online170

How many times have you bought a tire thinking it was wide, and then been disappointed with the width? Then you find out, your buddy's car who has 30mm smaller width looks pretty much the same.

Alot of tire companies vary in actual width for the SAME advertised width of tire. Im not certain how this is measured but the "width" were concerned about is the tread that actually touches the road when properly installed.

I was hoping the start this thread to get some information about what are the ACTUAL sizes for tires.

I opted to get 245/45R17 on 17x8.5 and 275/40R17 on 17x9.5 for my car, and because of budget decided to opt for Falkens as a best bang for buck tire. They were sort of disappointing. Looking for a wider tire for my next buy.

Goodyears seem to be some of the better ones, and same with BFG.

I will post some measurements when i get home, but if you can add to this thread, PLEASE DO!

RBob

iTrader: (1)

Very few tire manufacturers list the tread width. What is commonly listed is the section width. This is the widest portion of the tire once mounted on a rim. Of course the section width also varies with the same tire on different rim widths.

RBob.

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

Your back left looks great! Back right tho, I see what you mean
Falkens? I've never even heard of those... The BFG's aren't so hot though, I think firestone makes some good inexpensive tires though, according to tirerack at least...

online170

RBob, thanks for the info. I wasnt aware of that. I had read somewhere that most tire companies have a "specific" way to measure section width. ie: 1/2 way down from the trad and the bead or something like that.

I was looking at summit a minute ago, and comparing the section width vs. tread width. It seems the "better" tire companies list both, and they vary very little. But some of the cheaper brands dont. Ill see if can make a chart or something with comparison.

Sonix, those are the tires i had to change out because they were cracked and weathered badly. The left are Goodyear Eagles 285/40/17 and the right ones are motomaster. 195/70/14.

Also, Falken is a pretty big name (now anyways). They are more popular in the import market, and are a huge competitor in the "drift world".

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

ah, that explains why i've never heard of them....

Those goodyear eagles were cracked and worn out? huh, I can't tell from that pic. Those look WIDE enough for me!

Have you bought the wheels/tires yet?

online170

Yea i had known about them because i loved their big block 69 camaro drift car, which ahnialated everything.

You cant see the cracks in the pic, u had to be up close. They were EVERYWHERE. Its too bad cuz they were basically unused. Dryrot....

I have already bought the tires, mounted and balanced. Ill shoot some pix when im done the paint. for only being 10mm skinnier, they are quite different.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (15)

i have BFG's, they are probably the widest for any given size, and i think eagle is also wide, sumitomo or however you speel it is a very narrow tire, their 315's are about a 285 by other standards.

I find that eagles performance tires dont last long, had them on my truck and only got about 25000 miles out of them, neither do BFG's but they both work quite well.

Im currently running BFG's gforce TA KDW's. 335/30/18 and 245/40/18, they are every bit as wide as they advertise, if not a tad wider.

Guest

Bfg KDW 245 50 16's are narrower than most other brands.

Goodyears do seem to have the widest footprint overall amounst their different styles.

I do not know where people in this thread are getting their comparisons from but BFG are narrow.
----------
Here....Judge for yourself. I like to post facts. Here is a comparison of BFG KDW and Goodyear GS-D3 tires BOTH the exact same size of 245-50-16 on the same car and same wheel. Top one is the KDW of course.


http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...2_135_full.jpg


I will further add "my opinion" as to tire performance, I can not stand the KDW, crappy tire compared to the Goodyear GS-D3. Not even in the same league.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (15)

i could not find a 245 50 16 by bfg in the kdw?

i will say that the eagles are wide tires, they are a good inch wider than the current tire i have on my truck despite being of the same size.

vetruck, you seem to have some knowledge here so i wont argue with you im just speaking of what ive seen. i dont think you could say the bfgs are "narrow", they are what they advertise, unlike my example of sumitomo, who advertise a size and the tire is nowhere near it.

I dont race my car, honestly i chose bfg because they had the size i wanted and look cool, maybe a questionable method of choosing a tire but it works, and the tires perform quite well, IMHO.

they look pretty darn close in the pic too, cant be more than a 1/4" difference if that.

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

all the reviews i read on summitomo's *sp?* and nitto's run abit smaller than advertised. like a 315 summi is actually closer to a 285-295 tire

Guest

They are discontinued now in that size. BFG has basically changed the label to more of a sport utily tire for trucks and have the funky 2nd gen tire tread pattern on them for looks.

The tires I have pictured on my Camaro where as follows:
top one in pic-BFG KDW 245 50 16 with a section width of 9 5/8" on a 8" wheel and a 8 5/8" contact patch @ 38 psi

The botoms one is Goodyear GS-D3 245 50 16 with a section width of 10 1/4" on the same 8" wheel and a contact patch of 9 3/8" @ 49 psi fronts (hot) and 46.5psi rears (hot temp)

Difference in picture is 5/8" in section width and 3/4" contact patch with the wider one on a higher tire pressure even which would tend top make it narrower the higher PSI.

The first time I drove on those BFG's at higher speeds (I had already heat cycled them a few times at surface street speeds) they went to hell on me right at 88 mph and I actually slowed down thinking I lost pressure in a tire. They just go walking about above that speed with poor high speed stabilty compared to other upper end tires in that size. I have ultimately had them up to the 139mph max this car does a few times over the last few years they have been on it- I bitch every time I drive the car I can not stand the BFG tires.

I had a truck of mine redently up to 148 with sport truck tires on it (Yokohama Advan ST's) which are a moderate perfomance tire (I run 285-50-18 fronts, and 295-45-19 rears) and the truck felt much more stable at that speed then the Camaro which should not happen. Albeit the truck is built, but still an areodynamic brick. I have had this Camaro upwards of 130 many times in years past and never had the stabilty problems these BFG's yeild- they wander.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (15)

now that you mention it, i have noticed that, thought it was a suspension issue. Hmmmmm. i guess i will be looking into sometihng different when these are worn out.

Guest

Yep...Me too

I am so sold on the GS-D3. That was a great tire. It had a little slop in driver imput on turn in, but you get used to it knowing it is in fact there and comes right back to feel. I very slight no-mans-land feeling but trust me, the set and hold. Ride very nice also. A very meaty stable feel.

BFG is making a new tire now : Super Sport A/S

I do not expect any good reveiws from it and certainly am not going to buy it unless it gets tested by others that I trust. I bought the BFG KDW tires off of this wwebsite recommendations and they absolutely have been disappointing. The new BFG A/S tires have some bs 3 rubber coumpound that I just do not see working for performance needs. They are a hard overall rated compound with a TW of 400- Thats not a true performance tire. Rubber is most the grip, not just tread design. Tread design does not help grip, tread design helps LESSEN the loss of grip due to tread.

vwdave

Are the Gs-D3's the Goodyear Eagle F1's that have a huge V design? I had about 8-10 of those on my VW and I hated them. The 2-3 that did manage to wear out before blowing out, splitting, bubbling, and every other form of failure. They seemed to last 7-9k miles and that was it.

I must admit, they have great rain grip. Everything else sucked. The KDW's lasted longer, had better dry grip, stable as a rock at 140, I will gladly put these on my camaro when the time comes.

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

My firend put Falken's on his Pinto (and before you laugh its a pinto with a 351 in it.... to say the least ) anyway the Falken's hook up real good even running 32 PSI .... i think he has 225/50/15 on the back and 195/55/15 up front

i cant find the Falken's in my size in the back, 235, 245, or 255/60/15
im running stockers up front (215/65/15)

online170

Falkens do have decent grip. Although i havent tested it, its DEFINATELY the "softest" tire ive touched. You can feel the stick just by running your hand over it. They also only last about a year depending on how you drive. Thats why they are so cheap. This isnt an issue for me, because i dont race the car often, its mostly a "cruiser".

As for the KDW's ive only ever heard about them amongst freinds. Not from first hand experience, but people always rave about the grip for the amount they last. My bro's 83 grand prix has the 245/50R16 on his car, and they seemed decent on the test drive. But i dont know what to think.

As for vwdave, those are not Eagle F1s. The Eagle F1s are the ones i have in my pic at the very top.

Vetruck, seems like you know what youre talking about at the very high speeds, but how do you like the GS-D3's performance on regular (spirited) driving.?

Guest

The car I had them on did not of course have any kind of raw power so acceleration traction I can not give any coment on. I could not get them to spin on the car for nothing even in the rain, But I did not really try to powerbrake the car or any stunt like that- senseless in a V6 road car. Dry braking is phenomenal, dry lateral traction is phenominal. Wet traction is unbelieveable-

I would do things on these tires that a car should not do. It does not rain much in So Calif, but we will occationally get a flash flood downpoor that our roads and freeways can not handle (rivers going accross the freeway- one for instance is the 57fwy northbound in between Imperial Hwy and Lambert rd. There is a river that forms about 1-2" deep accorss the fwy on very rare and extremely heavy downpours. Cars hit this and spin at 45mph. I actually went into that once at about 60 knowing this car handles but expected a little hydroplanning and positioned myself in the center of lane1&2 for darting as I crossed into its diagonal path and was expecting it to do well but still hydro a little. It cut right through the water it was so incredible. I have been driving for years (I am semi old) and I know a car should have hydroed in that seneio and was amazed it did not break 1 bit of traction that I actually truned into the next one with full throttle at about 70 +- Got my *** in throuble with the wife at that time, but had some fun testing tires.

I praise the GS-D3. Great tire. I bought them 1 month after they debuted so I do not know if they have changed things, but the set I had rendered zero problems and I got about 25,000 hard miles out of them with a few road course laps as well as a few autox laps in that duration.

RacerX13

The tire rack lists all the dimensions of all their tires on the site, but I don't know whether or not to trust them. There is another thread here regarding the 275/40/17 Sumitumo HTR-Z tires being way small compared to other brands in the same size. I am ready to order some of those tires in a 245/50/16 since they seem to be an "acceptable" autocross tire and they're dirt cheap, but I'm now wondering if I need to get the 255/50/16's to actually get the proper size tire. I'm actually more concerned about them being too short more than too narrow, but since tires in this range aren't really too big for these cars I don't want to give up too much of either. Does anyone have a set of these?

Guest

Spec chart off their website. Your best bet if noone answers if to figure the actuall difference of the size you do know, and figure about the same difference for the 245-50-16

http://www.sumitomotire.com/theline/chart.asp?id=7

Zepher

iTrader: (1)

315/35/17 Sumitomo HTR-Z. these are much skinnier than a BFG.





and mounted onto the front,

Reid Fleming

iTrader: (2)

I replaced the Goodyear GS-D3 tires on the GTA with some Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires back in November. The new Pilots are waaaaay narrower than the old Goodyears. Both are the same size (245/50/16)

Here is an old picture of the GS-D3 (245 width) next to a Firehawk Wide Oval (295 width)



I should try and take some pictures of the Pilot Sport A/S from the same angle.