'02 Maxima SE Tires

I have the Goodyear Eagles on my RX-7, and I would not put them on my Maxima. They are noisy, do very well in dry or rain, and I don't know their tread life. Unless you absolutely don't drive in snow, or you really aren't worried about snow/slush performance and the noise, I don't recommend them.

The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S appear to be better choice - excellent dry, wet, acceptable snow performance. I've never afforded them on my car. (I use Dunlop SP Sport 5000s and Sport A2s). Many have complained of 20k-30k lifespan. On all highway driving they should be nice, but I wouldn't want to pay that price every year or two.

Pilot Alpine is a winter tire, I have no idea why you would drive that year-round, especially in Virginia.

The Touranza LS-H is a touring tire, and as such it should be fairly quiet and long-lasting. Not as high performance as the Pilot Sport A/S or F1s, but very good. Probably the best choice.

Dave

Why no Falken Ziex-512? It was rated #1 by consumer magazine, and they cost less than $500 for the set (mounted and balanced).

Matthew

I thought it was the LS-V...?

One note about the Pilot Sport A/S tire, it will be noisier than the stock Potenzas.

Because Falken is a no-name tire mfg, and I'd rather trust my life to Michelin. Tires are one area where the saying "penny wise and pound foolish" goes a LONG way, especially when you're rolling down an embankment because the sidewall ruptured or the tread seperated on your crappy generic tires.

H, V, and Z are all varieties of the LS tire, with the difference being speed rating. To the original poster, the Z will ride firmest, with the H being the softest. However, I wouldn't expect the difference to be great.

Dave

I agree with you Rich, that was the reason I didnot shortlist any "no-name" tires.

"No-Name Generic Tire"?? Falken has been making high-performance tires for years and makes no cheap tires for the masses. All their models are premium designs. In the recent Euro-Tuner tires tests run at Tire Rack's race course on matching BMW's (11/04), Falken came in 2nd place out of 12 premium brands---losing only to Michelin. After both wet and dry tests, Falken handily beat Goodyear and slaughtered Bridgestone, and cost about half as much. Just because they don't spend their profits on a blimp or countless road races doesn't mean they can't build good tires. In my book, Bridgestone=Firestone, as they are after all the same company. I think they invented tread separation. Hmm, weren't they involved somehow in the rash of Ford SUV's rolling over??. In fact the only tires I ever owned that blew out (nearly killing my family) were Goodyear Aquatreads. Top-of-the-line at the time. Sure, Goodyear gave me a fresh set for free, cuz they knew they were a defective design and didn't want any trouble. Cheaper for them than recalling their junk.

You really need to shop other places than Sam's Club or Sears. There are lots of seriously good tires out there that you haven't heard of YET.

Matthew

Falken is a no name tire?!?! Not hardly...

You'll have to excuse me if I don't believe they quite have the R&D budget of a Michelin or Bridgestone.

I recently puirchased a 2001 SE and need to replace my tires as well. I am going for the Falken 512's. The price is great as are the ratings on it. The 225/50/R17's are not an easy size to find. The only negative I've heard about them is that the sidewalls seem soft in cornering. I'm no race car driver so this does not worry me. Bob

I recently puirchased a 2001 SE and need to replace my tires as well. I am going for the Falken 512's. The price is great as are the ratings on it. The 225/50/R17's are not an easy size to find. The only negative I've heard about them is that the sidewalls seem soft in cornering. I'm no race car driver so this does not worry me. Bob

I would go with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. I am driving a Maxima 01 and love these tires.

I highly recommend the Pilot Sport A/S.. even though they're purported to be great winter tires which you don't need, they're top rated for wet weather.

At 53K I replaced the Turanza EL42s on my 2K2 which still had a lot of tread, but were extremely hazardous on moderately wet roads. Almost as bad as the Potenza RE92s on my previous 2000 Max. The hydroplaning on either set got so bad that on occasion I had to pull off the highway since I couldn't safely sustain 40 mph.. junkboxes had no problem flying right past me.. it was ridiculous.

The Pilots haven't seen snow yet, but boy what a difference driving them in the rain. I haven't felt this confident flying through the rain since the Dunlop D60-A2s on my old 1993 Max. The Dunlops (unfortunately discontinued) were only $55 and a lower speed rated tire, but I don't often do 100+mph. I was so sick of the scary ride on the Bridgestones that I went a bit overboard$$ and got the Pilots. I'm hooked.

Sometimes I can hear the tires, but usually not. They are definitely louder though. The first week I had them it sounded like I was driving sticky rubber tires on sticky rubber roads.. but surprisingly their treadwear is rated much higher than the Bridgestones. If I get

Research your list at Tirerack and buy there or at Costco, where I got mine. Got some good advice from this ng too...

Pat

Boy all you guys must have deep pockets! I have found that money does not = great tire in alot of cases. I have Kuhmo tires and they are highly rated and I trust my life to them. But if you have money to burn.....

high-performance tires

their

Sears. There

haven't heard of

You'll have to excuse me if I don't believe they quite have the R&D budget of a Michelin or Bridgestone.

Check out the Toyo Proxes TPT

Here in Canada it has a 30 day trial offer, 100,000 km wear out warranty, 5 year road hazard protection, 5 year workmanship & materials warranty.

They probably don't pay for their R&D by screwing the owners on warranty adjustments like Michelin either. Are you looking to buy a tire or fund a research program?

Try Toyo Proxes 4 or Toyo TPT. I recently put Proxes 4 on my 2000 I30 and they simply great. You can see that they have one of the best ratings at