I'm nervous about my mom driving around her 03' SE Maxima with the lame stock Potenzas in the rain. They've got about 10k miles on them, but everyone just has such bad experiences with them that I'd like to get her some better all around tires. She's most concerned with ride/noise comfort and wet traction. I'd like some sportiness when I drive her car, but also some light snow traction if I go up to the mountains.

Looking through tirerack, I've basically settled on the Yokohama AVS dB S2's because of their price and comfort/performance ratio. The only thing that isn't so great is treadwear, but that's not a big problem because again, they are reletively cheap, and we dont drive that car very much. So I just wanted to see if anyone had an opinion/experience with this tire.

Other alternatives were the as-yet-unrated but still inexpensive Bridgestone Potenza G009, and the massively overprices ($215/tire) Bridgestone Turanza LS-Z. I personally have the Potenza RE950's on my 4th gen and love them, but they are similar to the AVS dB S2's in terms of performance (sacraficing a little comfort for some performance) and cost a fair amount.

Opinions?

 

I seriously considered them as stock replacements for my first 92SE. I heard nothing but good things about them. The only reason I didn't get them is because I live in New England, and was planning to drive on them in the winter, and their tread pattern was just a little too aggressive for me. However, in your area I believe the winters are much milder so I would say go for it.

 

I had the AVS db's on my Max ..... back when I had sawblades... very nice tire... I was happy with the performance and ride.... I guess I had them about 2yrs..... but the Max was my wifes car then .....so they only got limited beatings... some where around 40% left when I swapped for SE wheels..... I can say my wife was very happy with the performance compared to the crappy "GT" tires that were on the car when I bought it

 

FYI.....I just read another post saying the KH11's were horrible in the rain. Discount Tires has them listed on their website as SUMMER tires. They actually sold me a set as all-seasons, but when I got home and saw the SUMMER thing....I called them back and had them change my order to the Falken 512's.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I'll probably go with the Yoko's. Any other suggestions besides the Kumho's? Everything I've heard about Kumho's is that "they are good for the money." Which, priced at less than $100, is not really what I'm looking for.

 

KH11s are phenomenal in the rain. Horrible in the SNOW.

 

Obviously you haven't lived in New England. I think we (along with NY/NJ) have the highest number of Maxima drivers precisely because they fare well in the snow for the performance they give you.

 

Like I said, the Kumho always gets "it's good for the money" reviews, from people online, and people I've met in person. The review on tirerack for the KH11 here:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

is no different. With 256 reviews submitted, it scores similarly, sometimes even, sometimes lower in each category than the other tires I mentioned. So, normally, I wouldnt care, but it's just enough that I'd have trouble considering it. Mainly in the noise/comfort categories, the kumho scores far below the bridegeston and the yoko's. As far as performance goes, it came in third overall in a real world comparison test of comprable class tires - coming in last (4th) when it came to the Wet Test Track.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...num=245WR7KH11

The yoko's seem to consistenly score well in the comfort category, but im still looking at some of the real world test data. I haven't made up my mind yet afterall.

 

I spoke too soon.. The Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S tires appear to beat the crap out of all other tires in the "Ultra High Performance All Season" category both in terms of user ratings AND real world testing... AND they cost about the same as the Yoko dB S2's @ $123/each for 225/45/17... Hmmmm Interesting....

 

I have these tires in 245/40/18. I have driven through two mild winters (had them on since 11-2002) in the DC area.. February 2002 dumped a lot of snow on the east coast ("The President's day Storm") and these tires allowed me to safely travel 200 miles on I-95 when the roads were VERY bad. They are really great in the warm months and in the rain. Understandably, the ride becomes little rougher in the cold. I have had them for >35K miles. The only complaint that I have is that the tread pattern causes them to be a little noisy.

 

I have these tires on my 65 Corvette. Purchased them because of the reviews that rated them high on grip, wet traction, and comfort. The tread pattern looks strong on the wheels. They have been very good and I will probably replace them when they are worn out. They are designed to be quiet, hence the dB designation, but my car has sidepipes so I can't hear them under any circumstance.

 

How about Yokohama AVS ES 100?? They have good performance, good traction in wet and dry. The price to me is reasonable.

 

how about the kumho ecsta MX? tread pattern looks good, i live in socal so were dry most of the year