Buying tires soon, need some advice

1990LXDropTop · May 23, 2005

I'm going to be buying new tires soon so I can finally get my welds on my car. The problem is I don't know which size would suite me best. I'm going to be running 15x8" with 5.5 back spacing in the rear, and 15x5" welds in the front. Which size tires would be best for both the front and rear? I was looking into running Nitto555 275/50/15s in the rear, but I am afraid of significant rubbing issues because my car is lowered. However, I don't mind rolling the fender lips and loosing the quads if I must. But I'm afraid they'll still rub...

I need a good tire that will hook well and will get good wear. Which brand/size would be best for the fronts? Money is not an issue... If not 275/50's for the rear, then which brand/size??? The car is my spring/summer daily driver. Any help here would be great. Thanks.

You can see pics of how low my car is by clicking the link in my sig.

Bobert · May 24, 2005

I have a 185/65 on my on my 4" fronts, but they fit and look better on a 5". They're a little shorter than stock tires (only by about an inch) so the car has a mean stance with the slightly taller rear fatties.

I don't know what to tell you for sure about the rears, but a buddy of mine has those tires on a lowered GT (I'd say a hefty 2" drop) on Convo Pro wheels. Now maybe he needed more backspacing (don't know what it had), but he ate those tires up quick with all the rubbing. I'll ask him tomorrow what backspacing he had, maybe that was his problem. I had those tires on a stock ride height 89 GT with 15 x 8's (don't remember the backspacing) and had no problems.

Both our cars had the quad shocks taken off. I had no wheel hop because of South Side lowers, but he has severe wheel hop. May want to keep that in mind if you have to ditch the quads if you already haven't.

Aliate X · May 24, 2005

lol dude your car is a total sleeper right now. How does the crane cam with those heads sound? Any vids?

thinker · May 24, 2005

To give ya an idea, here's what I have dude. Fronts are 165/R15 tire (skinny) on a weld draglite series 90 15x3.5. Rears are 275/50R15 15x8 4.5 backspacing. I havent taken off the quads yet but I probably will (I have mm lower control arms so I should be ok). The rear tire is a BFG drag radial. The tire bites pretty well, I would probably go lower with the air pressure next time at the track. I ran my 14.20 on 11lbs of air and it was spinning launching at 2800rpm (2.20 60ft). Its a pretty gummy tire, it picks up every damn rock. Regardless of that its a good tire. If you want your rear tire to last longer, buy the nitto dr's. BUT if you want real bite, get 26x10.5 MT slicks OH and I had to roll my rear fenders a little bit because the tire kept rubbing when going up drive ways and when launching

1990LXDropTop · May 24, 2005

Aliate X said:
lol dude your car is a total sleeper right now. How does the crane cam with those heads sound? Any vids?

The cam is good. I kind of wish I went with a bigger cam, but oh well. It has a tendency to surge upon start up at times (it's the same cam as the e-cam), but overall I like it for the street. The idle sounds real nice for it's numbers. It has a nice lope to it.

cjman15 · May 24, 2005

go with Nitto DRs

deadlast · May 24, 2005

just wondering.. can you use DR's like BFG or nittos for every day driving? are they gonna wear out fast... bad wet traction what else?

Bobert · May 24, 2005

deadlast said:
just wondering.. can you use DR's like BFG or nittos for every day driving? are they gonna wear out fast... bad wet traction what else?

BFG 275/50 15 DR plus rain = unwanted donuts in the street from my experience. Wouldn't do it for an every day driver.

My buddy says his Nittos (same size) are fine in the rain, I have no experience with those tires though. The Nittos are supposed to last quite a bit longer than BFG's from what I've read, but both will wear out quite a bit faster than most radials.

I'd get an extra set of back rims to run them on when I wanted some more traction and use some regular ole radials for daily driving and smokey burnouts

1990LXDropTop · May 24, 2005

So 275/50 Nittos should be okay for me if I roll the fenders and ditch the quads? Will 195/60s be okay for the front?

maverick0716 · May 24, 2005

Keep in mind Nitto's won't hook as well as the BFG or MT drag radials.

Aliate X · May 24, 2005

maverick0716 said:
Keep in mind Nitto's won't hook as well as the BFG or MT drag radials.

IMO best thing to do is get Nittos for the street b/c they last, and just get MT ET Streets on another pair of rims for the track.

rd · May 24, 2005

I have 164R15's on front. The Capri has them on 15x5 in Weld Draglites, which work fine and I love them. The Mustang has 15x3 Centerline Convo Pros. Love them also, they do look narrower than the DL's. The Capri has 15x7 Draglites with the 4.5 bs and 225-60's with tons of clearance. The Mustang has 275-50-15 BFG Drag Radials on Convo Pros, which also work fine. Both cars are lowered 3/4 to one inch. I did roll the fenders on the Mustang and airbag the right rear to prevent rubbing on launches.

The BFG's look great!

Aliate X · May 24, 2005

BTW, my 275 nittos are awesome in the rain, no worse than my last tires, which were close to bald snow tires. They dont break traction unless you want them to.

goldsmjr · May 24, 2005

Hey all....I am also curious about buying new tires. I have steeda lowering springs, 17X9 Cobra r rims, and the quadshocks are still on there. I really like the look of the new Mickey Thompson ET street drag radial. The tire is brand new, and should compete with the BFG's and nitto 555's. My question is, do you think that 275/40/17's will fit on my car without rubbing?
Thanks
Jon

1990LXDropTop · May 24, 2005

maverick0716 said:
Keep in mind Nitto's won't hook as well as the BFG or MT drag radials.

Yes but the nittos also last 3 times as long and are much better in the rain. The car is my daily driver that sees the track a few times a year.

Michael Yount · May 24, 2005

Time for 'dad' to chime in. No way anyone should run skinnies on the street. Both handling and, more importantly, braking are SEVERELY compromised. It's the tires that stop the car, and on a Stang a good 85% of the stopping force is provided by the front tires. Running the small tires on front significantly increases braking distances - no way around it. Skinnies are fine at the track -- but no way they should be used on a street driven car. Too many crazy, unexpected things can happen causing you to have to do panic stops or extreme evasive manuvers. Any move like that is big time compromised when the tires on the front of the Stang are much smaller than what was intended.

Lose the skinnies on the street guys - for the rest of our safety. You need to be running at least a 205 section tire on the front - preferably not any smaller than the stock 225 section.

Off the soapbox.

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