Another Tire Question - 11 silly centimeters

[husker boxster]

My sister in Dallas has asked me for suggestions on tires for her car - a 2006 350Z Enthusiast model. It's her only car and obviously her daily driver, she drives fast (who doesn't in Dallas?) but not crazy fast. No track or DE days. Because Dallas gets the occasional ice or snow storm, I think she could use a set of all season tires. The tires that get very good reviews on TireRack are the BFG GForce Super Sport A/S and Yohohama Advan S4.

Here's the problem: front tires are 225/45/18. Neither of the 2 brands sell that size. I called TireRack to ask them what an equivalent size to 225/45 would be. He said you should never change the tire size on the 350Z. Not satisfied with his response, I visited my local tire store this afternoon and asked the same question. He totally side stepped the question and showed me a list of manufacturers that made tires in her sizes.

I searched for and found an old forum thread that explained how to decipher the first 2 numbers. With that in mind, I've done my own homework and here are my options:

225/40 - the width of the tire would be the same as the orig but the sidewall would be 11mm (7/16") shorter.

245/40 - the width would be 20mm (7/8") wider than the orig while the sidewall would be virtually the same (this tire would be 3mm shorter).

With all that as background, here's my question: Would you go with a slightly shorter sidewall, a slightly wider tread, or go with a different brand that has the exact size?

Thanks in advance.

[timothy]

FYI it's millimeters, not centimeters. 11cm = 4.33in

[husker boxster]

Thx Timothy. Updates made.

[renzop]

The 245/40 is the tire to go with. It will fit on the stock rim and in the wheel well. You want to keep the tire heigt the same if at all possible. However, I suggest you go to a 350Z forum to make sure there is not some Z specific issues that we here are not aware of.

[Benny986]

the wider from tires would make the car tend to oversteer more.also the wider tire up front when there is rain, etc. wouldn't be as good.

from what i recall, the Z had some bad tire issues. it was due to factory alignments. so they would wear out prematurely. they even have a class action on this. she should be able to get some money back on a set of tires if she hasn't already.

i would typically say screw what tirerack says, and get whatever tires you want, as long as the overall height is the same. heck, i'm running a 255/265 setup on the boxster, i have yet to see anyone do that.

but this is your sister, i don't know her driving skills. not knowing that, i would stick to the OEM sizes.

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by Benny986

from what i recall, the Z had some bad tire issues. it was due to factory alignments. so they would wear out prematurely. they even have a class action on this. she should be able to get some money back on a set of tires if she hasn't already.

Nissan did have trouble with front tires wearing out on the inside due to alignment issues. However, this was with the 2003-2004 models. Nissan even had a Japanese tire company make them a special tire that had a really hard compound on the inside of the tire as a bandaid fix for the affected cars. Nissan supposedly has that solved now.

It's not that she needs tires immediately, she wants to have an idea on what to get when they are closer to wearing out.