Tire Survey

[dga]

What brand, type and size of tire are people using on their rides?

How do they perform re handling, noise and wear? What would you purchase next time?

[Phacade]

Personally I like BF Goodrich Radial T/A tires. I chose something with a little meat on them, somewhat a profile yet very driveable. I went for P215/60/14.

[guy_geo]

Mine are 195/70/14, Motomaster Predator.

Shitty tires that were on the car before, do not expect to change them in the near future, they are almost brand new!

The dimensiosn is concerning me a little , should it be 215/60/14 instead to respect the speedo, or it doesn't matter???

[Si|v3r72]

I just put on Bridgstone Potenza RE950. See them here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/bridgestone/bs_re950.jsp

This is a highly rated, high mileage tire with excellent dry and wet handling. They are extremely smooth and quiet at all speeds. I've only put about 500 miles on them so far but I am very happy with them.

[visionary]

I like the T/A's also, although those potenza look good. The 215 60 series fits on a 6" or wider rim well without any adverse effect to the speedo. I ran VR 255 50 15's on my 84 vette at speeds above 150 and they were always smooth but the best thing about them was that you could feel the sidewall flex and have lateral traction before they break loose in the corners. I switched to the T/A's after spinouts with the Goodyear gatorbacks that had no indicators or lateral grip before breaking...

Keith

[hmsports]

I've found through racing that the Toyo Proxes (unshaved) at 225-50-R-14 are very well suited for street driving. They fit fine on a 14x7 rim. They don't have a lot of unruly sound. They are about $125 each from Vilven Tire in Chicago (delivered UPS). We have the tread shaved to race them but use a full-tread set for rain tires. They have great wear and are very predictable. Unlike Hoosier tires (which are faster on the track, but wear a lot quicker too), the Toyos will let you know when they are about ready to lose grip. Just my two-cents.

[visionary]

Rick,

Are there any substantial inner fender "rub" issues at full suspension travel with the 225-50 on series tires on a 14" rim with street setups, i.e. performance springs with 1" overall lowering?

Keith

[hmsports]

Keith,

My car is set up for ITS racing with 5" ride height at the rockers and somewhere around 3 degrees negative camber on the front suspension and about 2 or so on the back and I don't have any rub problems. My springs are 275# front and 250# rear - don't know if that is stiffer than stock (I'm guessing it is). I am running wheels with about 3-1/2" to 4" offset (measured from the inner rim face). I did have some problems with the fender lip cutting into the tire (when I did some agriculture racing over the bump-strip) but I took care of that by bending the lip up from the inside - then again, it is a race car and not a cherry street rod. The strut towers had about 2-1/2" removed to accept racing shocks and race springs when it was lowered. I don't think you would have any problems with the tire rubbing on a modified street car. I may be able to test fit one on my new donor car and check how much room there is on a total stock suspension at full travel - would be able to do this early next week. Let me know.

Another good tire that I haven't used yet but have heard good things is the Kumho. They are comparable to the Toyo both in price and performance (again, just from hear-say).

Hope this helps.

Rick.

[visionary]

Rick,

Thank you for offering to do a test fitting for me. I am going to replace my tires but it won't be until the latter part of the summer. Currently I have 14x6" mags on the car, so I think I will stay with the wheel this time, however, when I am ready, some time in July, I will contact you about tires and fit.

thanks,

Keith

[Ed]

It all starts with what size wheel and what kind of driving you do. I have the 14" mag wheels. I'm running Yokohama 195/60/14 in front and 205/60/14 in the rear.

[dhayes5]

I am running Kuhmo 205/55/16's on 16x7 Panasports. I put them on about a month ago and have not really been able to evaluate since my left rear rubs the fender well (so I have not been driving it). This is due to a sagging spring. I will be installing Eibachs tomorrow and am hoping that this will solve the problem. Is anyone else running this tire size and if so did you have to roll the fender lip. I was hoping by going with 205's instead of 215's or 225's that I would not have to roll the lip. Also, are the bump steer spacers necessary when using Eibachs?

[BadDog]

I'm running a set of Sumitomo HT200's on sotck 14" steel wheels... they're inexpensive, and pretty good wet or dry. I've had them for just over 1000 miles now. The only problem is that I think my wheels are a bit out of round... I start getting some vibration from 65 mph up to 80. It could also be worn bushings etc.

I think I'd like to keep the car original, (I'm debating though, due to wheel balance, condition of the carpeting, and uncomfortable seats) If I end up getting Panasports sometime down the road, I'll probably stick with the Sumitomo's or get some Toyo Proxes if they come in the size I need. I had a set of Proxes T1's when I had my 318ti, and I loved 'em.