What tires are good for a base model ‘07 v6?

SJF92

Member
May 19, 2020
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Maryland
Hey friends new to the forum and wanted to poke someone’s brain who might know more about this than I do. I have a 2007 4.0L auto v6. The stock tires are a P215/65R16. I upgraded a couple years ago to a 17”x8” rim with 225/60r17 and it’s time for new tires! I’ve spent the last few days researching and learning about tires but still can’t make up my mind. If my math is correct because of the 1” increase in rim size I loose 25mm in aspect dimension of the tire... so in theory the biggest tire I should be able to go is a 255/45r17 which would match perfectly as stock but just be super-wide and possibly affect ride comfort. I don’t drive this thing like a psycho any more and don’t really think I need a performance tire. I just want something that will last a long time, is quiet-ish, and can do straight-line daily driver highway driving well, a grand touring tire maybe? Ballin’ on a budget and would like something reasonable (80-110$ range, I’ll shop for clearance and specials if I have too!) but I can be convinced to spend a little more if it’s a good set of tires that I can get 70k+ out of. So my options/questions are as follows.

1) Stick with the 225/60?
2) Revert back to a “stock” size (with a 215 width the closest is an aspect of 55 on a 17” rim)
3)Get as big a tire as possible, 255/45r17, hoping it’ll be “better”
4) get something in the middle, 235/50r17?
5)some other size I’m not considering, the current 225/60 is technically about 20mm oversized but I haven’t had problems with it...
6)how does load index affect ride comfort (lowest I can go is an 89 I think)
7)speed index... its a v6 and in very very rare occasions will hit 90mph Highway... do I have to get an tire with an H rating or higher or does this not matter (some tires I’ve considered are T rated ~115mph but I will never in a million years be going that fast on a public road, the car maxes out at like 120ish when I was a young dumb teen)

I’m not exactly sure how a bigger tire is better. Better traction/breaking and straight line driving but harder to turn? Also will tires with lower aspect and more rubber make more noise and have less ride comfort or will this not matter if I stay in the touring tire category? Not sure, lots of considerations. Insight is greatly appreciated!
 
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Mine has 20 X * KMC Rockstars with Nitto 255/35-20 on them. That's what it came with when I bought it. As is to be expected with 20 inch rims and low profile tires, it rides kind of rough. Rough surface irregularities make it want to wonder at times. Handles great on a twisty curvy road though.

Yeah, it's a V-6 model. Not that you can tell after all I've done to it. LMAO!! Need to post new pics soon. Have all new lighting, smoked all around with led sequencing tail lights and led third brake light. Took some last weekend but they didn't turn out too great.
 

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Mine has 20 X * KMC Rockstars with Nitto 255/35-20 on them. That's what it came with when I bought it. As is to be expected with 20 inch rims and low profile tires, it rides kind of rough. Rough surface irregularities make it want to wonder at times. Handles great on a twisty curvy road though.

Yeah, it's a V-6 model. Not that you can tell after all I've done to it. LMAO!! Need to post new pics soon. Have all new lighting, smoked all around with led sequencing tail lights and led third brake light. Took some last weekend but they didn't turn out too great.
Wow yeah looks gr
Mine has 20 X * KMC Rockstars with Nitto 255/35-20 on them. That's what it came with when I bought it. As is to be expected with 20 inch rims and low profile tires, it rides kind of rough. Rough surface irregularities make it want to wonder at times. Handles great on a twisty curvy road though.

Yeah, it's a V-6 model. Not that you can tell after all I've done to it. LMAO!! Need to post new pics soon. Have all new lighting, smoked all around with led sequencing tail lights and led third brake light. Took some last weekend but they didn't turn out too great.
I’ve heard good things about Nitto 555’s but I want more of an all season touring tire that’ll last a long time, I’d rather not have to get summer and winter tires.
 
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Well, I have an old 98 Ranger for bad weather. The Mustang stays in a garage, along with my Lightning and two bikes when the weather is bad. My Lightning has Nitto NT555R's on the back. They had a sticker on them warning not to drive in weather 15 degrees or less. But the regular 555's I believe are good all around tires. This car was driven by a guys daughter, to high school and back, all year. In Oklahoma. Yeah, we have bad weather here. The car has the hail dents to show for it. That's going to be fixed here soon. I was just waiting for it to get warmer and nicer weather before having the local body shop some PDR on it for me.
 
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No they are 17”x8”


My wheels are 18"x8". My Mustang came with 235/50-18 tires. When they wore out I bought some 255/45-18 tires. I feel they are a little too wide of a tire for a 8 inch wide wheel. I'm going back to the factory size of 235/50-18 as my old tires wear out. The front tires have been changed back to the factory size and will be changing the rear tires back to factory size at the end of summer.

I wouldn't go wider than a 235 tire on an 8 inch wide wheel. Plus the 235 tires are a lot cheaper than the 255 tires :).
 
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I don't know about the 18 inch rims. Mine are 20's which it came with. I had to do some searching to find out what kind of rims they are and what is available. The widest 20 inch KMC Rockstar rim is eight inches. Mine came with 255/35's. They don't look too wide at all on my application, matter of fact, look like I could run a 265/35 easily.

Notice in the pics there is no excessive bulge there.

Here is the link to the KMC rims, which you can see, eight inches is the widest available. Scroll down to see the widths.

 

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Yeah I think the biggest I can go is somewhere around 255/55 would be about the similar height to what I have now and I do agree you could probably still get away with a 265/35 especially on a 20” rim. For my little 17” tho I will probably stick with 235s because of price and I’m just not sure how going bigger would look on 17s. I think and shop for those Nitto 555 A/S tires and maybe just creep up 10mm every couple years til I find out how big is too big lol
 
Also t
I don't know about the 18 inch rims. Mine are 20's which it came with. I had to do some searching to find out what kind of rims they are and what is available. The widest 20 inch KMC Rockstar rim is eight inches. Mine came with 255/35's. They don't look too wide at all on my application, matter of fact, look like I could run a 265/35 easily.

Notice in the pics there is no excessive bulge there.

Here is the link to the KMC rims, which you can see, eight inches is the widest available. Scroll down to see the widths.

This is a little off topic but what is the color code for that shade of blue? Is it a factory ford color? Going to be repainting blue stripes on mine at some point here in the next year or so and that looks nice I’d like to write it down so I don’t forget when I start looking at paint.
 
On my Ranger, I run 255/60's on 15 X 8 rims. They bulge pretty big time. Must be the higher profile causes bulges. I don't mind it, kind of like the look on that particular truck, since I have 205/70s on the front.

My Lighting, I have 305/45-18 NItto NT555R's on 9.5 inch stock rims out back, and 225/60-18s on cut down stock rims, narrowed to 7.0 inches, up front. I have two extra rims, and am going to have them widened to 11.5 inch so I can run 345/35-18s out back.

The Mustang is likely to be the only vehicle I own with the same size tires front and rear. LOL!