Help choosing new tires

[SeanC]

Hey guys,

I just picked up some Y2k rims off of a C5 Vette this afternoon, and the tires are pretty worn and need to be replaced. What kind of tires is everyone running? I currrently have bridgestone potenzas on my Trans Am, and thought they were great. They still have some life on them, but they wore pretty fast (Z-rated high performance). They were also pretty expensive....

Tire rack is selling the g-Force T/A KDW 2 tires for $626. I'm really not trying to spend over a grand like I did last time for them to last 10-15,000 miles. Anyone have any experience with these? Also, is it worth buying an ultra high performance summer tire? The car is not my daily driver (currently), but I do beat on it a bit and I may take it to the drag strip in the near future. What do you guys think?

Thank you very much for the help!

[SamhainZ28]

for the price sumitomo htrz2 tires are a good deal. I have used them on my old camaro, and my corvette, I have no complaints.

[Slow-V6]

sumitomo htrz2 are a great all year tire and are unbeatable for the price. Mine lasted about 40,000 miles with a couple track vists with them.

[SeanC]

They are definitly priced right....can get a set of 4 for around $500 (less than half of what I paid for my Potenzas!!!!). How were they at the track? I don't want to get drag radials so I am able to drive the car on the road. I'm also worried about blowing my 10-bolt if I get a drag tire, but I definitly want a tire that has some grip to it...Going to start racing once I get my current projects finished up..

[Slow-V6]

I never ran those tires on the Y2K's I had them on my 02 WS6 wheels. I cut crappy 60's with them at the track and also broke my 10 bolt with them! I dont know if I would run my car with the Y2K's on it at the track. The car handles better with them, it doesnt feel the same off the line then the car did with the 17's.

[SeanC]

Why wouldn't you run the car with the Y2ks on it? I realize that an 18" wheel isn't the best, but are there any other problems with it? I figured they would be better than my stock 16" (allow for a wider tire than stock).

[Slow-V6]

The car just feels slower with them then it did with the 17's. I have also heard a couple other people say the same thing with them on there F-body. My car just has a couple of bolt ons so its not that fast. I dont really run my car at all. Its just a weekend car and I got the wheels because they look better then the stock wheels did on the car.

Remember the wider you go the more banging you have to do!

[SeanC]

hmmm..alright maybe I'll see how they feel compared to my stock rims. We'll see, I didn't necessarily buy them for racing, just cant stand the stock rims. From what I read, a stock corvette 275/40R18 tire should fit in the rear without having to hammer the inner fenders....maybe i'll have to a little, but thats no big deal.

I'll definitly look into the sumitomo htrz2s. I really just want a good performing tire overall...Going to be driven on the street more than the track. I realize that getting traction at the drag strip for a good launch isn't extremely realistic with a street tire; just hoping to get something that can get a somewhat decent 60'. If I had money for a 9" or 12 bolt, I would definitly get a drag radial, but like I said, I want to reduce the possibility of blowing my rear right now. It all comes down to money haha

[NastyEllEssWon]

i had sumi's on my 99z28 ls1 auto....they were decent on the track. car only had a muffler and cut 2.0 sixtys everytime. not bad for a 70 dollar tire. you can get sumitomo tire packages on ebay at package deal....the tire rack posts em up all the time

[LTb1ow]

Spend the money and actually be able to enjoy the car.

Running crappy tires and roasting em every time you give it gas is cool for about the first five times, then you feel mighty stupid at redlights.

For example, I got cheap tires cause I needed new ones and didn't want to spend a lot... pretty much made the car useless. I now run MT ET streets and have had em on for two summers now... the hook great on the street and so far have been a great tire.

[SamhainZ28]

Originally Posted by LTs1ow

Spend the money and actually be able to enjoy the car.

Running crappy tires and roasting em every time you give it gas is cool for about the first five times, then you feel mighty stupid at redlights.

For example, I got cheap tires cause I needed new ones and didn't want to spend a lot... pretty much made the car useless. I now run MT ET streets and have had em on for two summers now... the hook great on the street and so far have been a great tire.

Daily driving MT ET streets is a bad idea, not only will the tires not last very long due to a very soft compound, getting caught in the rain would be pretty interesting.

[SeanC]

I'm definitly not going to get crappy tires, trust me. I almost totaled my car the day I bought it because it had such terrible tires on it. I just dont want to spend over $1000 like I did on my Potenzas...they still have some life but I cant afford to keep spending that much money on tires that last 10,000 miles...

I dont know how you run ET streets on the road Lt1s1ow, and i'm surprised they have lasted that long for you. If I didn't have to be scared for my life when driving in the rain, i'd consider them...

[LTb1ow]

They really are not that bad... I only had one issue with em coming home in a torrential downpour... but nothing like Zomghz I gunna diezz!!!

I daily drive on em so I dunno, I like em.

[SeanC]

Suprising....I would consider them, but I feel like it would be a waste of money. I'm going to be on the road far more than the track. I have 110,000 miles on the motor and am not sure how long it will last if I make a weekly track visit haha (not to mention the old 10 bolt with drag radials...). If/when I rebuild the motor in the future, i'll probably get more into racing. At this point, its just starting to seem a little dumb to race a lot with a bolt on car.

Any other suggestions on a good street tire that isn't outrageously expensive? I'm not turning down the sumitomos, just want to make sure I make the right choice

[Slow-V6]

When I first got my T/A they had Eagle F1 on them. They were good tires. I got a new set @ 38,000 miles and got BFG KDW which were around 200 a tire. They were pretty good tires as well but only lasted 20,000 miles. I then purchased the Sumitomo HTZ2 and they are the best tire for the price. I maybe go to the track 2 times a year. Put them on my car around 50,000 miles and when I sold my WS6 wheels they still had about 40% of tread on them and the car had about 88,000 miles on it. So almost 40,000 miles on them and about 40% tread on them. I suggest get a decent tire for the track on your stock rims and run them at the track! You could probably get a full set of Sumitomo and a set of drag radials for you stock wheels for under 1000.00 dollars.


With the 275 40 18's on the vette wheels you will more then likely need to bang in the inner fender or run a spacer. I had to bang mine in a little but I have some buddies who had to bang the hell out of the inner fenders.

[SeanC]

Luckily I have crappy tires on the Corvette rims right now to see if they will fit without having to hammer away. We'll see how they fit. If they rub, ill be getting the hammer out, and then i'll order some tires for them.

That is a great idea (getting good drag tires on my stock rims)! I hate to ask questions on a DIFFERENT set of tires now, but what size drag radial would be good on the stock 16" rim? Also, what kind of tire would I put on the front for racing?

[Slow-V6]

Just get a cheap Futura for the fronts like a 235 50 16 and the rear I would get some Mickey Thompson ET streets 255 50 16.

[NastyEllEssWon]

Originally Posted by Slow-V6

Just get a cheap Futura for the fronts like a 235 50 16 and the rear I would get some Mickey Thompson ET streets 255 50 16.

http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47426


thats why you dont run mickeys full time ...as for futuras....yeah no...if you dont wanna ruin cheap sumi's which are actually a decent tire then theres no reason to spend the same cash on a pep boys tire that has no pluses to it at all.

[LTb1ow]

You can do that just as easy on cheap tires with the same dumb ass behind the wheel.

[SeanC]

What tire would you suggest for the front for racing then on a stock 16" tire if I get MT et streets for the rear?

[NastyEllEssWon]

any of the one off ''overseas'' brands will do. fuzions, sumitomos, hankook, dunlop....id never put futuras on anything i own though


and matt yes some people ride mickeys in the rain with no problem, and others cant...i dont know the OP level of ''not crashingness'' when it comes down to that. so as a rule of thumb i wont suggest something that takes a small amount of caution when riding to the avg person

[Slow-V6]

Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon

....id never put futuras on anything i own though :

I had the Futura tires on my old firebird. they were mounted on the Weld Pro stars. I had the 165 15's in the front and 265 50 15 in the rear. I cut okay 60's on them and also was trapping 118mph. I ran them because the skinnies were 25.00 a tire and the rears were 50.00 a tire! Never had any issues with them and they lasted about 30,000 miles with alot of track use.

[Slow-V6]

Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon

http://www.njfboa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47426


thats why you dont run mickeys full time ...as for futuras....yeah no...if you dont wanna ruin cheap sumi's which are actually a decent tire then theres no reason to spend the same cash on a pep boys tire that has no pluses to it at all.

If you would actually read the thread.. He is going to use his Y2K wheels everyday with a good all year tire and just wants to have a dragstrip set of tires for when he takes his car to the track. The track tires will be mounted on his 16's.

[RiggsLW81]

id go with a set of kumhos...thats what i have on my iroc and i have been very satisified with them...great grip/traction...no surprises in turns..nice and sticky.. and they last. they are excellent tires for the money and are much cheaper than your potenzas.

also have a set of kumhos asx's on my girls ride...she has a 06 scion tc. they were such an upgrade to the piece-of-***** bridgestone potenzas that came stock on her car..the potenzas were such crap that when we swapped tires, and dismounted the front pass tire from the rim..and there was a bunch of 'tire sand' inside... the tire had started to deteriorate from the inside! id never seen such a thing.. you could almost see the wires from the inside out... and its not like they were bald or misused. they are just junk any way you slice it.

bridgestone and firestone are the biggest pieces of garbage on the market in my opinion. i would never mount them on any vehicle belonging to me or someone i know.

check out the asx's...i think youll be happy with them. very high ratings on tire rack too for what its worth..

[SeanC]

My buddy has a set of Kumhos on his Cobra and says he likes them, so I may check them out. Thanks for the suggestion! I'm really surprised you didn't like the potenzas (maybe their a different model than mine). I love mine....

Not to change the topic of this thread, but I feel like I need to touch on this; I want drag tires, and I know noone can give me an exact answer to this, but how much will running drag radials increase the chance of blowing my rear? If I blow up the old 10 bolt, the car is probably going to sit for a long time. Theres no way I could afford $3,000 for an acceptable replacement......