Tires: V Rated Tires, cooper zeon, good mileage

Question
I have a 2004 Maxima SE with 245/45Z/R18 wheels. Can I put an H rated tire on these? If yes, how much will they hurt performance? If no, what are some value priced, good mileage recommendations. My current tire is the Cooper Zeon Sport A/S but I have only gotten 18K out of them.

Answer
Tom,

As a general rule, the higher the speed rating, the higher the cornering.  Because of this, many tire dealers will not put lower speed rating tires, for fear that someone will find them negligent in a lawsuit.

However, aside from losing some handling - and of course not knowing how much that is going to be before it happens - there is no reason to prevent an individual consumer from using a lower speed rating.  But for practical purposes, I think going lower than an H rated tire is not good practice.