Your opinion on tires.

[gundee]

Buy Them! Those tires Just plain rock. I have no clue why Yokohama discontinued them. They are a lot softer than the tires we've been talking about here. I'd class them with the Azenis sports in tradwear and traction.

Have to agree with Victor. The A509 was the stickiest street tire I ever had.

I just sold a pair on EBay because I could not find 2 more. Tread rating of 140.You could drive them as hard as you could and they made no noise at all!

[zbane]

Kelly Chargers seem to be good all around tires, not too expensive either.

I have twisties all around, haven't wrecked yet. I forget the speed rating, but I think they are "H."

[Walter Moore]

Kelly Charger tires are either S or T rated depending on the size. See this link for further details:

http://www.kelly-springfield.com/auto/products/csr.html

[bpilati]

I bought my tires because I wanted tires that lasted more than 20,000 miles, with good handling.

[EricB]

I've got Yokohama Advan A022 on the Z right now and am quite happy with them... Reminds of the old AVS Intermediate days which are now long long gone... Got them from TireRack about a year ago. 205/55R15 front and 225/50R15 rear...

I'd definitely get another set...

-e

[zguitar71]

I just bought some 15x8 wheels and I need some opinion on tire size. The wheels also have a 0"offset on all 4. I'm thinking 235/50/15 all around with spacer b-cuz I'm also gonna be trimming and adding ZG Flares. I need help on this one. Would 245/50/15 on rear and 215/50/15 front be a good choice also? I'm also be putting on some Tokico 5way Adjustable with again (???? undecided springs). I've been debating it for quite some time now. Wide tires makes car look very manly!!!

Your car will handel best with the same size tire on the front and back. In a 15" size the the stickiest tires I have seen are in a 225/50 size the larger width tires available are not as sticky (Dunlop 8000's may still be available in a 245/50 size, they are pretty good). You are better off with a narrower sticky tire than a wider hard compound tire as far as handeling is concerned. The AZC heavy duty springs work greeat with the Illumina's.

[oinojo]

i run 205/60/14's as well... Falken Ziex 512... perfect for my 14s

[Blue Meanie]

Just put 215/60 R14's on mine with the 14" alumium slots.

[funz1z]

Just put 215/60 R14's on mine with the 14" alumium slots.

What brand of tires? Do you have a picture? I am only finding yokohoma and bf goodrich in the 215/60/14, and the Falken Ziex 512 only comes in the 205/60/14.

[WingZr0]

Old tread revival here but is 195/60/14 good for a stock '77 280z 4 speed?

I found a set of 215/60/14's which is what I wanna get

but their kinda pricey.

[Arne]

Old tread revival here but is 195/60/14 good for a stock '77 280z 4 speed?

Not really. Those are way too short, good size for a 510 that originally came with 13", but not so good for a Z. Will be really revvy, speedo will be wrong, you'll be going much slower than the speedo reads, and will be adding more miles to the odometer than you really drive as well.

Acceleration will be great, though.

[240ZMan]

Here's a spread sheet I built that lets you compare diameter and speedo error for a variety of tire sizes. The error is referenced to the early Z original tire at the top. If your model had a different size, just enter it there.

When I had 14 x 7 rims I ran with that size (215/60-14). They fit without any rubbing and filled out the wheel wells nicely. But it's hard to find performance tires in that size now.

Edit: the 195/60-14 size you are considering is 1.8" smaller than stock in diameter which equates to your speedo reading 7% high or roughly 5 mph too high at 70 mph.

Tire sizes - 240z.zip