list any of the specs about load or speed rating?

 

Goodyear does list a P245/45-18, which you may assume carries the same load rating as a '96' load index standard load tire. However, I don't know about the speed rating. Best I can say about non speed rated tires (and this is going back to when only a few non-European tires were speed rated at all) is that they're good for at least 85 mph.

A review of other Assurance comforTred sizes at Tire Rack finds a minimum speed rating of T, which I think is 118 mph.

But are you sure that you want a tire that claims to be so heavily skewed toward long tread life? TW ratings of 640 and 740 (!!!) generally mean that something else is being compromised.


Norm

 

I had those tires on my 97 Gen 4 ski-mobile when I lived in Denver about 10 years ago. I remember them riding and handling very well. I drove with them to/from the ski areas for a couple of winters without problem. And, when driving on very wet roads (as in pouring rain) I could look in the mirrors and see rooster tails about 30 feet high, like a hydroplane racing boat! Never ever had a hint of hydroplaning or loss of control on wet roads ... very good performance in the wet. On dry and twisty roads in the Colorado Rockies they had way more performance potential than I had courage and driving skill.

Having said that, I didn't get the mileage from them I was hoping for ... they were pretty much shot after about 25,000 miles. I liked them enough that I probably would have bought them again but I moved to the land of Les Schwab (the only real tire dealer for 175 miles) and I switched to Toyo to support the local economy and get local service.

Live long, and prosper
Jerry L. Gubka

 

Norm, you are correct - however, I have had Assurance ComforTred on my two most recent cars (2000 Lincoln LS and 2003 Jag S-Type) and I can honestly say I have NEVER driven anywhere near 118 MPH in either of them. The top speed limit in Oklahoma is 75MPH (on turnpikes) and that seems fast enough for me. I also believe it's sufficient speed for the other drivers I encounter here - lol!

 

Im gonna start saving up for these, or maybe I can get them for christmas, lol. I would love to have pirelli tires on my Maxima.

 

I just bought a brand new 2010 Maxima two weeks ago. I'm selling my OEM wheels/tires if anyone is interested. The wheels/tires are basically new with less than 800 miles on them. PM if interested. Thanks!