I'm looking for a set of tires that would improve handling of my wife's 2005 Xterra S. She wants better cornering and better wet traction than the OE tires. So far, I was mostly looking at Goodyear Fortera TripleTred 265/70R16. Is it a good choice? Do you have other recommendations?

How much can the handling improve if I only swap tires and leave the original alloy rims and don't do any suspension work?

Thanks!

it's too bad that no one else has responded to this.

saying that, this is a more of an off-road oriented site, so not many will have an opinion on the GY fortera or anything like that.

but...i have an 05 OR, which comes with BFG rugged trails, rather than the BFG long trails, so i don't have any experience with the long trails. but when i switched to a more aggressive tire (the BFG AT) my handling confidence went up a whole lot. just ditching those awful rugged trails and buying a decent tire does alot for the truck.

Nissans and toyotas generally have some of the lowest customer satisfaction with the OE tires...(i just read an article somewhere stating just that...won't be able to find it now, of course)

so, if you find other people say good things about that tire and it's what you want to do, go for it.

just remember it's a truck and not a car, so handling isn't it's forte.

it handles pretty well compared to most of it's competition as it is.

oh, just saw your ad for the long trails in buy/sell. what'd you end up getting?

I got a set of Toyo Proxes S/T (265 70 R16). Handling and cornering has definitely improved and I can feel it even before the tires have been broken in. It will never be as nimble as a G35 or an IS300 but my wife is glad with the upgrade