Hi all, I have a 2001 Maxima SE and am shopping around for replacement tires(225/50/R17). I live in Canada, and I'm hoping to find an all season tire which will perform relatively well in snow. The Potenza RE92's which came stock were ok, but haven't worn very well in general. Anyone have any recommendations? I could just get snow tires, but with the cost of 4 tires this size, I would prefer to go the all season route. Some of the tires that are available at my local dealers are(I'm sure there are others too):

Toyo TPT
Potenza RE92
Goodyear Eagle
Michelin Pilot

Thanks,
D

 

I'm in your same situation. I'm surprised you'd even list the RE92 - the general consensus around here is that they suck the big one - and they do. I might as well be driving on slicks - I've hated them from the day I got the car.

It really depends on how much money you want to spend and if you're concerned with things like handling, noise, and the stiffness of the ride. If money was no object, I'd go with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. Around US$200/tire - but supposedly very good.

That's a bit too much for my blood so I'm looking to go the cheap route... I'm thinking the Toyos might fit the bill for me.

 

Funny I'm shopping also, (Vancouver) for an 18" I've got it boiled down to Toyo Proxes 4 or Falken Ziex ze-512 or Pirelli P zero Nero ( most expensive), the Falkens we're #1 in consumer reports but the Toyo's are the newest and so far the reviews are excellent for our wet climate! I'm leaning towards the Proxes 4 so far, there are a few consumer reviews on this site: http://www.1010tires.com/ Good luck, sorry I don't have any feedback for you on your list. SO maybe I've only confused the issue!!!

 

The real pain is the fact that not too much is available in the stock size of 225/50-17.

You can check tirerack.com for some reviews as well.

The Falkens got good reviews from Consumer Reports, but several people on here have reported balancing issues in the stock size.

Discount Tire Direct sells the Falkens as well as a few others. Discount Tire Direct has some retail stores (called Discount Tire) and there happens to be one in my town - so I stopped by to see what they could do. They only showed the Goodyear RS-As and the two Michelin Pilot tires. The guy said this: The Falken is rated #1 by consumer reports but it is really a junky tire that is "below a low end tire." He was trying to sell me the RS-As at about $727 out the door. He said they really are a premium tire, blah blah blah.. The reviews on this tire on the internet, however, are mediocre at best.

I also mentioned the balancing issues and he said that some places aren't doing it right and that they needed to be balanced "internally," whatever that means.

Look up "225/50-17" on eBay and you'll find mostly two brands of tires - the RE92s (which everyone wants to get rid of) and the Michelin RS-As. If the RS-As are so great then why do people want to get rid of them?

 

Order Falken 512s online. You won't be dissapointed.

Yea few people have balancing problem with Falkens but there are plenty of people w/out any complaints, including myself.

 

I have the falken 512s' on my SE-R and they pretty good and priced right!

 

I am one of those running 512s, but hate the soft side walls. The tires have excellent wet and dry grip (can't say about snow yet), are not any noisier than the re92s or hydroplane as easily as the re92s, but the 512s roll too much in the rim for my taste. I am now running them at 46 psi cold to get somewhere near the turn in precision of the potenzas.

The price wasn't quite right for me. I would have paid $20 more a tire for better handling.

 

Well I took the plunge and picked up the Falkens yesterday at Sears (price matched from Discount Tire Direct @ $106/tire). Timing couldn't have been better because it was raining/sleeting around 11am and by 4pm we had more than an inch of snow on the ground. Total snowfall was around 3 inches. There's no way the RE92s would have been able to handle it (slipping around in the rain enough that morning).

I've been trying to figure out what tire to get for about 2 months looking here and other sites with tire reviews.

All I can say is WOW. These things are night and day compared to the Potenzas - it felt like I was actually driving on the road opposed to gliding over the road. I know, I know - how can I compare worn RE92s to any new tire? Guess what - I knew the Potenzas were crap the first week I got my Maxima. This car was more out of control than my RWD V8 T-bird. I was like WTF???

My Potenzas only had 20k miles on them but looked way worse - I bet any tire with a lousy 160 tread wear rating would look the same.

I can't say these are the best tires in the world, because I know there are better ones out there. But if you're on a tight budget like myself and need some A/S tires AND don't want to drastically change the handling effects of your car - the Falkens look to be the ticket.

 

My those are my exact thoughts as well. I have about 1500 miles on my Falkens, and I agree with you. I too tried to do some homework, and got mixed stories. I went to a Discount Tire store locally and one guy said they were just "bargain tires". I also called their online number and the told me that he just moved to AZ from MN and most of the guys at his MN store all ran the Falkens and had no problems in the MN winter. I went with "real world" reviews and also price. I am not sure how much longer I'll keep my Maxima, as I'm considering a 2005 Max, so I didn't want to spend Michelin prices if I wasn't going to keep it for very long.

 

I lived in Vancouver, BC, and occasional snow traction is one of my requirements. Last year when it snowed here, my Kumho 712 gave me a horrible experience on just ~1 inch of snow. So, this year I decided to swap them out even though they should at least another 5000 miles on them.

I came down to two choices: Falken 512 & BFGoodrich Traction T/A. I ended up purchase the Traction (end of Oct) because:

1. it seems has slight better reviews on Tirerack, especially snow tractions. I know Tirerack doesn't sell Falken so there is no review on the 512, but I got the 512 reviews from www.1010tires.com. Also, I read some comments on the Falken tires are balance properly after install?

2. it is cheaper. I got them from Costco and with $48 rebate ($12 each tire), I paid $603 total. Ironically, a friend of mine got the same size Falken 512 on his Ford Probe ~2 months before me (from 1010tires) and he paid ~$800 total. I was told Costco now sells the Falken now so you may want to check it out if you decide on the Falken.

Review:
Tractions: After 1 month of driving, I love the tires. It is great on dry and wet pavement. Vancouver had some serious storm last couple days and I didn't have a single problem going through the water... Since there is no snow yet, I can't make any comments, but at less the dry/wet part match the reviews on Tirerack.

Noise: they are quiet, much better than the worn Kumho.

Handling: turning seems more precise; however I am not an aggressive driver.



BTW, I had ride in my friend's Probe, and it seems the Falken are little more noisy than my Traction.

 

Glad you like the falkens people at discount sometimes are full of crap and try to push the more expensive tires not saying all of them but a small few. When it comes down to it we move almost 60 thousand pounds of 512's a day and get a small fraction of 1 percent that says they have balancing issues like any other tire on the market. If you do find that they have balancing issues go to the shop where you purchased them from have them inspect the tire then have THEM call us a falken and speak to a tech advisor. Thats the easiest way to be taken care off.

 

Thanks for the advice! It's nice to have you here to take care of us...

 

Thats the best way to handle it. If its within the mileage limited warranty and the shop concludes that it isnt a problem with their equipment go ahead and take it that route.