Eastern Members - Tire decision- Firestone vs BFgoodrich vs General

im looking to get a new set of tires for my new rims and im having a hell of a time making up my mind. i bought the 0E deep dish 17X9.5 and 18X10.5 wheel package so im looking for 275/40/17 up front and 295/35/18 in back. id really like to keep all 4 tires the same which is why the General Exclaim UHP and Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval are leading. the generals im worried about having to soft sidewalls since thats what im hearing in the review. Firehawks seem to be the best overall decision but the pricest as well. the other option im looking at are BFgoodrich g-force sports up front and T/A KDW2 in the back. the sports have good reviews but the KDW2 are notorious for being noisy as hell but have an awesome looking tread pattern. the wheels will probably see all of 5 thousand miles a year so tread wear is not a concern. broken down in dollars
Firestone Firehawk= $863 shipped from Tirerack (plus $50 Home Depot card-hey every bit helps :smokin2:)
General Exclaim UHP= $691 shipped from Tirerack (plus $50 Visa gift card)
BFgoodrich g-force sports/ KDW2= $798 shipped from Discount tire (ill have to see if i can get the $70 rebate but i doubt it)
thanks,
Bill

Get Nitto drags for the back, you won't regret it!!! I have NT555s on the front, got them for $300 shipped on eBay for the pair.

hey alex
i got MT dr's on my 16's for the track so i have no excuses now. i was looking for a street tire but ill put them on the list. nitto doesnt make a DR in 295/35/18 as far as i could find but they do have a summer tire, NT05. any experiences anybody?

I can't say enough good things about Wide Ovals. I currently have them on my car and they can handle nearly every corner you throw at them. Definitely one of the best bang for the buck tires.

NT05 is a little more aggressive compound than the NT555s, I believe it is geared towards the autocross crowd, that might be a good choice. Depends on how much traction you want I guess. Regular NT555s on the back didn't cut it for me so I went with the DRs.

well i think you talked me into the Nittos since thats exactly what im looking for (auto-x, road race tire) i have way to many sets of rims ATM so ill try the nittos on these and maybe do the BFG's or Firehawks on my 17's and see how they compare after i hit the lottery :bang:

The NT05s are very new, I don't really know much about them except that the treadwear rating is 200, which is exactly halfway between the DRs (100) and the regular 555s (300). Try doing some searching and see if you can find any feedback on them. I would assume if they are made for AutoX they would probably have a stiff sidewall.

searching has pretty much told me they are a good "street" tire for auto-x like the Falken RT-615 and to expect 10-15k out of them. stiff sidewall is fine for me since ill be driving on the street with these. maybe ill look at the Nittos for my spare 17's when it comes time to replace them and go with a street tire for these. those damn 295/35's are killing tire choices compared to the 275/40/17 so id probably better off putting longer lasting street tires on. the search continues lol

searching has pretty much told me they are a good "street" tire for auto-x like the Falken RT-615 and to expect 10-15k out of them. stiff sidewall is fine for me since ill be driving on the street with these. maybe ill look at the Nittos for my spare 17's when it comes time to replace them and go with a street tire for these. those damn 295/35's are killing tire choices compared to the 275/40/17 so id probably better off putting longer lasting street tires on. the search continues lol

I would have thought you could get more life than that out of the NT05s, I've read that that's what people are getting out of the DRs. The other thing that occurred to me is that if you go with an autoX oriented tire on 18s with so little sidewall your car might ride like an empty dump truck. FWIW if you are after good handling, Sam Strano, the resident suspension/autoX guru, recommends not going bigger than 17s on our cars. 18s are really just for the bling factor. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :pimp:

if your going to get some DR's or are willing to get somin other than 295/35's out back check out avon tech M550 A/S. I'm going on my 4th season on mine and they kick ass imo, their cheap, grippy, wear well, and are awesome in the corners, real predictable and responsive. plus they have decent snow ratings just in case. check out their ratings on tire rack

if your going to get some DR's or are willing to get somin other than 295/35's out back check out avon tech M550 A/S. I'm going on my 4th season on mine and they kick ass imo, their cheap, grippy, wear well, and are awesome in the corners, real predictable and responsive. plus they have decent snow ratings just in case. check out their ratings on tire rack

thanks for an awesome suggestion, i have a set on my subaru. i found them to be a really well balanced tire. it rained ungodly amounts the 2 weeks after i got them and these things just laughed at 100mph were my old Pirellis were crying at 70. never had any problems in the snow either. im pretty stuck with at least a 275 since its a 10.5 wheel and even then it might appear too narrow.

I would have thought you could get more life than that out of the NT05s, I've read that that's what people are getting out of the DRs. The other thing that occurred to me is that if you go with an autoX oriented tire on 18s with so little sidewall your car might ride like an empty dump truck. FWIW if you are after good handling, Sam Strano, the resident suspension/autoX guru, recommends not going bigger than 17s on our cars. 18s are really just for the bling factor. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :pimp:

you caught me alex. the new wheels are really just for looks mostly but i figured id look at all my options. after reading the NT05 reviews i figured id be better off with sticking them on my current 17x9.5 wheels. i think im going to pull the Riken Raptor ZR's off my current front wheels and put them on the new 17's and put some NT05's on my old wheels since i was going to use them as a dedicated rr/auto-x wheel set anyway. i was looking at the Nitto 555 extreme in 285 but i know Nitto runs smaller than other brands so im worried it might be too narrow.

go to your local firestone and get the wide ovals from there.... ask to see if they price match and blah blah blah. I got them to sell me 4 for 154/each.

oh and i love the wide ovals..... i can't say enough good things about them as well.... best street tire i have ever had, on my car

local firestone couldnt get them, on back order with no delivery in sight :eyes: though i can get them for tuesday off tire rack... also wanted like 1150 plus tax to mount and balance them. offered no discount since i dont need the alignment and its not like they have to mount the wheels on the car. wasnt willing to work with me at all on any tire.

My list of favorites would consist of (ranked best to worse and have used):

Goodyear GSD3
Hankook Ventus R-S2
BFG KWD2s
Bridgestone Potenza RE070

If your willing to spend the cash look into some Falken Azenis RT-615!! ;)

oh thanks derek, add even more tires to the list! lol decisions, decisions

I voted for the Wide Ovals. I just picked them up recently. I had a friend that works at firestone and he got me 4 275/40/17 for 400 bucks installed. That was the special friend discount. Basically that is their cost on the tires. You can try to go to another firestone and see if you can get them to budge on the pricing at all now knowing their price.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=g-Force+Super+Sport+A%2FS

I ment to PM you about this. I use the G-force Sport A/S in the front and Nittos in the back, I enjoy them!

oh thanks derek, add even more tires to the list! lol decisions, decisions

Just saying these are what I've used and had experence with. :devil: The absolute best dry, and auto-x tires would be the Azenis for sure. If you want wet and dry traction go with the Goodyear GSDs. :nod: Basically depends on what you wanna spend. :razz:

i went with the Nitto NT05's, ill post feedback once i get them on and poppin

Kumhos....can't beat their performance for the price. I have their ultra-perf all weather tires in 285s in the front and the new ECSTA XS in 335s on the back and they're awesome.

Nitto Nt 05's ....great street tire and corner like you have the car on rails! Just a little dissapointed on the sticky factor, can't get to hook any better then my old Michlin Pilots from a stop.? I'm running 295x35x18 with mods in sig.

Out of all my F-Bodies (12) Firehawks are prob the best tires i have used hands down

i voted general. ive had them on my car since i bought it and will be puttin them on the new wheels. there the cheapest they last and they handle good in all weather dry, rain, and decent in snow. and they also get pretty damn sticky.

Hey Bill, did you get your tires on yet?

yes sir, now i need to get the rims on the car lol all this rain has been killing any work plus ive been working long hours so i havent had much time to play with the cars

If you already have MT DRs on 16 inch wheels for the track, I suggest doing what I did. Get some $98 Sumitomos for everyday driving since they're not for performance anyway and throw on your DRs when heading to the strip. If you are concerned about autocross, I don't have any experience there but it seems like the Nittos are the way to go.