I've been shopping for winter tyres and finally decided on the General Tire Altimax Arctic in 225/55/R17 size. While I was shopping for prices one of the local garages told me that it's a bad choice for me for the G37 given that I would need a tire with a stronger/more rigid structure.

What is he talking about?

 

Soft sidewalls maybe? Or perhaps he doesn't carry them and wants to sell you something he has or that's more expensive? I'm just guessing, you should ask him to explain what he means.

 

is it a safety issue or it just won't be too much fun to drive? I've already put in the order so i am wondering if i should cancel or not

 

I checked out Tire Rack reviews and 2 ppl on G35/37s ran them so I guess it's fine.

TireRack.com Tire Reviews

 

I was just guessing. I live in TX man. It's still summer here (it's gong to be 90 degrees today), we don't use winter tires so I'm certainly not a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Check the weight rating on them to make sure they are rated to support the weight of your car perhaps.

 

Why are you getting a studdable snow tire?

 

Because they're good winter tyres and they were much cheaper than the very good studless tires. If I wanted to "upgrade" to a performance winter tire it would have cost me 60-70% more.

 

It could be the load rating for that particular tire/size. I think that tirerack has a description of what they exactly mean, but perhaps he is indicating that the load rating is lower than the stock tires.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=35

Some info from TireRack...

Load Index

P195/60R15 87S - The load index (87) is the tire size's assigned numerical value used to compare relative load carrying capabilities. In the case of our example the 87 identifies the tires ability to carry approximately 1,201 pounds.

The higher the tire's load index number, the greater its load carrying capacity.

89 = 1,279 pounds
88 = 1,235 pounds
87 = 1,201 pounds
86 = 1,168 pounds
85 = 1,135 pounds

A tire with a higher load index than that of the Original Equipment tire indicates an increase in load capacity. A tire with a load index equal to that of the Original Equipment tire indicates an equivalent load capacity. A tire with a lower load index than the Original Equipment tire indicates the tire does not equal the load capacity of the original.

 

Yea I checked them out and the tire is rated 97 for load rating. All the winter tyres I saw were 96-101. I don't see it being a problem at all, especially given other G drivers have used the same tyres. IMO he just wanted to sell me more expensive tyres.

 

I don't have any other suggestions except that perhaps he would like to sell a more expensive high performance winter tire. It doesn't sound like there's anything wrong with the ones you are looking at.

 

i hate you betty lol
we had a whopping 45 degrees today with spotted thunderstorms and RAIN. seattle...go figure

 

I bet he was referring to the speed rating of the tire. It is only rated Q.

 

yea he probably meant that it's a soft tire and that with a G I might want a more performance-oriented tire. I don't really plan on going fast in winter.