F1Fan

Hi 1BAD3V,

You havethe Bright Machine Wheels in 17"x8"on your Mustang. I think that you may want to consider the fact that theremay be much better performance tires availablein235/55x17vs. 255/50x17.

Both of these sizes are going to be roughly the same overallheight but there are 3 bonafide performance tiresthat I know of in 235/55x17;Yokohama ADVAN Sport, Yokohama S.drive and the older but still grippy Dunlop SP Sport 9000. But none of these tires are any good in the cold and all will wear outpretty fast. For a more versatle tire you may want to consider a modern all-season tire like the new Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S or the aging but stillexcellent Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires. Both have grip as good or better than most UHP summer tires in thissize and have very low tire noisetread patterns, wear like iron and ride about 100% better. All of the 235/55x17's I drove on were on stock 8" wide wheels and had better steering response than the 255's below.

By comparison in a255/50x17 all I know of that are O.K. if not great are the Fuzion ZRi andKumho SPT's both of which I didn'tcare fordue totheir soft sidewalls and less than stellar steering response and BFG g-Force T/A KDWS all-season tireswhich are a good solid tire if a bit hard riding and noisy. Now these drives were all on 17"x8" OE wheels and while the 255/50x17 are very slightly wider I think that the 8" wide wheels did nothing to help these tires even though an 8" wide wheel is right in the middle of the useable wheel width range.

Wider is not always better when there are other limiting factors in play. Something to think about.

HTH!

EDIT: Somefolks I knowwith lighter weight, lower powered carsreally liked theirZRi and SPT tires when used withwheels on the widest end of the width range. They were not bad per se just uninspiring on an 8" wheel.