All,

I'm about to take delivery of my new G37S 6MT conv. tomorrow. I live in Philly and we don't get enough snow to justify snow tires. I will need to drive the car in occasional snow, however. Might even drive up to the Poconos once or twice a year.

Given all that, I'd like to do the same thing I did on my last car (M3); put on ultra high performance all season tires. I've had very good experience with the relatively new Continental DWS extreme contract AS tires. The dual sided tread pattern work great on dry, wet and snow. Here's the problem, Continental does not offer these in 225/45/19 size, but they do offer 245/40/19.

As such, I'm thinking about putting 245/40/19s on both the back AND front. I know the slightly larger tire will fit on the slightly narrower front rims, but will I have any effects that are significantly undesirable. If I do this, will I be able to rotate the slightly narrower front rims and tires to the rear or will I still need to rotate side to side only.

All this was not a problem with BMW as I was able to match the front and rear OEM sizes with the Continentals.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

No you don't want to rotate tires from front to rear as the vert rims have different offset. Fronts are 43 and rears are 30 offset.

 

You can run 245/40/19 up front. It's pretty normal if you are on 19s and switch out the OEM tire. On the back normally that can be run at 275/35/19. Apart from the fronts looking beefier you could run the same size, but it is a staggered rim size setup 8.5 fronts 9 rears.

 

need to account for rims offsets (43 vs 30) then other things can be resolved

 

cereal2k,

Thanks so much for your help. Trying to understand what you mean by "Apart from the fronts looking beefier...." Are you saying that 245s up front might look out of place compared to 245s in rear because of the styling of the front wheel well or size of the rims? I'd like to avoid the tires looking out of place on the car.

I'm trying to avoid upsizing the rear beyond 245s as the wider I go, the less capable in the snow they will be. Frankly, 245s are plenty wide for the kind of dry pavement driving I'll be doing.

For reference, I do not like the look of lowered car or one with the absolute lowest profile tire that is possible. I'd honestly consider moving to 18in rims and tires if they'd fit over the brakes and the cost was not so great.

Thanks again for the help.
-Jeff

 

It's not an offset question as you've already answered that. The front and back can't bet swapped. The question is about tire size

 

When I say beefier, it may look slightly more bulky since it's fitting on a smaller rim. But it really may not be that noticeable. I see your point on the upsizsing. You can always do a test fit at the tire shop and see how it looks.

 

Thanks again for the help.

Any sense if having same size front and back will affect handling. If so, will it be significant. I know on the M3 bigger tires in back is supposed to help combat oversteer. Should I be concerned at all about shifting handling characteristics outside what Infiniti has tried to dial in with the different sizes front to back?

Anyone running same size all around with some experience? Maybe your winter tires?

-Jeff

 

Jeff -
The choice of tire is not the issue. DWS is an awesome tire & I run them on my Volvo XC90 for over a year - I got them when they first debuted.

I have no personal experience but, would NOT recommend same size front and rear as the staggered rims are specifically designed to have a wider tire in the rear (like your M3) to maximize suspension geometry.

I understand you are trying to make it easy, but perhaps the easiest thing to go is buy a dedicated set of winter rims & tires in a non-staggered correct off set that will allow for a narrowere winter tire to accomplish your goal.
Good luck.
-B

PS - Welcome & congrats on your new ride!

 

Concering the DWS - I see more than a few reviews that mention about the cornering/steering response to be rather soft/vauge/mushy. I'd love to get these tires but that kind of concerns me, I'd be getting the 245/40/19 which I know doesn't have much of a sidewall at all, but still..

 

I've had DWSs on my soon to be traded M3 for 18 months and have loved them. Worked very well in the snow this past winter in Philly. They did slightly soften the ride compared to the stock run flats, but that was part of what I wanted. I did not find any noticeable loss of handling or grip. I'd say they were at least as good if not better in most conditions. The stock tires always needed to warm up before they handled well. The DWS works very well even when relatively cold. Given most of my driving is commuting and errands, the change was welcome.

 

So what did you go with? I'm also looking at the Continental DWS...any advice?

I also have stock 19" rims/suspension. Thanks!

 

Patritha,

Nothing yet. Still running the oem bridgestone summers. Looking hard at the new General G-Max. I decided that I want to keep the size offset and the continentals don't offer the front size. Since General is owned by Continental I'm hoping they perform as well.

 

I am also looking at
General G-MAX AS-03 (Ultra High Performance All-Season) which are available for the vert, High-Tech High-Performance at a Reasonable Price Seems Like a Smart Strategy, A set of four will be around- $700 plus balance and install.
Front: 225/45ZR19, Price: $159.00 (each
Rear: 245/40ZR19, price $188.00 (each)

I'll need a set some times soon too..

 

Not sure if anyone is following this forum anymore, but I thought I'd update. I finally replaced the tires on my G37S-C as the OEM Bringestones were down to 4/32.

After much searching I found a great solution; albeit not cheap. Cost me about $1100 for four new tires.

It turns out that Michelin makes their Pilot Sport A/S 3 in the correct OEM size for both the front and back wheels. All the online systems don't recognize this tire option because the 225/45/19s are W speed rated while the 245/40/19s are Y speed rated. Normally you'd like to avoid mixing speed ratings, but Michelin says on their web site it should not be an issue if the higher speed rating is on the back. And both sizes are higher speed/load rating vs. the OEM Bridgestones. I spoke to my mechanic and he was absolutely sure it would be fine.

So far after just a couple days I am super satisfied with both the performance/handling and the ride. I can't say for sure, but I think these smooth out some of the harshness without compromising any of the performance I've been used to.

That's my two cents.