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I bought my G37 a year ago from a dealership at 18K miles. It had new tires which I thought was strange for low mileage, but unfortunately wasn't enough to make me run from the deal.
Just found out today that the previous owner (clearly a genius) put staggered 19x9 wheels in the rear even though this is AWD (2013 G37xS coupe). This has been causing premature wear on the tires, which are 225/45R19 all around despite the different wheel sizes.
The tires were badly cupped and I had already reluctantly ordered a new set of Continental 225R/45R19 all-seasons ($800) to fix the car shaking on the highway. The tire shop noticed the non-OEM rim sizes and advised against installing the tires on the 19x9 wheels.
I'm back on the cupped tires for now but have no idea how to resolve this. I can either return the tires and be out about $100 for shipping both ways or spend even more on new wheels.
Looks like OEM wheels are $600 each which is way beyond what fixing this is worth. I checked eBay and Craigslist but don't see any that match the paint job on my wheels -- mine have a dark gray gunmetal finish instead of the brighter silver finish I've seen on most G37's Enkeis. I don't know if this is factory or another great decision by owner #1. It sounds like getting the wheels color matched if I were to order silver ones might be difficult as well so I could be looking at 4 new wheels if I don't want the car to look ridiculous.
I probably won't be getting a new car until early 2018. Should I just live with the cupped tires until then? It drives horribly on the highway and will likely get worse but I've been told it's not a safety issue.
225R/45ZR19 General G-Max AS-03s all around currently (these are the cupped tires). Yes, it vibrates like crazy at around 60 mph and there's a lot of tire noise at any speed, but that is more due to the General tires being fairly crappy.
My understanding is that for a correct staggered setup it should be 245 in the rear, but staggering isn't recommended for the AWD G anyways.
Pics of wheels and tires?
Running a small wheel stagger is fine when using the right tire size.
That size tire does not belong on the rear of this car. 245/40 all around is better
I have a 2010 G coupe X awd and have been running a staggered setup of 20x9 and 20x10.5 for almost 2 years and haven't had any issues. 245/35/20 in the front and 275/30/20 tire sizes in the rear. But yes the wear on the tires kinda sucks but nothing a rear camber won't fix. I know it's best to have a square setup on an awd car but I know many people even on this forum who get away with it without any issues.
Take Venoms' advice, run 245/40/19s all around, this assumes you have 19x8.5 wheels in front. A 245 is a better width for the 8.5/9" widths anyway
Kenny, when the time comes for new rear tires I'd run 285/30s, this will be an even closer match for your 245 fronts. Your current 245/275 combo starts at almost 1% variance (with the 275s being smaller), but since your rears wear faster your variance will get over 1% over time. The 245/285 combo is virtually zero variance FWIW.
Interesting suggestion. If I ran 245s all around would I be able to rotate the tires despite the wheel width difference and get more even tread wear? It is either 19x8.5 or 19x8 in the front (they only showed me the inside of the wheel briefly) in the front.
Here's a pic of the setup currently (crazy dirty because I just got back from a 400 mile trip to a snowy area).
Just to put it in one sentence in case anyone is confused:
Staggered widths in itself wont hurt an AWD system, the side wall height is what needs to be as even as possible, otherwise one tire will reach a full rotation before the other tire and wear the tread down.
Take Venoms' advice, run 245/40/19s all around, this assumes you have 19x8.5 wheels in front. A 245 is a better width for the 8.5/9" widths anyway
Kenny, when the time comes for new rear tires I'd run 285/30s, this will be an even closer match for your 245 fronts. Your current 245/275 combo starts at almost 1% variance (with the 275s being smaller), but since your rears wear faster your variance will get over 1% over time. The 245/285 combo is virtually zero variance FWIW.
I actually plan on switching over to 285 REALLY soon once I get this bracket/spacer dilemma fixed next week!
Just to put it in one sentence in case anyone is confused:
Staggered widths in itself wont hurt an AWD system, the side wall height is what needs to be as even as possible, otherwise one tire will reach a full rotation before the other tire and wear the tread down.
Interesting suggestion. If I ran 245s all around would I be able to rotate the tires despite the wheel width difference and get more even tread wear? It is either 19x8.5 or 19x8 in the front (they only showed me the inside of the wheel briefly) in the front.
Here's a pic of the setup currently (crazy dirty because I just got back from a 400 mile trip to a snowy area).
Those would be the 8.5/9" setup so yeah, perfectly fine to run those 245/40s on all four.
If your tires are assymetric (w/an OUTSIDE) printed on the sidewall you can rotate side to side, if they are directional you're stuck. You need to keep the 9" wheels in back so only way to do a true front to back rotation would be to dismount/remount the tires.
If you really like those wheels you may be able to find someone willing to trade their fronts or their rears so both of you would have matching sets, but unless they're local it would probably be more trouble than it's worth.
225R/45ZR19 General G-Max AS-03s all around currently (these are the cupped tires). Yes, it vibrates like crazy at around 60 mph and there's a lot of tire noise at any speed, but that is more due to the General tires being fairly crappy.
My understanding is that for a correct staggered setup it should be 245 in the rear, but staggering isn't recommended for the AWD G anyways.
Back when I was shopping for a G37, I test drove one at an Infiniti dealer that had the same General G-Max tires that were horribly cupped. The vibration and groaning noise at speed was unbelievable. It sounded like mix of 4 bad wheel bearings and exhaust drone.
My advise would be to make sure and get an alignment after you get your new tires mounted. Ask the (hopefully reputable) shop to set your toe for the best tire wear possible. This should make a big improvement on your tire life, as well as prevent future cupping as much as possible.
Camber + lots of toe will ruin tires quick. Camber + neutral toe, not so much.
I'm currently suffering through some Yokohama Avid Envigor tires the dealer put on my coupe. No cupping or abnormal wear yet, but they are loud. Can't wait to wear them out completely and get some decent rubber.
Edit- I should mention my camber/toe/alignment recommendation comes from several years of going through a set of tires every year on my old lowered Audi. I finally got over 2 years out of a set once I had 0 degrees of toe with -1.5 camber all around.
Just to put it in one sentence in case anyone is confused:
Staggered widths in itself wont hurt an AWD system, the side wall height is what needs to be as even as possible, otherwise one tire will reach a full rotation before the other tire and wear the tread down.
While this is mostly correct, after an extended period of time the weight difference between the two axles MAY have an effect on the system. Obviously this is more for those that do a 1.5in width stagger difference.
Some of the new vehicles that have certain tech like torque vector where it relies on stock form to send the right amount of power, if the weight balance is off...you could end up "slipping". Just food for thought.
Those would be the 8.5/9" setup so yeah, perfectly fine to run those 245/40s on all four.
If your tires are assymetric (w/an OUTSIDE) printed on the sidewall you can rotate side to side, if they are directional you're stuck. You need to keep the 9" wheels in back so only way to do a true front to back rotation would be to dismount/remount the tires.
The new tires are Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06s so I believe they're asymmetric yes.
I'm still new to this so this may be a dumb question, but if I understand what you're saying I'd need to keep the tires mounted on the 9" wheels in the back and just swap left/right? How would a front to back rotation work in that case?
Originally Posted by G-thirty7X
Back when I was shopping for a G37, I test drove one at an Infiniti dealer that had the same General G-Max tires that were horribly cupped. The vibration and groaning noise at speed was unbelievable. It sounded like mix of 4 bad wheel bearings and exhaust drone.
Haha, you feel my pain then. The car is seriously unpleasant to drive on highways right now. Good advice on the rest of it, thanks.
The dealership threw in a free alignment and rotation when I brought in the car to complain about the vibration (they were the ones that told me about the cupping). Unfortunately they may have just made things worse with the rotation since they didn't notice the non-stock wheels. I should probably have the tire place do an alignment and the other things you said once the new tires are in though -- I really don't want to need new tires again before I trade it in 2018.
04-08-2016, 09:51 PM
Can't wait to wear them out completely and get some decent rubber.