G-MAX AS-03 tires on stock wheels
 

Folks,

I am shopping for replacement tires (275/35/19) for the stock rear wheels. Those G-MAX AS-03 ones appear to be okay but I just never heard of the brand. Does anyone have any experience with the brand or the specific models?

Thanks!

Generals are a great tire. You probably would have gotten a good response from your other thread too. I'm not a fan of mixing tires though.

I would do hankook v12 for tires. Most members use hankooks. Haven't seen people talk about G-Max. Just my thought on it if you are buying tires.

Also, try not to get different size for the rears unless you are changing the sizes on the fronts. It would be dangerous, impacts handling and stability of the vehicle. It has to do with the proportions and ratios of the tire sizes.

From my research on the forums, I've heard of use of:
Hankook V12
Yokohama S Drives
Michelin Super Sports
Falken
Bridgestone RE760
BF Goodridge
Continentals

Tire Search Results

If you have the available funds, get the Michelins. They are a little more expensive than the Hankook and Yokohamas, but many forum members have confirmed as to the quietness and response the Michelins provide. I have Michelins on my Camry Hybrid, and it's a night-and-day difference with BF Goodrich... Sooo quiet, and wet handling is superb!

General Tires have been around for quite some time now. They're owned by Continental.

I had the Exclaim's on my prior car and they were wonderful tires. The G-Max are the replacements for that model and so far have received great reviews.

For the price, you can't go wrong with them.

Thanks for the input, guys!

My front tires are still OEMs and they are just about all worn-out. I bought a pair of Kumho Ecsta for the rear (245/40/19) about a year ago. I am thinking to move those Kumhos to the front and have the new pair (275/35/19) on the rear wheels.

I wasn't really planning to mix tires but it's just out it turned out. :(

i switched to the g-max tires this past winter on my stock 19's, and even though we didn't get any snow this season, the tires def ride a whole lot nicer than the oem bridgestones in the wet. they do feel slightly softer than the oem tires, but thats prob cuz its all season tires rather than summer tires. it's been on my car for about 5000 miles now, and i can't complain about them.

I have the G-Max AS-03 on my Maxima. They are decent as all season tires go. But it's a beater to take me to work and back every day, not a nice car. I'd never put them on my G, I use Max Performance summer tires on it. They are nowhere near a performance tire, don't expect them to be. The ride is not bad. However, the performance is simply not there.

As was said before, don't mix those two tires unless absolutely necessary. Get 4 of one tire and be done with it. Why would you get these rather than just get another pair of the Kuhmos?

Hey BB,

I haven't decided on the G-Max tires yet. It's one of the five different tires (with similar config and price range) I was comparing on TireRack. And G-Max was the only all-season tire among the group of tires I was comparing against.

Having said that, following your advice, I am leaning toward getting another pair of Kumhos for the rear. Just a few more follow-up questions though, if you don't mind:
- I don't really wanna have to go back and forth between summer and winter tires; I just want to get something and ride on it all year long. Not the best idea, I know, but I should be okay getting around the town with summer tires, right? (I live in the Washington DC metropolitan area)
- Would G-Max's high threadwear rate (480) plus the all-season configuration be good enough reasons why I should choose this tire over, say, Kumho or Hankook or even Bridgestone? (Please see below configuration data I added for your reference)

1. Kumho Ecsta LE Sport - $195/Max Performance Summer/(100Y)/280 AA A
2. Kumho Ecsta SPT - $210/Ultra High Performance Summer/100Y/320 AA A
3. General G-MAX AS-03 - $215/Ultra High Performance All-Season/100W/480 A A
4. Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 - $219/Max Performance Summer/100Y/280 AA A
5. Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport - $219/Ultra High Performance Summer/100W/340 A A

I have precious little experience with dedicated winter tires having lived in the Deep South my entire life. However if you are going to try to run a tire year round, they need to be A;ll Seasons and not summer tires. Rule out all of the summer tires on your list living in the DC area. I know it can be very cold and snowy for quite a while in winter and they are not designed to handle it at all. You'll have no grip at all in ice or snow or even very cold temperatures below about 40 degrees. That's reason enough to justify spending the extra $430 and buying a full set of 4 of the G-Max as they are the only All Season on your list of candidates.

I have driven the Hankook V12 once or twice in cold temperatures by Texas standards (mid 30's) without snow or ice on the roads and it didn't feel very good.

FWIW, i drove my car on actual ice that time in (barely) snowed in H-Town. The V12's still worked, but not very confidence-inspiring. Listen to BB.

And, also, another FWIW, the same General Exclaims that were on my old Maxima made it through Dallas snow without a problem.

If you use summer tires and mix it with freezing temps + snow, you're not going anywhere. Or, if you're already moving, you'll stop, just not the way you intended. :\

Just bought the mich super sports for the rear. Why should i not have different tires on the front? Also on cold temp will the tires not handle at all or not just as good?

^^Because running mismatched tires results in mismatched tire grip. Your front will not have the same grip as the rear.

Do you replace shoes individually? Think of what would happen to your walking/running if you had an old shoe on one foot and a new one on the other.

Generally, it's acceptable to replace tires in sets of 2, assuming the other 2 are of similar design/performance as the new ones.

I will give my my two cents on all season (AS) tires. In short, they can do "everything" but are not particularly good at anything. They are a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

Living in the Midwest most of my life, I experience all 4 seasons and I will tell you that any AS tire you find will not be good at getting you through all 4 seasons. Will it get your through? Yes. Will it be confidence inspiring? Far from it.

During the warmer months, you'll be fine because there won't be any hazardous weather that will hamper you. In the winter however, it's a completely different story and this is why you should look for a winter dedicated tire. For this and this alone, it is worth spending $1500 or so on a second set of (can be sh1tty) wheels, but a good set of winter tires.

So you spend $800 now on a set of AS tires. You're trudging through a mild 3 inches of snow. You need to suddenly apply your brakes and BAM!!, you rear end someone. Police get called to file an accident report, you have to report it to your insurance, you end up paying your deductable, premium goes up etc. It can get costly right?

A set of snow tires increases snow traction that much that you will be able to drive (smartly) regularly with confidence in the snow. All of that can be avoided. Can it be avoided with AS tires? Yes, most likely if you're paying attention and drive very slowly. But with a snow tire, chances are much better.

So you get a set of snow wheels/tires for the winter. Why put up with mediocre tires when it's warm out? So by default, you'll end up getting a set of summer tires. If you've never driven on one or the other, you have to in order to feel the difference the "specialty" tires have over the "everything" tire. Yes, it is that much difference.

And on top of that, since you're running two different sets of tires, you won't have to change out a set of tires until 55K miles (varies depending on the summer and winter tires you get).

My advice: run your current tires until the next winter season, get a snow set then the following season, get new summer tires. It is worth the 1 hour to swap wheels twice a year. Work it in with your rotation schedule.

I have a set of these on my car (in the OE size). Compared to the Bridgestone's, they are a little softer riding, have *much* better traction in the rain, and do an OK job of getting through light snow. In normal street driving there is very little seat-of-pants difference in feel vs. the OE Potenza's, except for a bit of a softer ride.

If you use your car for 'normal' street driving, in my opinion it's a worthwhile trade-off - much better rain traction + utility in light snow + much longer tire life + slightly softer ride. If you autocross or do track days then the G-Max is not the tire you want. The snow traction depends on where you live and the severity of the winters. Here in Philadelphia the winters are usually mild, and I have found that all-seaon tires have worked perfectly fine for me (through 9 winters with three different G coupes), except on those rare occasions when 2 feet of snow falls and nothing moves. If you likewise live in an area with generally light snowfalls you should be fine, but if you live in New England or the upper mid-west, you would probably be better off with dedicated snow tires (if you plan to use all-season tires in winter, you might want to bear in mind that the OE 245 cross section will do better than the larger 275 you mentioned).