what tires to use?
12-22-2007, 01:40 PM
#1
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 355
what tires to use?
So I'm upgrading my rims and will need new tires. I have an I6 car that has 14" rims now and I'll need 15" for the disc brake swap. My question is what tires should I use. I went to tirerack.com and looked at some opinions there but even if they have a good rating there are always plenty of people saying they are also not good. I want a good all season tire, 55,000 or 60,000 mile tire, 15 rim. I asked a guy at the local tire shop but he wasn't very helpful. he suggested 205-55-15 or a 225-55-16 with his suggestion being the 16" tire. I plan on using this just for cruising and driving a lot in the good months spring, summer and fall. Don't need anything fancy and don't want to pay an arm and a leg. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
12-22-2007, 02:35 PM
#2
6th Gear Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: MD/WV
Posts: 5,736
RE: what tires to use?
Seems alot of people think the BFGoodrich Radial T/A's are a good "bang for the buck" tire and look good on our cars. I plan on buying a set here soon, perhaps tax season haha. What year is your stang?
12-22-2007, 03:48 PM
#4
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Northernish Eastish Central Texas
Posts: 3,302
RE: what tires to use?
Radial TAs are great tires, but won't get the mileage he's looking for.
May want to look into these...
205/65HR15 Toyo Proxes TPT BW from www.wheelsforless.com
May want to look into these...
205/65HR15 Toyo Proxes TPT BW from www.wheelsforless.com
12-23-2007, 11:00 AM
#9
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Elk Grove, CA
Posts: 5,896
RE: what tires to use?
Radial T/A's look nice, and are pretty much the only option any more for white letter tires....but performance is meager at best. I have them on my 67fb because they look good, and I wish I had gone a different route.
The truth is, the tire design is OLD. They're not designed for performance, they're designed to look good. There are a lot of new tire technologies out there that these tires just don't incorporate.The market for them is so small that it's not worth it.
Dry traction is average. I don't imagine you'll be roasting tires with an I6, but cornering ability isn't that great either. The sidewalls are fairly soft so the tires roll over way too much, impairing handling ability. Wet traction is pretty horrible. I drive my car in the rain a lot (daily driver) and I hate it. I have to try really hard not to spin the tire taking off from a dead stop, there's a lot of understeer as the front tires break traction during a turn, power oversteer takes no more than a thought, and stopping is downright scary. I had to emergency stop in the rainonce to keep from plowing into a Miata that pulled out in front of me....and I just kept going. Fortunately I missed the Miata by about 2 feet, but it still scared the crap out of me. Now I try tokeep a really big gap between me and the next car while drivingin the rain.
I'm not saying the tires are the worst thing out there, but they're far from the best either. They'll probably work fine on an I6 car driven 'normally', but I certainly won't put them on my car again.
If you can find them in your size, I'd recommend a set of BFG G-force Sport tires for performance use. They're cheaper than the rest of the G-force line, but they're a much better performance tire than the Radial T/A's. Dry traction is much better, and they use a directional tread design for superior wet traction as well. Having driven several cars in the rain with and without directional tread tires, directional tread makes a huge difference. They won't look quite as snazzy as the Radial T/A's, but if you drive hard, traction is probably going to be a higher priority.
The truth is, the tire design is OLD. They're not designed for performance, they're designed to look good. There are a lot of new tire technologies out there that these tires just don't incorporate.The market for them is so small that it's not worth it.
Dry traction is average. I don't imagine you'll be roasting tires with an I6, but cornering ability isn't that great either. The sidewalls are fairly soft so the tires roll over way too much, impairing handling ability. Wet traction is pretty horrible. I drive my car in the rain a lot (daily driver) and I hate it. I have to try really hard not to spin the tire taking off from a dead stop, there's a lot of understeer as the front tires break traction during a turn, power oversteer takes no more than a thought, and stopping is downright scary. I had to emergency stop in the rainonce to keep from plowing into a Miata that pulled out in front of me....and I just kept going. Fortunately I missed the Miata by about 2 feet, but it still scared the crap out of me. Now I try tokeep a really big gap between me and the next car while drivingin the rain.
I'm not saying the tires are the worst thing out there, but they're far from the best either. They'll probably work fine on an I6 car driven 'normally', but I certainly won't put them on my car again.
If you can find them in your size, I'd recommend a set of BFG G-force Sport tires for performance use. They're cheaper than the rest of the G-force line, but they're a much better performance tire than the Radial T/A's. Dry traction is much better, and they use a directional tread design for superior wet traction as well. Having driven several cars in the rain with and without directional tread tires, directional tread makes a huge difference. They won't look quite as snazzy as the Radial T/A's, but if you drive hard, traction is probably going to be a higher priority.
12-23-2007, 11:47 AM
#10
6th Gear Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: MD/WV
Posts: 5,736
RE: what tires to use?
I was just looking on tirerack.com and there is another tire that may be an option. Still has the white letters that make the BFG's look good, 9 bucks cheaper a tire, and I dont know how good the charts are on the bottom of the page, but its better rated than the BFG's too, esp. in dry traction.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....peed_rating=(Y)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....peed_rating=(Y)