Norm Peterson

Quote:

Originally Posted by tx65coupe

I would rather have what is on the car now that anything bigger than 16s. If you go with some 15-16 inch torque thrusts, that would looks sweet.

Except for the not so small matter of poor availability of real performance tires in those diameters, in sizes appropriate for cars other than Toyota Corollas and Mazda Miatas/MX-5s.

If it's performance that you're really after, unfortunately it becomes a case where that must take priority over "conventional" appearance, which is ultimately based on memories of the way these cars looked "back in the day".


It's not that I like having to look at 17" & 18" tires either, not even for the newer cars in the driveway that came with those sizes as original equipment. But I won't sacrifice performance unless new tire technology abandons those diameters as well, goes to 20" and up, and leaves me stranded (again). If that happens, I guess I'll have to shop off the "second shelf". Maybe I'll be old enough to where it won't matter. Maybe.


Norm

Iskwezm

He's not looking for performance.He just likes to put his .02 in everytime somebody post that they want 17" wheels.

tx65coupe

I just said his car looks great as it is. You put your .02 in alot too. Alot of other people on here do the same thing too, and you don't give them crap. It seems that ever since you didn't like what I had to say about the illegal HID retrofitting, you have held it against me.

You guys are right that there are alot more performence tires to choose from for 17 inch wheels. There are a few for 16s. I know that performance tires in 15s are not so common, but a friend of mine just got an H rated directional tire on his 67 with 15s. I forgot what it is that he got though.

Iskwezm

I could give a rat *** about what you think about HID's or 17" wheels. I hold nothing against you, so dont get hurt.But for you to always knock somebody because you dont like anything other then your 14" steel wheels is old. If you dont have anything to add to a the thread, just butt out.Look at ANY wheel thread and you post the same thing over and over.

69mach1377

Cat fight...

tx65coupe

He said he was thinking about wheels and I just think that he should save his money for something else. I never knocked him for his ideas. I would put that money towards improvements on the car instead.

I may say that alot, but its always to different people not the same person.

Norm Peterson

An H-rated 15" tire is at best a 4th shelf tire. Even the V-rated BFG g-Force Sport is barely a 3rd shelf tire in 225/60-15 if you've got much power at all.

While you can expect most H-rated tires to be better than unrated P-metrics and T-rated all-seasons, and to represent a step up from mass-market bargain-basement replacement tires --- they're still at least three steps down from the better current performance tires.


Norm

retro77

This was a good article I used to come with the idea that 67 - 68 Mustangs look best on 17" wheels and the 65 - 66 Mustangs look best on 15 - 16" rims.

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/techar...fit/index.html

tx65coupe

I see what your mean, but how many people drive their cars like its a new Corvette?

What shelf are BFG Radial TA, Cooper Cobra, Goodyear Eagle GT etc?

I have BFG TA's and think my car handles fine for what it is. I have taken corners pretty hard in it and have had no issues.

Norm Peterson

Dunno, I can only speak for myself when I say that the car I'm in at the moment doesn't much matter, given that it is in good mechanical condition, and that my normal cornering is probably harder than that of 99% of the people you'll ever meet. Not dangerous, wild, in neighborhoods and such; there's an art to cornering hard, smoothly enough that you can get away with doing so without scaring the crap out of your passengers.

But some things are immediately apparent even driving a bit easier, differences in back to back driving showing the differences most clearly. I still remember having a "WOW" moment the first time I put a set of up-size bias-belted tires on one of my folks' car back when plain old bias-ply tires were the rule. 40 or so years ago when I was 21 or 22 . . .

I'd expect they'd end up on about the shelf below the g-Force Sports. g-Force Sports have good cornering and good acceleration/braking grip, but don't do very well when you ask them to do much of each at the same time. The Sports are not nearly as good as the significantly earlier Firestone SZ50 line of tires at letting you add throttle on corner exit, and that's why I can't rate them any higher than 3rd. Time was, the SZ50's were considered to be very good wet autocross tires, and still decent in the dry against newer tires.

There's a lot more to handling than what you can extract in steady-state cornering. Crispness of turn-in response and linearity to name a couple of items - are they slightly "sluggish" or do they go a bit numb, start plowing and shrieking back at you long before you've reached their peak? Or do they respond "right-now" and hang in there without getting sloppy?

Sometimes I really wish there was a uniform measure for "pretty hard" cornering, like there is for straightline acceleration.


Just a little more tire tech FWIW - it's only at the "H" and higher ratings where you are guaranteed to have a belt cap ply in the tread region which adds a little stiffness in addition to their primary job of controlling belt ply deformation due to higher centrifugal force at the higher speed ratings.



Norm