Tires!

stangxgirlie

Founding Member
Oct 5, 2002
64
0
6
New Jersey
Hopefully someone in this forum can help me. I need to purchase 4 new tires for my car and I have absolutely no clue as to what brand to go for. I was wondering if a few people could give me there recommendation. I have a 2003 Gt. Right now I have the gatorbacks. They are the 2nd set of tires I have owned and I dont think I will be purchasing them again. Please help. Thank you =)
 
I'm currently running BFG KDW's (the first gen ones with the more block looking design). Great tire IMO. They feel good in the corners, and did GREAT in the rain which was very important to me. Suck in the snow however. Also worth mentioning, I couldnt bark the tires going into 2nd for a loooong time after getting these. They need replaced (I'm gonna guess approx 30k miles), so they are starting to lose some of their grip now. I hear many complaints that they are noisy on the highway, but between my exhaust and moderate audio (I usually dont blast it, hurts my ears after a while), I hear no road noise. They do track in the road pretty bad sometimes though.

Overall good: Good in the corners, nice grip (pulled 1.9 60ft on these, stock size, stock susp), great in the rain. Seem to wear decent for a performance tire.

Overall bad: Suck the snow, track in the road badly at times, pricey.
 
Stock rims?

I went with 245/45 Nitto 555 for awhile, still have to 2 on the front thanks to a blowout on the rear. Great tire for the money, bought them from discouttire.com for $108 ea. but that was 2-3 yrs ago. With those tires I cut a 1.90 60' and like I said have had them on a while. Currently running the BFG KDW 2 on the rear w a 17x9 rim 255/40 tire and have not beat the sixty' foot that my worn out nittos ran and were about $50 cheaper ea.
 
The tirerack is the best place to go to figure out what tires you want. They have a multitude of customer and professional reviews to help you decide on the perfect tire to fit your price/performance needs.

I'm currently on my third set of summer tires. I've had the Gatorbacks, BFG KDWS, and am currently running a set of Dunlop Sport 9000. The Gators, and BFGs were awful. The BFGs were so bad in fact that I don't think I could ever bring my self to own another tire by that company. The Dunlops I've had for a few seasons now and they have been absolute joy.

Incidentally I'm also very happy with my winter tires also made by Dunlop.
 
My suggestion after using several manufacturer tires on my mustang is that the best all around tire is a Toyo TR1. I've raced with them up to 180mph and used them on the street for 20K miles. The are comfortable and are absolutely the best tire I have used. I'm comparing them against Kumho, Goodyear, Firestones. I have Kumho's on their now and they couldn't stick on hot tar.
 
Seriously though, why do people blow their money on "high performance" street tires? Your not going to get much traction with street tires anyway, so you might as well buy DR's for the track. $200 for BFG kdw2's is a JOKE.
 
Seriously though, why do people blow their money on "high performance" street tires? Your not going to get much traction with street tires anyway, so you might as well buy DR's for the track. $200 for BFG kdw2's is a JOKE.

You're right - there is absolutely no difference between Walmart brand tires and Goodyear F1 GS-D3's. :rolleyes:
While I agree, traction on the street is always limited to conditions, it's not all about going straight...some of us like the throw the car into corners above the posted speed limit without worrying about sidewall flex putting the car into the next lane unintentionally.
 
You're right - there is absolutely no difference between Walmart brand tires and Goodyear F1 GS-D3's. :rolleyes:
While I agree, traction on the street is always limited to conditions, it's not all about going straight...some of us like the throw the car into corners above the posted speed limit without worrying about sidewall flex putting the car into the next lane unintentionally.

Hah, well obviously walmart tires are going to suck ass compared to GY and BFG etc. And yes, my comment was directed towards drag racers. If drifting/auto X is your thing, then by all means, buy the good tires that will plant you to the road. I just don't understand why every one buys really expensive street tires so they have better traction to drag. If you really want traction, you need DR's, and good suspension.
 
thanks everyone =)

One thing you might want to try is to be more specific about the way you will use your tires and you should get more specific responses to your needs. Such as, do you drag race, road race or just do spirited driving. Also, what is your budget and do you drive year round in Jersey? I'm pretty sure anything will be an upgrade over the gator backs. I've had Fuzion ZRi's, kinda cheap, and they were not bad and now I have KDW's, not cheap, and I like them better.
Good luck with your choice. :flag:
 
+1 on the General exclaim UHP's. My dad has them on his 00 stang, and they seem to work great! Ill be buying some for my cars fronts very soon. What I want is wet traction, and they seem to work very well for that....alot better than my almost bald stock front tires.