Good lord, don't sell or trade those wheels, they look amazing.

I'd suggest 255/35/20 next time to give you a tad more sidewall and overall volume inside the tire for more cushion. Also do a lot of research on tire weights, treadwear rating, noise, etc. Tire Rack is a great resource for this. I've been using Continental DWS for about 4 years now (two different cars) and they are VERY quiet. I have 20's now as you do, FYI.

Although I think they are discontinuing them soon, so my next set will probably be the Michelin Pilot Sports. A few guys on here run them. Great reviews and very light and quiet.

 

I run the Proxes 4 Plus as well but I've been running 20s for about 5 years now so I can't even remember what a comfy ride is
I run 35psi all around FWIW.
Neal@Tirerack is a good source for all the tire specifics, he might have some recommendations for a tire that will make your rides more enjoyable. although I'm fairly certain it will come at a cost of a performance downgrade. Although you're already running all-seasons so you know about that
Furlows suggestion of running the next series up in sidewall is one to consider, only note is your speedometer will be off a bit but may be worth the trade off.

 

With 20's on this car, the speedometer is going to be off a bit with 245/35 or 255/35. Stock is 225/50/18 (sport) = diameter of 26.9 inches. 245/35/20 = 26.8 (-.4%). 255/35 = 27.0 (+.6%). So technically, 245/35 is closer to stock, but that .2% isn't going to make much difference.

I think the main reason people choose 245 over 255 is when they go super low and don't want rub issues with the fender. I'm only on Swifts so it's a non-issue for me.

 

Sorry, I meant going up from a 245/35 to a 245/40, so it would be off a bit over 3%, which isn't really recommended, but the Z guys do it without problems as long as it's not an AWD setup.

 

Yeah no, I wouldn't recommend 245/40/20, that's pretty far off.

 

Thanks again guys. I had not considered a different width tire to gain some sidewall. So that got me thinking. I did the math and the 245/35s that I have now have a 3.38" sidewall. 255/35s only go up to 3.51" and 245/40s (thinking about the 19s) are up to 3.86". I don't think that going to the 255/35s is worth the money for the minimal increase. And going to the 19s would only get me a half of an inch of additional rubber so I'm not convinced that it is worth all of the trouble. I would consider going to a 255/35 when these tires wear out but I don't think I'll go through the effort until then.

I finally got the car aligned yesterday. Well, the first attempt was last Thursday and they assumed that I wanted negative camber on the rear so I had to take it back on Monday. Since they were going to have to realign in anyway, I had them install the rear camber kit just to make sure that I could get a green alignment sheet. I don't like the look of major negative camber and I certainly am not at a place in my life where I want to be buying tires every 15,000 miles so I requested that they align it to factory specs.

I'm not sure why but it feels like the car drives different now. Would riding on the inner edge of the tire cause enough rough ride that correcting to factory alignment specs would help smooth out the ride? Is that possible here?

Also, I am having a difficult time getting a shop to balance my wheels/tires perfectly. I am being told by multiple shops that I need to find a place that has a machine that does on-the-car high speed balancing. Have any of you heard of this before? I found a shop that has one of these machines and they come highly recommended but I'm leery because it seems like this is just a band-aid to a problem. If the normal way of balancing doesn't work then maybe there's a problem with one or more of the wheels or tires. That's the way I think anyway. And I definitely don't want to be stuck using this one shop for all of my balancing needs in the future.

Any thoughts on balancing? Especially as it relates to ride quality?

 

What are your alignment specs? Alignment and wheel/tire balancing will play a huge role in driving comfort. Not over bumps per se, but the overall feel of the car on the road. You're really not THAT low, so I can't imagine you have more than -1.5 camber front or rear.

Which reminds me, what are you lowered on? I looked through your original post but I don't see any info on that.

As for the tire width, sidewall, and volume, here's a nifty calculator to take a look at. The tire sidewall height affect the entire width of the tire, not just the sidewall. BND TechSource - Tire Data Calculator

Example - with your 20x9 wheels, going from a 245/35/20 to a 255/35/20 would increase your tire air volume from 27.61 liters to 30.52 liters, which is a 10% increase. May not sound like much, but it makes a difference, especially when you're talking about low profile tires.

 

Furlow, you're right, I didn't mention what I was lowered on. I meant to do that but missed it. I have Fortune Auto 500 coilovers. 10k/8k front/rear. Comfort valving. Dampening settings are 7 clicks from softest setting on the front and 5 clicks from softest setting on the back.

First alignment was last Thursday. The before numbers on this one were from after putting the new coilovers on.


Second alignment was from yesterday after the rear camber kit was installed.


Thanks for that link. I should have realized that air volume would also come into play with the stiffness/softness of a tire. I'm slapping my forehead because it makes sense. Oh well.

Anyhow, it makes sense that the combination of the additional sidewall rubber (for physically flexing) and the additional air volume (to help cushion the tire) could produce a noticeably better feeling ride. Interesting. Now I'm intrigued.

 

That's good news!
A properly aligned car will have a much more predictable drive and safer too, glad you got that part of the equation handled. Hopefully enough that new tires &/or wheels aren't as critical.
G/L

 

What you want to find is a place that does "road force" or "ground force" balancing. Its a machine that they attach the wheel/tire to and spins it - just like a regular balancer, but this type of machine will have a spinning drum (or roller) that the wheel/tire is pressed against. Hard. Like 1500 - 2000 pounds of down force to simulate vehicle load. Balance is better measured and achieved with this added resistance. Your typical chain or small mom & pop won't have this equipment.

Hunter is the common brand, from several feet away it looks like an ordinary balancer, but the key is the roller under the traditional black hood, like so:

http://www.hunter.com/balancer/roadf...road_force.jpg

Edit - forgot to ad, if you go to the hunter.com & put in your ZIP, you can email the area rep to find out what shop has road force balancing.

 

Alignment specs look good. I'm scratching my had at your rear camber (before) because your car just doesn't look that low. I guess coilovers will do that though. Anyway, good to see you are back in line.

GAWD has a good point about balancing, I forgot about that type of machine. In your case it might be worth it to look into that. Beyond that, I'd say you'll probably have to just be more open minded to a rougher ride that looks and handles way better than stock.

 

GAWD - Thanks for the info on the road-force balance machine. I thought that all balance machines were this kind. Oh well. I'm looking up the Hunter rep now.

Furlow - I'm hoping that once the balancing gets straightened out, I'll be able to live with it. At least until this set of tires wears out anyway.

 

I really like Velgen Wheels and your sedan looks clean. I wanted to buy a white sedan but none of the dealers here in SoCal had the white G37S with black interior. thanks for sharing the picture

 

Tires are always going to be an ongoing experiment. Definitely stay on those until they are worn out. Keep us posted after your next wheel balance.

 

Anybody have those rim bands that goes around the rim and it suppose to protect the rim. I just wanted to know if they are worth getting. I just want to get it for looks.