I just bought some new rims for my car http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/in...ROD&ProdID=480 and I was wondering what the best tire would be for that. Wheel size is 17x8. I want something with good wet weather traction. My last tires were good years and they honostly get terrible wet weather traction. I don't really care about the price too much as long as they are good and worth it.

 

I am running the Bridgestone Potenza RE960 AS Pole Postion. They have the highest ratings on all accounts that i could find. I drive my car in the rain unfortunalty and dont have problems. I have compared them to cheaper tires and they are amazing in comparison in the rain. Only thing I am not sure about with you is tire size.

 

II have the same problem, the wheels come tuesday, but I havn't a clue what size tires I need. I couldn't even find them on research yet. I guess I will have to wait for them to come and fnd out lol. That or if anyone else knows :-D.

 

Vette fronts might not be too bad; they're what, 275/40-17? I'm too lazy to get up and look at mine. Same size wheel though.

Mine are Pirelli PZero Nero; seem pretty good wet or dry.

 

Eagle GS-D3s awesome tires if you can get them in your size.

 

The only Goodyear tire I would buy for any vehicle. They're also what I run on the GTA.

 

I am always trying new tires, BUT, my next purchase is definately going back to another set of Goodyear GS-D3's. I loved that tire.

 

No doubt that the GS-D3 is a good tire. But the Bridgestone RE-01R is now supposed to be the tire to beat(if available in your size). No personal experience with either just noting what I have observed trackside.

I wouldn't put a 275 on a 8" wide rim that size is more suited for something in the 245 range. Personally Id get 9.5" versions which will be a better match for the 275 width tires.

 

I have driven many different tires and the Goodyear GS-D3's continue to impress me. I do not have personal experience with the Bridgestones.

-Schultzy

 

Michelin Pilot Sport All Seasons are great tires. My last car had them and I haven't found another all season high performance tires ( W speed rating) I used to work at a Costco tire shop and from what I learned from the tire shop manager and the classes that I went to Michelin tires are the best period.

 

Were the classes at all sponsered by michelin?? I know I have gone to several auto tech classes sponsered by various companys (snap on, mac, Standard, GM... ect) apparently all of them are the "best" at what they do at these classes.
Check out the Bridgestone RE960 AS Pole Postion as previously mentioned. It is a very high ranked tire (all season) and I can give nothing but good comments about it. I am not saying Michelin is bad, but I do realize how these tech classes work. Someone has to sponsor them and someone has to get the "best" awards at them, often it is the same people. Mine are Z rated, although in the smaller sizes they are H rated. Personally the ratings to me dont mean much but to some they do.

 

Goodyears F1 all season tire beat them.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=87

AND Goodyears F1 GS-D3 will easily out perform GoodyearsF1 all season tire hands down. Its a much stickier tire. Factual skidpad testing rates this tire at 0.96g's on their BMW 330i testcar.

That pole position is an overrated touring car tire with a hard compound 400 treadwear- its not sticky.

I would highly recommend you try a set of GS-D3's. Matter of fact, I have the higher ever recorded g rating I have ever seen anyone post for a street car on normal 200+ treadwear (Non "R" ratetires- In other words non racing rubber). I documented a 1.07 g's on a skidpad with my Camaro on these GS-D3's.

TO further this discussion. I fell into the trap of trusting mass recommendations two years ago on how great the BFG KDW tire is. What a peice of crap that tire has been. Is not even in the same league as the GS-D3. It is because of posts like these with people contributing thier opinions as "theirs is the best" just because they have it is why I waste my money on such crap as the BFG's. I post factual hard tested opinions, and I am not affraid to tell you what I currently own is crap so others can use this info to their advantage. Thanks to the trusting people posting their cvomments that cause me to waste my money trying their opinions.

Buy Goodyear GS-D3's I endorse them with factual findings.

 

My apologies, I had seen other reports of it being very good so i gave it a shot, the price isnt horrible... although its not the cheapest. I guess Ill give those Goodyears a run for the money in a couple thousand miles.

 

I guarantte you won't. This is a picture of the grip in my Camaro at autocross with 25,000 miles already on a 2 1/2 year old set of GS-D3's. This is also already 55 seconds into the 64 sec lap. Street tires will get greasy and go away from high core heat in about 20-30 seconds into an autox run.

Look at this grip still even after core heat was breached- yes they were slipping here, but I am leaned completely out of the seat. I had to put better seats in his car to hold me in place.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...es-autox18.jpg

 

For a 245 17 a very good tire is the Falken Azenis RT615. They are the most popular tire for street tire classes in autocrossing. They are decent in the rain not great but in the dry they corner very well.

 

Alright, my wheels finally arrived today they are 17x8. Now I am most likely going to go with the Goodyear Gs-D3, but the question now is what should i make the tire size. It looks like it will be best suited 235,45,17, 245,45,17, or 255,45,17. What tire size do you guys think would fit best for these wheels?

 

I would use 255/45/17 in the rear and 245/45/17 on the front. I think some people would prefer 235 or even 225 up front.

 

They will likely come with a max load rated at 50PSI, don't make my mistake and underinflate them. I couldnt imagine they needed to be inflated that high but I ended up running them at 45 if memory serves.

I have a set of Nitto 555 drag radials, at least on the street the Eagles out launch them. I have never run the Eagles at the track allthough I'm tempted. I like doing smokey burnouts and I'd feel like I'm killing puppies if I did that on my Eagles.

 

Stay away from BFG KDWS. They are crap.

I'm happy with my Nitto NT450's

 

Goodyear GS-D3. Good on dry and wet pavement.

 

Just finished working on a 2006 lingenfelter corvette. It had goodyears on them but I don't remember what kind, they were high performance summer tires. Those things were crap. The car had a very hard time hooking up. The vehicle came back a day later for some more electrical issues. ( headlight issues) And the corvette now has michilien Pilot Sport 2s on the car. What a difference. Those ps2s are great. I also found out that they are the only tires that go on lingenfelter stock. no idea why the owner had goodyears on them. The hennesy vipers also only come with ps2s on them. all those cars have over a 1000 horsepower too.
Just a thought.

 

Well if you knew tires you'd probably know and not posted what you did because the ones on the Corvette you discribed are the notorious Goodyear so called "Supercar tire" that is terrible. Its a well know fact that Goodyear tires are terrible in general because they use a very long lasting rubber compound on most of their tires..WHy?...Because when you pay overprice for tires from Goodyear dealers, people at the very least expect them to last a long time. Goodyear finally went against that thought and brought out the GS-D3 and priced it lower at first to see if it would catch on. It did and now they sell for about $60 more per tire then when debuted. They finally nailed it.

THe p2 tire does not come in the factory 16" size for F-body 3rd gens Nor the 15's. Great if you decide to upgrade wheels but the car and suspension factory was designed and accepts these smaller wheel sizes so we try and keep the discussion to what fits a 245-50-16. Otherwise, there a several tires as good if not better than the GS-D3 but are much wider,lower aspect, and a whole lot more expensive.

 

Let's not.How about instead, let's pay attention to the question the OP actually asked.

 

Yes I rechecked and I am wrong, My bad.

 

Has anyone had any experience with the Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval? They look like they may be the same tire, or very similar to the Bridgestone RE750.

 

If it is, stay away. I have some RE750's and they suck. I'd rather try out the Duracell Bunny's BFG KDW's than go with RE750's ever again. Worst tire I've had on these cars bar none.

Yoko ES100 is another option.

 

What kind of power are you pushing? What do you do (autocross, 1/4 mile ect)? How much do you want to spend?

For a good priced all around wet or dry v-tread tire I recommend the Fuzion ZRi its a real nice tire for the price, and almost guarentee it comes in your sizes. I would recommend like 235-45-17 on the front and 255's on the rear. However, that is only if the rear diameters match the stock ones close enough to keep the speedo nice.

 

Running a tire calculator, it seems your best size in change from the stock 245/50/16 is a 245/45/17. It's .04 inches larger in diameter than the stock, but will do you just fine. The next closest set would be 275/40/17, but that's really suited for a wider wheel than 8". I'd be looking fo 245/45/17 if I were you.

 

Hehe, ya, we started getting a little off topic here. I'm just an everday driver that wants nice looking tires that get awesome wet traction, and awesome dry traction (since i live in florida). My wheel size is 17x8. So far, it looks like I am going to get 245x45x17 on all four because I want to be able to get good life on them because I'm a college student driving around 10-12k miles a year. So far the size above seems to be the best, and the G5-D3 looks like the best tire for my rims. Unless someone can justify another one that would be better for my situation that is my choice at the moment. :-P but i'm pretty convinceable if someone posted otherwise, but this is just what everyone has been pretty much going on from the start. Price I'm not going to worry about, I'm not rich, but I'm not a person who cares about spending a little extra to have something a little nicer. I agree with the duracell greatly though, I'm using goodyears now and I honostly was not going to buy another set until I read about the G5-D3's. (PS my old rims are 15" and my old tire size is 215x65x15, and it looks like to the tire calculator that the closest match seems to be 245/45/17. As for power I'm not doing much yet, maybe in the future, but not right now. At the moment i'm on a 305 TBI in my 1992 firebird.)

 

If you want awesome wet and dry traction, you are going to need more expensive tires.

I always used BFG KDW's and they work awesome... until it rains. Also, they were out much quicker than I would like. After a lot of searching around and experimenting with different tires, I have decided to break down and spend the money on Michelin Pilot Sports. They will be cheaper in the long run because you won't have to replace them as often as the budget performance tires.

 

GS-D3s are better wet than many tires are dry.

 

The best all around tire hands down is the michelin pilot sport N1 or N2. Read all the reviews youd like, www.tirerack.com , Ive worked in the tire business for 3.5 years now and if you want a performance tire that will last (unlike nitto and yokahama and kumho) go with Michelin pilot sports. PERIOD

Dont be scared of the price:
As said above, when you consider purchasing a cheaper set of tires twice within the lifespan of the michelins...THE MICHELINS ARE CHEAPER!!!!

 

The thing I do not like about the Michelin Pilot Sports is there unpredictable loss of traction. The hold grip great-yes- but once they loss grip, they lose it suddenly without warning. You can not hold the car on edge as well with confidence. All the grip in the world will not matter when you can not feel the breaking point.

 

Cant say I've noticed that 'feature' on my current set of now unavailable (in 245/50/16's) pilot sports. Come to think of it... I remember them getting noisy on the edge, they're usually very quiet. Cant say if there was any change in feel associated with that. I cant remember what the breakaway was like.

I can say the Bridgestone RE750's are predictable once the car stops swaying back and forth from sidewall flex... thats if you get that far with them. Most sane people probably slow down at that point.

So far my Yoko ES100's are wearing fine... but its not on a thirdgen so I dont have a direct comparison. With how I beat on them they should have been done 10k ago though.