So obviously the cats out of the bag now. I scored a pretty much mint set of bent 5s at my pullapart this morning. 2 of them need valve stems since they're missing, but otherwise the wheels are rust free and have zero curb rash or Chrome bubbling.

So now I'm in the boat of needing tires for them. I don't want to spend a boat load on the highest performance tire out there. I want a good all season, but since I don't drive that much, I'm not worried about a 45,000 mIle tire as opposed to the 70,000 tires.

I believe as far as size goes, I'm looking for 235/55 r17 tires.
My local tiresplus has a by 3 get one free running on the Falken Ziex ZE950 A/S, and tirerack has a pretty good price on the general gmax tires. I've got Altimax RTs on the car now and have been happy with them, but the Falken and Gmax tires are more of a performance all season that seem to still give a great ride in the rain (we hardly get snow, but it's not uncommon to get 2+ inches of rain). Anyone ever use either of these tires, and if so, what so you think of them?

Of course there are reviews on the tire sites, but most people wouldn't know how to review a tire if they tried hahaha. Most of them just review to complain about road noise.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

I have the Falken Ziex ZE 650s on the 04 and they are pretty good handling wise. They barley lasted 25k miles though and I think they were a 40k mile tire. I think the 950's have a higher tread life. The only issues I had which you probably won't run into is that they will not hook at the track under heavy launches and acceleration.

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-Ryan
2004 GTO....LS1, LSA supercharged 525whp, 6MT
96 SSEi...September 2010 COTM........GONE
04 GTP comp G.... December 2015 COTM........GONE
2013 Audi Allroad Quattro

I saw similar reviews about the gmax's not lasting long. Those have a 40k warranty, where as the 950s are a 45k tire. I'm pretty good about keeping them rotated, and it's not like I really do burnouts in the Buick hhaha. One, it doesn't make that much power, and two, I know the second I tried to, my trans would go out.

I'm also open to other suggestions on tires, just looking to stay within the $90 to 120 price range per tire.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Just coming in to plug my favorite A/S tire, the Pirelli Cinturato P7 Plus.

They are extremely quiet, handle nicely, are a beast in snow (for an A/S), and I believe the warranty is good for 80k? Might be wrong there, but still.

Currently running them on my Bent 5s. Put about 30k on them so far and am extremely pleased. Will likely be buying another set if the car survives long enough... Hahaha.

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-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 247k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 98k miles

My Bonnie needs new shoes too and since I'm in an area that gets lots of rain and no snow, resistance to hydroplaning was tops on my list, after researching both the reviews and tests on Tire Rack 3 different ones came to the top of the list, the Conti True Trax, Michelin Premier A/S, and Goodyear Triple Tred. The Conti was the best value but not G rated so I'll probably go with the wingfoots. My father bought a set of the Michelin Premiers for his Caddy DTS this last winter and when I visited him in snow country this last Christmas holiday season they performed really well in snow and dry roads too, drove well and quiet. My Bonnie is getting a little long in the tooth so I can't justify the Michelins for her, I think the Goodyears will be the best compromise for me.

I just put a set of GMax on my 03. They ride well and seem to do pretty good in the wet & snow. I've never had any set of tires that last as long as the mfg claims they should. Go with what you like, but for performance and price I think the GMax is a decent deal.

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Resident Tightwad

Screw you, Photobucket.

I have a 2000 Bonneville SLE and a 2001 Bonneville SLE. (Size is P235 /55 R17)
I went with the Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max.
They seem to handle pretty good in the water and snow here in Wisconsin.
I also like the smooth ride.
They lasted about 50,000 miles on the first sets.
I bought them from Discount Tire Direct.com.
There was no freight or tax.
Had them installed at Walmart for $75.00
Total cost for all 4 was $564.00 back in November of 2015.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'm still reading reviews, it seems like people like the falkens a lot. I like the price of them the best so far, I can get 4 installed with new valve stems and a free alignment for $499 with tax. The Gmax are the next closest at about $550ish depending on the shop, but I'm still open to all suggestions I just hate that the 235/55 17's are quite a bit cheaper, but will throw my speedo off compared to the 235/50 17s (235/55s will read about 4mph too slow, aka more tickets for me).

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Well I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Falkens. For the price and reviews I found online of them, they seem like they'll be a good fit for what I'm wanting. The shop should have them on Saturday, so I'll be able to get them on this weekend hopefully! The shop quoted me $499.23 out the door, that includes of course a balance, all new valve stems, and the screw me charges. I can't wait to see how they perform!


On a side note, the Generals that are on the car now will be for sale once I get the new wheels on. They're 215/70R15 General Altimax RT's. They've got about 25,000 miles on them, they're a 70,000 rated tire that have been rotated pretty religiously. I'll post them in the for sale section once they're off the car

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

So I'm getting my tires put on now, and of course in the process they find that both front wheel bearings are bad lol. Looks like I'm adding another item to the to-do list, and would also explain the random abs light that comes on when it wants to.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

So I had a chance to drive the car pretty hard today to try out the new Falkens. AND HOLY CRAP THEY GRIP! There's a little backroad by my neighborhood that has some pretty good curves and a lot of sweepers. With the Generals, while they were a good tire, I couldn't really take any of those curves much higher than the normal speed limit (45). And while I don't condone speeding, and of course this was just to see how these new tires do to get comfortable with them, I was able to throw the car into the corners at a much higher speed than the Generals, probably a good 70mph or so. I don't plan on pushing the car hard like this, because lets face it, that's not what this car was meant to do, nor will it ever be good at doing. But it's nice to know that these tires are really going to keep the car planted on the road.


As far as reviewing them, most people online complained that they were noisy tires. I have to disagree. The Firestone FR710
tires on my wifes car are a MUCH noisier tire. These are relatively quiet, although they do provide a lot of communication through the wheel as to what the car is doing. I wound up actually getting a 235/50R17 to compensate for my speedometer, instead of the typical 235/55r17. The stiffer sidewall definitely translates into a more communicative (some could read that as stiffer) ride, but considering I'm comparing those to the told 215/65r15s that were on the car, that was to be expected, and is actually more of my preference in how the car rides. I haven't had them long enough to test them in wet conditions, but I'm fairly confident given their dry performance that they won't be bad at all. They're still an all season, so they're not a summer tire, but they're probably one of the best bang for your buck tires on the market at the moment. I'm really happy with them, and I'll bring this back from the dead once I get some miles on them to update how they're holding up.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Those Falkens are very grippy.. I have driven a few cars with them and found them to be a good all season High Performance tire..

Whats the wear rating for those Falken tires?

The ones I got are rated at 45k. I don't drive the car that much since I work from home, so the lower tread rating isn't as big a deal, especially for the performance trade off.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

I was thinking tread wear.. I think you'll be at 320-400 for the wear rating.. These are generally a softer rubber with good grip..

Now you have an F41 Grandpa car that has tricks up its sleeve

Whoops totally misread what you meant in the first post haha. Per the paperwork that came with them, they're rated as a 600/500 treadwear. Now I just need to start adding power to the car to back up the handling and traction hahaha.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten