I'm looking at Sears as they have a sale going on with the Continental ExtremeContact DWS - 245/45R18XL 100Y BW - All Season Tires. Depending on the stem choice (my question below) they are $761 OTD installed.

So this is probably a dumb question but what do I need to choose for a stem? Choices are Chrome Sleeve or High Pressure LT. I am assuming they cannot reuse the stems from the current tires.

 

Don't you still have the stock TPMS? These stay with the rims and should have nothing to do with your tire purchase so the valve stem question is irrelevant.

 

^^ that exactly!

 

Stems are connected to the rim. They are tubeless tires. Don't worry, I was ignorant about this before too (thinking car tires were like bicycle tires).

I also did not know I had TPMS sensors until recently when a friend pointed them out. I'm pretty good about checking tire pressure so never saw the light go off even once.

 

Those here not as careful as Shipwreck should be aware that this is the time of year to be especially watchful with tire pressure. Air volume drops with the temperature. As the hot summer temps drop to cold winter weather, the same amount of air in the tire that gave a 33 psi reading in 95 degree weather may give nearer a 28 to 30 psi in very cold weather.

 

Thanks everyone for edumacating me! Knew I had the TPMS, had zero idea how that worked. Saves me 50-60 to not have to get stems, so yeah to that!

 

Does everyone typically do a balance right away with new tires?

 

When I got new tires they were balanced when they were put on, don't all places do that?

 

yes!

 

It is an option, added cost everywhere I've looked.

 

Yep. I can remember buying tires (and tubes) in the 1940s and 1950s, when mounting and balancing were included in the price of the tire.

Now, the tire business can be very competitive, and some dealers make almost as much on the mounting, balancing, aligning, valve stems (where TPMS is not an issue) and road hazzard fees as they do on the tires.

But I automatically ask for and pay for the balancing, as I cannot stamd a vibration when rolling down the freeway.

 

Or even worse than that. From what i've gathered, the general rule of thumb is that you lose 1 psi per 10 degree drop in temperature. That seems to be quite accurate based on what I've experienced with fall/winter settling in up here.


YES! You will have excessive vibration and it will cause your tires to become out of round if you don't have them balanced. The alignment is more of a questionable option when you get more tires.

 

Yes, the alignment question can be tricky. Between thirty and sixty-five years ago (I have been driving a long time), I got an alignment with every new set of tires. But a few times back in the 1980s, I found the car was not driving as straight, sometimes even pulling, with the steering wheel not centered, after an alignment, when things had been fine before the alignment. So I reconsidered my habit of automatically getting an alignment.

My alignment approach for the last thirty years -If the previous tires were wearing very evenly, and the steering seemed perfect, letting anyone diddle with the alignment is taking a chance. Why pay money to have my car messed up?

I have owned my 2009 Maxima for five years, and the last time it was aligned was before it left the assembly plant at Smyrna TN in September of 2008. The steering is perfect, there is no feathering or cupping of the tread, I am still on my original Goodyear RS-A tires with over 42K miles and tread still fine. When I do get new tires, I will be very insistent that the alignment not be touched.

If there are any signs my alignment is not perfect, I will be looking for a good alignment shop. But I have learned the hard way that messing with something that already works perfectly is a quick way to waste money and cause heartache.

 

Places like Discount Tire, which I have found to be the best place to buy tires don't even sell alignments.

How often did you rotate your RSA's to get that many miles ? I think Nissan recommends 7500 miles but I always rotated every 5k miles

 

I have 67k on my 09, and rotate tires every 7.5k with oil changes. I still have at least 5/6-32" left on all the tires. I don't know how people burn through their tires any sooner than that?

 

Hard acceleration, braking, cornering, etc. would be my guess.

 

Like you, I have always been happy with my experiences at Discount Tire.

Long ago I rotated every 7500 miles as Nissan has always recommended. But after many incidents of rotations where the car did not ride quite as smoothly afterwards, I changed to a 15K interval. I have used the 15K interval for around ten years, and have been very happy with it. My tires are wearing very evenly, and ride very smoothly.

Then reality is that I eventually end up with the same mileage on each tire at each wheel location, but with less power wrenching and overtorquing and stripping of studs by the least-experienced workers in service areas.

Rotating the tires is a bigger chore for me than for most, as I always immediately afterwards retorque each wheel exactly to 80 ft lbs.

I think the 85 ft lbs Nissan suggests is slightly tight. It figures that the manufacturer would want to cover his fanny by suggesting a tightness that they know could never come loose, then they add ten more ft lbs just to be absolutely sure of no lawsuit for a wheel coming loose. My son has always torqued his TL to 70 ft lbs (85 is recommended by Acura). I think 70 is a tad lower than I care to go.