I had this posted over in the tire section but no one ever looks or responds there so I'll post this here.
I am close to buying new tires for my wheels that are due here Wednesday. I am almost sold on the Goodyear GS-D3. I was also looking at the BF goodrich G-Force T/A KDW. Am I overlooking any other KA tire that I would prefer? I am only going to be driving in the dry/rain no snow or ice, it is a 67 afterall. Any suggestions or should I stick with the goodyears? All the reviews have been awesome, nothing bad or negative to say. Also, I'm not looking for a real long life tire, I mean that would be nice but that is at the bottom of the list. I want performance and looks before durability. Any suggestions would be great.
I was going to say, most muscle cars run BFG's. I'm not sure how they are in the rain,cause I don't drive my car in the rain. If you are going to drive in the rain, you may want to go with Toyos or Yokahamas. They are both good brands. But I still like the BFG's.
Radial T/A's, while good looking tires, unfortunately do not perform anything like a modern performance tire, wet or dry. They're not bad for an S-rated tire, but not great either.
The BFG G-Force KDW's are almost equivalent to the performance of GS-D3's...but not quite. My roommate had a '97 WS6 Trans Am with GS-D3's on it and they had a ridiculous amount of traction. They did pretty well in the rain, too, especially for an ultra high performance tire. Definitely did better than my Radial T/A's ;)
Just don't expect them to last very long, they're very soft.
< Message edited by Starfury -- 2/26/2008 6:18:17 PM >
I am a fan of the BFG Radial TA's. They look great, handle pretty well. But they SUCK in the wet, bigtime.
You do realize that the TA isn't even in the same league as the tire's mentioned in the original post right?
To the point of the question I run BFG KDR which I believe are inheritly the same as the KDW. They certainly perform better than the Nitto 555s I had on it previously in every way shape and form. I still smoke them at will though...they aren't slicks/drag radials so if you have a high HP application they will still take a little getting used to in order to understand how to successfully apply power at the right gradient in order to achieve forward movement and not a smokey stand still. They are to date the best tire I have been able to start fast on in street applications.
falken azenis rt-615 are crazy tires, they grip insanely well and last for ever. there only around 70 bucks a pop as well. we run them on my race car and the look awesome as well, they feature soft compound, with a very stiff sidewall
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Joined: 12/19/2006 From: Citrus County, FL Status: offline
i was lookin at some riken raptors (made by michelin) for my 06, they are less than 100 bucks a tire and they have a pretty good looking tread pattern for rain.
I have the KDW new tread design and they get great reviews and look better than any tire on the market as far as I am concerned. I have not had the car on the road yet so I can't give you first hand experience. I have heard they are a little noisy but I don't care since my car is a convertible. It will be noisy anyways.
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68 Convertible with supercharged EFI, AFR heads, 5 spd, Cobra Disc brakes, Steeroids Rack, Ron Morris Front Coil over, TCP G-Bar rear suspension, custom interior and soon to come ........... a fresh coat of paint!!!!!
I am a fan of the BFG Radial TA's. They look great, handle pretty well. But they SUCK in the wet, bigtime.
You do realize that the TA isn't even in the same league as the tire's mentioned in the original post right?
Yup, just giving another option. I have learned tons of stuff here from people not directly answering my question, but instead kinda answering in a different direction.
unfortunately the cooper cobras are in the same league as the BFG Radial T/As. I can't tell from experience. I can only refer to tyre tests. You foind loads of them on the net when googling for it. According to them it's the same: no grip, useless on wet
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1964 1/2 289 2bbl (autolite 2100) with holley headers and flowmaster 40s new: Quick Performance Racing 9" rear, Moser axles, 3.5:1 trac loc from FRPP and T5. CSRP disc brakes front and FRPP discs back. New wheels and tyres
Radial T/A's, Cooper Cobras, Firestone Firehawks, and Dunlop GT Qualifier's are all in the same league. They're all relatively old designs using particularly hard, non-sticky rubber and an inferior tread design. The Dunlops have a slightly better tread design, but Dunlop's quality control is pretty sad (first hand experience, I worked at Sears for 2+ years) so I personally wouldn't use them.
Just a note. I had a some trouble with Goodyear. I bought a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 ZR rated tires which I thought was an excellent tire, but was really let down. I had a bad viberation at about 70 and after chasing down drive angles, checking wheel bearings, suspension, tire pressure, I had them "Road force" balanced. One was 141 lbs off and the other 46. They say I now hold the record for the worst tire they have ever seen. The maxium acceptable limit is 26lbs. After a short arguement with the retailer, and a copy of the test results mixed with some attitude, they replaced them. The back two were OK, I hope. Now, they scare me, and I will never own another set. Be careful in what you select.
Goodyear does have quality control issues (which is why Dunlop now has them, as they bought Dunlop a while back), but you're going to get a defective tire eventually with almost any brand. It's more common with Goodyear than with Michelin (who owns BFG), but the F1's are usually a step above the rest of their tires. Just because you get one defective tire doesn't mean all of the company's tires are defective. It just means you had bad luck. I wouldn't let it keep you from buying their tires in the future, especially performance tires.
That said, I stay away from firestone, dunlop, and off-brand tires:) I've seen too many of them come through the shop defective.
that's just it, you think your are buying a great tire, then something like that happens. Was it just a fluke or something that happens all the time? Evil, what are you running now or what would your run in the future if not the goodyears? It seems like somebody has a nightmare situation with every brand of tire out there. What to do.....
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Joined: 5/4/2005 From: Western MD Status: offline
I was considering BFG Radials or Firehawks, but after looking up BFG g-Force Sports, its not much more money and appears to have better reviews. Whats everyone think of 225/60VR/15's on 15x7 wheels? Biggest concern is dry-traction since wont be in rain, snow, etc. Hows handling and noise?
I still have goodyears on the "E". I did notice that the front two which were bad, were made in Germany. The back two which are good (as far as I know) were made in the US. The two replacments for the front were made in China! Makes me puke! So I AM DONE WITH GOODYEAR. I will have to say that after road forcing them, the Chinease made tires balanced within just a few pounds, and run smooth as silk. Their are many options out there, I would look at the reviews and make my choice after doing so. I know thats what I'm gonna do next time.
that's just it, you think your are buying a great tire, then something like that happens. Was it just a fluke or something that happens all the time? Evil, what are you running now or what would your run in the future if not the goodyears? It seems like somebody has a nightmare situation with every brand of tire out there. What to do.....
To some extent, every company has those problems. I've found that Michelin/BFG tends to have pretty good quality control. I've still run into some of their tires that are factory defects, but with most of their non-economy tires it's not as common as other brands.
Goodyear's QC has gone down in the past few years. For as big a company as they are, I've run into a relatively high amount of defects from them, especially from their sub-brands (ie. Dunlop). I've found that their performance tires tend to be a little better QC wise, but they still have a couple slip through inspection periodically. My roommate got a GS-D3 that actually had creased belts forming a weird flat spot on the tread.
I still have goodyears on the "E". I did notice that the front two which were bad, were made in Germany. The back two which are good (as far as I know) were made in the US. The two replacments for the front were made in China! Makes me puke! So I AM DONE WITH GOODYEAR. I will have to say that after road forcing them, the Chinease made tires balanced within just a few pounds, and run smooth as silk. Their are many options out there, I would look at the reviews and make my choice after doing so. I know thats what I'm gonna do next time.
And don't forget the attitude you got from the dealer after purchasing some really high dollar tires. If the dealers stood behind them without any questions, then, I would agree that you were unlucky and should not give up on them. I had the same deal with a Goodyear dealer on one tire on my Harley truck. 20" GTII with less than 15000 miles and the sidewall began to seperate with no impact or damage. Dealer was total A$%, and we came to an agreement, but guess what the ole truck won't get when it's time for tires?
Wife's Windstar had Michelins (don't remember the exact tire, but it was the top of the line with the unlimited mileage warranty). Purchased through Sams clubs. Rotated every 5,000 miles with documentation and the tires wore perfect (all four) to 2/32nds, took back to Sams, they game me my money ($550) back and I bought another set of the tires. Pricey, but two sets of top of the line Michelins for $550!!!
Scrimp on lots of stuff, but find a good tire and don't be afraid of spending money on them. They are where the "rubber meets the road".......sorry for that.
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Joined: 2/22/2006 From: SE Minnesota Status: offline
I have Summitomo HTRZ II's. The reviews on TireRack.com said great tread life and wet/dry traction. My brother also has them on his '93 Z28. I haven't had any problems with them, but i'm not too sure how well they performe compared to others since they are the first and only set of tires i've had on the stang.
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Which brand of tires? - 
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What to do.....
