255-265/35-40/17 285-295/30-35/17 Nitto, bfg, check out what brands make a fitment for your size. Look for a high treadwear rating and not too aggresive of a tread.
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Joined: 6/8/2006 From: SF Bay Area Status: online
I am running 275/35's and 295/30's on 9"s and 10.5"s of my Saleen. I will go 315's on rear next time around. I, contrary to brad, recommend the LOWEST treadwear number you can find that has reasonable cost to replace. I currently run Michelin PS2's that have a treadwear rating of 220. These are the best tires I have ever driven, and have driven many high performance tires. My tires are not cheap, but will hold the road better than most tires you will find (but certainly not all)
It all depends on what kind of driving you do. I DIG the twisties!!!! I have all my driving life, so I spend money on tires to get the most of my GR-40 suspension system. If you are DD and don't have a budget for expensive tires, go by way of brads route. Nothing wrong with that, just know what you are getting
If this is in any way a daily driver, you probably won't want tires with a treadwear rating below about 200 - 220. On the other hand, given any interest in hard cornering I'd stay away from anything with a treadwear rating much above 340 - 350. Even if you don't corner hard, stay away from anything close to or above 500. By that point, you're trading away grip, and grip is what keeps you from hitting the guy in front of you (while you're either glad that you chose extra grip rather than longer tread life or wishing that you had).
Poke around at the Tire Rack site on the 'Specs' pages for any of the tires that you might be interested in, or that at least come in the sizes that you're considering. Maintain the same load capacity as OE - anything that's at least as good as 245/45-17 in terms of Load Index will be fine without any further thought. Other possibilities exist if you're willing to tinker with your inflation pressures a little and/or work up some comparisons to the car's base tire size.
Don't run tires that require a minimum rim width that's wider than what you've got (you probably won't have any problem with too-narrow rims). Shoot for a size that's measured on the same width wheels as yours.
Norm
< Message edited by Norm Peterson -- 4/7/2008 9:22:07 AM >
hahaha yea looks like youve spent alotta time on that mustang of yours but it was well worth it that thing is beautiful and clean man. but what range should i try to stay in with the treadwear n all?
Ride - This kind of comes down to how important tread life vs performance is to you personally, and I can't really answer that for you. I can ask questions that get you to think, and I can make suggestions. If you had ten points to distribute between the two aspects, how would YOU divide it? 10-0? 5-5? 7-3? 3-7? etc. You could also try taking Tire Rack's 'Selecting the Right Tire", http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=31 .
However, my strong recommendation is choose tires based on the best overall performance that fits your budget - and leave everything else secondary. Even Consumer Reports is now making a very similar recommendation (though theirs is probably weighted a little more heavily toward braking over cornering). Be very skeptical of tire models with "cutesy" names, like the ones that tend to show up in the ranks of mid-level all-season tires. A tire should be bought for its capabilities, not on how comforting or soothing its name sounds when you say it.
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tire sizes! help! - 
