In the next month or so I will be getting a new set of tires for my '04 GT (mods in signature). The car had Nitto Invos on it when I got it, 295/35/18 in the rear 265/35 in the front. The tread was already pretty low when I got it so I don't really have much to go off of.

Around the same time as getting the tires put on I'm going to be installing full length subframe connectors, Maximum Motorsports Extreme Duty weight jacker lowers, and Baseline Street Outlaw uppers (have been sitting in my living room for almost two months waiting to go on).

I've been eyeing the Continental ExtremeContact DW. Seems they are very popular with the Corvette crowd and most people think they are a very good balance of traction and treadwear. It also seems a lot of these reviews come from people who are daily driving though. My car is just a weekend car. In the year that I've been driving it I don't think I've even cracked 2,000 miles. Given that, most drives consist of some spirited driving (straight line, no hard corners really).

Considering the amount of driving these tires would see, my driving style, and my desire for traction, do you think I would be better off looking into drag radials like the nt05 (just as an example)? If I could get 5,000-6,000 good traction miles out of a set I think I would be happy. If so, what tires would you recommend and why?

 

If you don't drag race, drag radials serve no purpose. I have the conti's on my 2012 v6 and the are a super tire. Decent traction in the summer and can handle a few inches of snow in the winter. Drag radials just aren't a good choice for a street car that never sees a drag strip. They suck in the rain and anything below 45 degrees!

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention I plan to make a couple trips to the strip per year.

This thing doesn't get driven in the rain or in the freezing cold, so that's kind of a non-issue. Also, I'm looking to get as much traction as I can with my new suspension setup, so I would hate for the tire to be the significantly limiting factor in the whole equation...

 

Based on your driving habits and the fact that the car sees limited use, I would go with the drag radials. You can get 10k out of a set and they will hook better than any summer tire on the market.

 

For what it's worth, I ended up going with the Nitto NT05 in 295/35/18 and 265/35/18 (same sizes I'm running now). As I said, I don't really get the car out in the rain, nor is it driven in the winter, so I'm not super worried about wet or extremely cold traction. Also tread life isn't a HUGE concern as the Continental's in all actuality would probably dry out before they wore out with how much my car gets driven.

Should be in Wednesday or Thursday. I also plan to install my new suspension components next week, so I'm extremely anxious to feel the change from stock control arms and bald tires to awesome suspension and NT05s!