Replacement tires for stock Pirellis on 2005 GT

05PhillyStang

Member
Oct 28, 2004
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I need to replace my Pirelli P Zero Nero ZR17 on my 2005 GT. I need these tires to be all season, as I will not have dedicated tires for summer/winter driving. As you can see by my name, I am from Philly and need tires that can handle Northeast winters.

I like the Pirellis but they tend to feel a bit mushy around tight curves. I know that I have to sacrifice some things if I want all seasons, but what do you guys recommend? I don't race, but do like "spirited driving," especially on the twisties.

I am considering getting OEMs and also the following:

Goodyear Eagle GT All Season

Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season

Michelin Pilot All Season

Thanks in advance
 
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Do you have 17" or 18" rims? I am not sure if it makes a difference, but could be good info. Have you checked out the "tire and wheel" combinations listed on the S197 sticky at the top of the S197 forums? I am shopping for tires as well, and tirerack.com has the BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDWS on sale for $84. I have these on the car right now, and sure, I guess they are good enough. It is hard to justify spending more on another tire, but it is boring to just go and get exactly what you already have.
 
For what its worth, I had a set of Continental ContiExtreme Contacts on my '03 GT and they did quite well in the snow. I live in Central Ohio, so we do get some snow. I just got my '08 in April, so can't render an opinion there yet
 
TireRack has test results for all of the tires you're interested in. You may be surprised that the Pirelli's are top rated when compared to the Goodyear F1's and the Michelins for dry weather driving performance. However, the others are better performers on wet roads, and also rated slightly higher for driving in light snow(all are rated about the same for driving in heavy snow).
 
Is there a site where I can see similar tests of tires like Nittos. I'd like to replace my stock tires with some nitto 555s all around but I dont know if that would be a big mistake during the winter with snow.
 
Yep, using Nitto 555's in the snow would definitely be a huge mistake. They are classified as ultra performance summer tires, and that implies NG in the snow. If they were rated as ultra performance all season M+S, then you would be in better shape, although it would still be dicey driving in snow even with that spec.
I once owned a 94 Ford Probe GT that had high perf summer tires, and got stuck more than once in the snow. And that was a FWD car.
 
For what its worth, I had a set of Continental ContiExtreme Contacts on my '03 GT and they did quite well in the snow. I live in Central Ohio, so we do get some snow. I just got my '08 in April, so can't render an opinion there yet

I think I saw these for like $198 each. I don't mind spending more for better tires, but more than double?

TireRack has test results for all of the tires you're interested in. You may be surprised that the Pirelli's are top rated when compared to the Goodyear F1's and the Michelins for dry weather driving performance. However, the others are better performers on wet roads, and also rated slightly higher for driving in light snow(all are rated about the same for driving in heavy snow).


I did see this. The Pirellis do slip a good bit in the rain. I've noticed that they're not too bad in snow.

But like an earlier poster mentioned, it's kind of boring to go with what you already have

Decisions, decisions
 
I have the F1s and I'm very happy with them. Haven't had a chance to drive in snow yet, but the wet traction seems better than the stockers were on dry pavement. Then again, when I was shopping for tires, it was a toss up between the F1 and P Zero Neros. The F1 was on sale at the time.
 
So I decided to go with the Goodyear Eagle F1 tires. I picked the car up last night and within an hour, it was raining. I didn't really get a chance to put the tires to the test but they seem to have good wet traction.

The stock Pirellis lasted me 34,675. Not bad. I'll report back after a few thousand miles to see how the Goodyears are going