do the tires with a higher treadwear rating mean that they generally get more mileage than the tires with a lower treadwear rating? or is it the other way around. the factory tires on my maxima are 160 treadwear rated and I have gotten almost 42,000 out of them and can still get probably 10,000 more, at least i'm going to try. any info?

 

From Tirerack.com

Treadwear

Treadwear receives a comparative rating based on wear rate of the the tire in field testing following a government specified course. For example, a tire grade of 150 wears 1.5 times as long as a tire graded 100. Actual performance of the tire can vary significantly depending on conditions, driving habits, care, road characteristics, and climate

 

basically the higher tread rating, the longer its supposed to last.

 

Funny how people w/ Falken 512s w/ tread rating of 420 only last about 30k - 35k miles. You ran 42k - 50k miles w/ 160 tread rating tires.

 

I believe that some tire manufacturers overstate their treadwear rating. Driving habits and surfaces also play into how much life you can actually get out of the tires.

 

Yeah, I guess I have been lucky, well I guess my wife has been lucky, it's her car, but I get to drive it on weekends. She does drive the Hell out of it though. She's not a typical woman driver,, she has outrun alot of other cars with this SE.

 

that's because alot of people here drive hard....thus resulting in shorter tread life....if you are getting 50k miles out of the craptenzas, you need to drive that baby harder! That said, even a treadbare falken 512 is better in the rain than a new Potenza......That kind of mileage on the tires, I assume you drive alot of highway miles and not much city driving/hard cornering>?

 

[QUOTE=irish44j]That said, even a treadbare falken 512 is better in the rain than a new Potenza......
QUOTE]

That's a big stretch.

 

When talking performance type tires a softer tread can mean more
grip though less mileage. Not a bad trade off IMHO.
If you are pushing the Potenzas be damn careful in the rain.

 

My wife drives 88 miles round trip a day to work and to the babysitter's house, so yeah they are mostly highway miles, but when I drive the car, I tend to abuse it a little more than she does. You're right though about the Craptenzas, they suck, especially in the rain. It is hard to even take off without spinning in the rain.

 

It's hard to keep Craptenzas from spinning on dry pavement. They truly suck.

 

true that!

 

Wife, babysitter means kid or kids, Blowtenzas, 42K, rain !!!!!!!

Some of these things are priceless and it aint the tires.

 

[QUOTE=charliekilo3]Ok ok...so it's a stretch, but not a big one. I was trying to make (and emphasize) a point....I meant more like a 512 down near the wear limit is better than Potenzas in the rain, since the 512 still has open side channels to channel water out, even worn - even on a new potenza, the side channels are not connected to the main tread channels...go take a look at some Potenzas and you'll see what I mean...so when water gets into the main channels, there is no where for it to be "pumped" through, so to say, and hence, it goes outward to the tread and causes slippage/hydroplaining.

I am not saying the 512 is the absolute best A/s tire out there (I would rate it top 5 overall, and top 2 for the money) - the Pilot A/S is the best. But it costs almost twice as much.....and as we all know, the choices for stock size on the 5th gen are limited.

512s...notice the channels from middle treads to outside of tread:

 

Yeah, it's time to replace them. I was going to go with Kuhmo's, fairly cheap and easy to get, but everything I have read so far about them has been that they suck. I haven't read one good thing about them yet, except for the fact that they are cheap. Any suggestions? I am changing size also to 235/45/17.

 

I can see some of your point. I drove on my new Potenzas at 90 mph in the rain on I10 without any sign of hydroplaning. With 21k miles on them I drove at 70-75 on the same interstate and again, no hydroplaning. There were about 12 vehicles that ended up in the median or kissed the retaining wall while I drove on. When I replace the tires, I'm probably going with the French tires.

 

Back to the topic. The treadwear rating is only useful when comparing tires from the same manufacturer. There is not a solid procedure across manufacturers to ensure a consistent scale.


And just my $.02 on the potenza vs 512. I got 25K out of my potenzas and they were scary the last 8-10k in the rain even at low speeds. I'm at 25 on the 512's and they are still fine even in the snow.

 

has anybody tried t he Sumitomo HTR's? I hear they are really good, even in the snow. Not bad priced either.

 

[QUOTE=irish44j]Ok ok...so it's a stretch, but not a big one. I was trying to make (and emphasize) a point....I meant more like a 512 down near the wear limit is better than Potenzas in the rain, since the 512 still has open side channels to channel water out, even worn - even on a new potenza, the side channels are not connected to the main tread channels...go take a look at some Potenzas and you'll see what I mean...so when water gets into the main channels, there is no where for it to be "pumped" through, so to say, and hence, it goes outward to the tread and causes slippage/hydroplaining.

I am not saying the 512 is the absolute best A/s tire out there (I would rate it top 5 overall, and top 2 for the money) - the Pilot A/S is the best. But it costs almost twice as much.....and as we all know, the choices for stock size on the 5th gen are limited.

512s...notice the channels from middle treads to outside of tread:

Thanks for posting the pic Irish,
This is more along the look of a Formula One rain tire. Fairly wide center channel, directional, and good clear paths for water to get to the outside. All the necessities for a great rain tire. The Pots dont have any of this.

 

The Max's torque will easily spin any kind of tire, at least with the 6sp.

 

With the Potenza RE92, I had to be careful to avoid spinning the tires. With the Falken S/T Z-01, I have to WANT to spin the tires, even on the wet. Far, far easier to control the Falkens than the Pontenza

 

Yes indeed, some of these are priceless... this quote included.
This should be in an anti-Bridgestone commercial