New Tires - Suggestions
 

I'm replacing the tires on my 69 GTO, running 15" rallys and wanted to see what suggestions people have for good tires nowadays. I've run the goodrich t/a's for quite some time, I put 3-4000 miles on my car every year and have a fairly stout motor in it so need good traction as well but recognize not much will prevent me from turning them.

If traction is a concern and only driving 3000-4000 miles per year, I would suggest a drag radial. Not great in the rain, but I rarely, (if ever), drive in bad weather. I've tried M/T and Hoosiers, they're very good, but I prefer the M&H Racemaster the best because they seem to last longer and have a more normal tread pattern, and do not give up any traction compared to the other two. I'm currently using the M&H bias ply version; they hook very well on the street, but are a little squirmy while driving. I would go with the radial version

https://www.summitracing.com/search/...rder=Ascending

I should have mentioned, I have a set of drag radials that I use when I take it to Bandimere but they just simply don't last long enough on the street. Needless to say I do realize that's best for traction but looking for something that will last a little longer (I know I have to keep my foot out of it too to help... )

For the 15" wheel cars I use either BFG's or Mickey Thompsons. It just depends on who is offering the sizes I need. BFG seems to be the only ones that still offer some of the more peculiar 15" sizes, like a 215-65/15 for example.

Cooper Cobra also offers a few sizes but I've never tried those tires.

I do have a couple of Kuhmo 15" tires on the front of a car, just blackwall tires. They work fine.

None of these types of regular street tires are going to offer much in the way of hooking up well on the street if you make any decent power. But they get me from A to B on a daily basis without a problem.

I recently installed a set of Nitto 555's on my sons mustang. What an excellent tire. He upgraded to a 17" wheel just to go with those tires. Unfortunately they don't offer anything in a 15". Too bad because it's been a fantastic tire, rides nice, all of them balanced well only requiring no more than 1.25 ounces, one only needed .25 ounces. Just an overall nice tire and very grippy. The car hooks and launches better.. I would imagine a little softer compound as they are advertised as more of a performance summer tire, but he wasn't too concerned about replacing them, they were only $150 a piece. Pretty sure they are something like a 20,000 or 25,000 mile tire so not terrible anyway.

Nitto 555r2 is available in a couple of 15" sizes for the rear. I run those for street on the firebird with a couple of skinny radials upfront. At my current 200 miles a year, they will probably last the rest my my life lol.

The 555 claimed to be a drag tire, but nowhere near the traction at track vs a true drag radial.

Used to run the MT street radials on the 73 GTO and those seemed fine for a cruiser, relatively soft ride. The MT, BFG and Cooper seem very similar to each other? Maybe coming from the same factory???



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Probably needs to be some clarification to avoid some confusion.

I think they've changed or rearranged those designations. The NT05 is now the tire oriented for performance, racing etc... Least on their website anyway

The NT555 that I put on my sons mustang is definitely not the drag tire. It is advertised as their performance summer tires. Good for all weather conditions but primarily geared towards spirited summer driving. Not a track tire by any means. They are not offered in anything for a 15" wheel unfortunately.

Their drag radials tires on the other hand do come in some 15" sizes.

These are the version of Nitto 555's I'm talking about....

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...omCompare1=yes

Thanks guys, appreciate your feedback. I know I'm limited by the 15" rims, guess I'll probably just stick with the Goodrich's, was just trying to see if there was anything else to be looking at for a street tire. Should have made a point of saying traction comment was more from good all around tire as there's no way any tire other than a drag radial or slick is going to hook up with my car. :)

I've run 275/60/15's on every vehicle I've driven daily since 1995 or so. (Starting with my 69 GTO then a 79 Trans Am then a 70 Javelin then a 91 2wd Blazer and now a 67 Suburban)

BF Goodrich's are my current choice having decent tread life with reasonable wet weather traction.

Coopers have better tread life but suck in the rain.

Les Scwab used to sell a tire called Grand Prix that had the tread life of the Coopers with the wet traction of the BFG's. But Les Scwab has alienated me so those are no longer an option for me.

I ran a pair of the Mickey Thompson Sportsmans way back in the 90's and I wasn't impressed at the time but that was a long time ago and it may no longer be a valid opinion.

Here are some other options

https://www.performanceplustire.com/...60-15:ty:Tire/

if you dont want a drag radial type of tire, i just put ET R's on, and sadly got caught in a storm, and they were awesome. but, they were brand new
anyway, in my research there's not much of an option in 15s anymore
the only one i know of outside a drag radial with low treadwear rating is the Good Year Eagles, mainly for the vette guys, but OUCH they are like $600 each
the other tires are 400 tread or higher, which will make it harder for them to bite.
other better tires and treadwears are gonna be in the 17-19 range. I personally don't think older cars look good with anything past a 15" rim, but to each his own.
if you dont mind that, man there are some nice tires out there.

so far the limited use with the ET R's i really do like them, but i'm not expecting much life from them. Especially since it's up the fun factor like 100 fold and the roads here are like extreme course sand paper

With my GTO having north of 600hp & torque, 4-speed and 4.10 gears, drag radials are a must. It would be downright dangerous above 3/4 throttle with a normal street tires. I just consider new rear tires every other year part of the price of admission

I had a set of Cooper cobras on a C10 and liked them . Diamond back just made me a set of redlines out of some cobras in P215/65/15 & 275/60 for the rear . They look fantastic but I haven’t had a chance to run them yet . For just rwl cobras , they are hard to beat $$ on Amazon .

Agree, with cars like that we always just keep a drag radial on the back at all times. Occasionally caught in the rain but that's just part of it. Without a drag radial, in dry conditions, the cars can be somewhat sketchy to drive if you start getting after it.

I actually get them to last 5-6 years on the street if we only hit the dragstrip once or twice a year. They are usually down on the wear bars by then with a few good burnouts left in them. Around that time frame I consider a tire at the end of it's usefulness anyway. Start trying to use tires much beyond 5-6 years around here is just asking for trouble.

I've considered going with drag radials on the rear for street use. It seems pretty clear they'll give you better linear traction which would be welcome. Forgetting about cost, what's the downside? Cornering on windy roads? Driving on wet roads is not an issue for me.

No downside other than wet roads. They drive and corner just as well as any radial tire, you can't even tell they are back there. We drive through the mountains all the time with them. Both on the twisty switchbacks and on sections at highway speeds. :thumbup: Hell there are some weekends we put 300-400 miles in a weekend on those cars with drag radials on them.

Basically they are just there so that when I want straight line WOT traction, I have it. Otherwise for all other intensive purposes the car drives normal with them.

Yes they do wear faster but like I said, it's honestly nothing to get 4-5-6 years out of set, even with a track visit once or twice a year. Most of the time we are cruising the streets, not doing big burnouts (usually) or anything on the street that would wear them prematurely. In fact, on warm days, after driving on hot blacktop, they really don't need a burnout to hook decently on the street as long as the car itself is setup fairly well in the suspension department. Mine is pretty much ready to rock at any redlight without the need for any preheating which is perfect for those unexpected redlight excursions :).

I'll add the only other downside is that if they get sticky enough they do tend to pick up the little pebbles on the roadways and you can here it in the wheel wells. I cringe at that a bit on a freshly painted car but that's also considering the roads around Arizona are typically a bit dirty/dusty with sand and small pebbles here and there. The desert South West is a bit worse for that type of thing. Roads were always fairly clean back East.

OK, you've got me interested. What about driveline breakage? Tremec TKX and a freshly rebuilt stock 12 bolt?

Now, keep in mind that while I do have traction issues if I go full crazy on the throttle. But, otherwise I can manage that. In other words, if I want to spin the tires, I can do it at will, but if I don't, I can control it with the right foot. So I don't want to start breaking things just for the sake of better traction.

There are a few factors in regards to breakage. Parts being up to the task is one.

You already have a TKX, I wouldn't be worried about that.

A stock 12 bolt is fairly durable. I've pushed 600hp through them for years but with an automatic. Dad's been running is 12 bolt for decades and for the last several years over 700hp and tq. All I've done to that is a set of Strange 30 spline c-clip eliminator axles and it's been fine. I just recently within the last couple years installed a tru-trac setup only because he had worn out the clutches in the stock GM Eaton posi unit after 20 years of driving and racing it LOL
The weakest thing on a 12 bolt that I've found gives up first is the stock cast yoke. Especially if it's the small variety.

With a stick car my biggest worry if racing it on a semi frequent basis would be the driveshaft itself more than the 12 bolt rear. Those stock taper driveshafts with small joints are usually the weakest link and the first to go.

You don't sound like a guy that's going to be doing 5000 rpm clutch dumps and without any traction devices back there to help with anti squat my guess is even a drag radial is going to still spin a little for you, which is fine, it won't break anything like that. Drag radials will still however minimize the tire frying issues with stock tires.

Yeah but are you putting 3-4000 miles on them every year Larry... :)

That's all very good to know. Thanks!

I've had the BFGs, the Cooper Cobras and now since the last year and a bit these Vitours. I rate the Coopers above the BFGs. But the Vitours are on another level.

https://www.northhantstyres.com/gala...axy-r1-rwl.php

The funniest part is that the price is the inverse of their quality as a road tyre.

Vitour is a funny make. My understanding is that this is a South Aftican tyre company. But unlike the other two "retro" tyres it's a modern tread design and modern construction and compound (I mean, it's V rated!). I've only drag raced on the Coopers and the Vitours but given how much better the Coopers were on the road than the BFGs I feel safe in giving the Vitours the edge over either of the others. And on the road it's night and day. We get rain here. Often. The roads are never straight. With the Vitours I can actually drive the big TA almost like a normal car. With the BFGs or the Coopers on I always felt like the tiniest slip of the throttle and I'd be facing backwards.

I didn't think they would look as nice on but I've really come round to how they look.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1690838593

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1690838455

Sam