Around the time again to consider new tires, and I figured I'd make this post to collect some information to help me decide. Some rambling and some questions ahead. Opinions welcome.

Currently been running Pilot sport a/s3+ in the stock sizes. I'll admit I went with the a/s3+ not for the need of snow/ice, but because they have a 45,000 mile treadwear warranty, and the price was reasonable. And for what I've been doing they've been fine. I've also been able to get 27,000 miles out of the rear tires and roughly 20,000 miles out of the front tires. Tragically, I think there's probably still 5,000-10,000 miles left on the tread in the center, but both the rears and the fronts have inner shoulder wear, even with the figs 90 durameter LCA rear mount. The fronts are pretty much done at this point, but I probably can get a bit more out of the rear tires.

Alignment shows front toe at -0.01 right, and +0.02 left, camber -1.2 right, -1.6 left. Rear toe at 0.13 right and 0.09 left, camber -1.7 right, -1.7 left. Since OEM provides no adjustment for camber, this might be the next thing to do some research into.

Looking at my options, it looks like there's now Pilot sport a/s4's out in stock sizes, but of course the fronts are on nationwide backorder with no definite date. I'm reasonably happy with the Pilot sport A/S3+s, but I find myself considering some other tires as well. There's been a few posts noting good reviews of the Firehawk Indy 500, and the General G-max RS. There are admittedly not all season tires, and part of the big draw before was that they were significantly less expensive than the competition. Looking at the pricing now they are still significantly less than Pilot sports. And the Pilot sports have a pretty low treadwear warranty at 20,000, which would be halved because of the staggered setup. But then it doesn't appear that the Indy 500's or the G-max RS have a treadwear warranty period.

Adding to this confusion would note that the the Indy 500 and the G-max RS isn't significantly less in cost than the A/S4 is. I can find posts that showed they were significantly less than now, but alas their pricing has pushed them up by quite a bit.

Then since the stock front size is on nationwide backorder, I started exploring potential other sizing. From what I've found and read it looks like the you can run 255/35/19 fronts, and 275/35/19 or 275/30/19 (choices seem to be much more limited in this size) rears on OEM 2012+ rims. This will be on a stock suspension 2014.

I know Costco won't do anything outside of oem sizing, and discount tire, tire rack, and big O tires appear to always want me to confirm what vehicle the tires are going on. For people that have upsized do you just order the tires by size and then show up for install without disclosing what vehicle?

 

I run 255/35/19 fronts and 275/35/19 rears in PS4S for the summer on 2014 wheels. I also run Conti DWS06 in OEM size on the '08 wheels when the temperature gets consistently below 50 degrees F because the front end chatters horribly on U turns with the summer tires when it gets cold. The wife's GS F runs Bridgestone Potenza all season tires in the same sizes as my summer tires year round because she's not going to use the extra capabilities of a summer tire on her grocery getter.

Don't waste your time messing with camber. It won't solve the wear problem. You have one wheel toed in and one toed out in the front. That's problematic no matter what. If you want more mileage out of the front tires, run toe at zero or slightly toed in (+0.02 on both sides). It's not the best mechanical performance, but it will give best tire wear.

 

Leaning towards the dsw06 or the a/s4's. Slight edge to the dws06s just simply because of price. Most likely getting the 255 in the front and 275 in the rear.

Will ask the alignment tech next time to get toe to zero.

 

I've been reading through a lot of posts, and from what I remember you are stock height, and solid LCA bushings? From what I've read through the posts that size should fit with stock height and minimal other suspension mods?

 

For the moment I am. I'm replacing my setup with solid front and rear LCA and Figs solid upper control arms with Ohlins DFV shocks next week. Unfortunately, the rear has to wait just a little longer for the same treatment. The car will also be on a lift so I can measure the chassis and get the subframes (front and rear) properly squared and centered with the body. It's been a long time coming...

 

Understood, thank you. Just wanted to make sure that there shouldn't be any reason a stock suspension with 2014 rims should not be able to accommodate those sizes.

 

Ordered dws06 plus 275/35/19 for the rear, and 255/35/19 for the fronts.

Scheduling another alignment appointment, aiming for something -0.04 through +0.02. Perhaps -0.02 equal on both sides would be ok.

Honestly, I got roughly 20k+ on these front tires, which isn't bad, it's just somewhat painful to throw away a tire that has probably 5-10k more treadwear centrally and on the outside shoulder, but only 2/32 on the inner shoulder. Rears have worn much better, but again lower on the inner shoulder, though honestly I probably could get another 5k on the rears, which I have 27k on. Alignment seems to be wearing ok on the rear.

Oh also worth mentioning, discount tire does price match. I used to match discount against tire rack, but they are under the same umbrella now. Competative prices can be found at walmart and amazon often. Was able to knock off about 50 bucks off the front tires matching against walmart.

Edit: good catch, 35 aspect

 

^^^^Seriously - 255/25

 

Driver's front, -1.3 camber, 7.8 caster, 0.01 toe
Passenger front -1.5 camber, 7.8 caster, -0.01 toe
Total toe 0.00

Admittedly I wanted to sit around -0.02 on both of the front, but also mentioned to get it as close to 0 as possible. I might not have been specific enough.

Driver's rear -1.7 camber, 0.13 toe
Passenger front -1.7 camber, 0.13 toe
Total toe 0.26

New tires on, initial impressions is they seem to be a little louder than the a/s3s, but with only a few miles it may change. This size difference is pretty big. They look much more muscular and natural on a vehicle like this. No rubbing that I've heard. Only one corner taken mildly so no real sidewall impressions yet. The tire finally extends past the rim with this size, before the front tires left the edge of the rim pretty exposed.

I plan on checking the wear and alignment in roughly 3k, and then likely 5k after.

Worth noting, I got prices from a dealership here and it was actually pretty competitive, though they only had Michelins and not Continentals. Costco and the dealership would only deal in the oem sizes, discount didn't seem to mind going to a large size. Also worth noting they didn't push the certificates as they have in the past.