My newly purchased XFire failed inspection today due to tires. I knew it would need tires soon, but now I need to move fast. I have found tires at a decent price for a set online, but my local garage wants $$ to mount and balance.

However, I have also thought about moving to 18's front and rear (I personally can really tell those 19"ers on the rear are different) and found some great wheel/tire combos with 18X9 rears and 18X8 fronts.

I'd love thoughts on this from everyone, even those who think it is a stupid idea to mess with perfection...

As I said, I need to move fast because I only have 10 days to title the car here.

And, if I do stay stock, any input on the best all around tires? The Conti replacements are $1400 mounted and balanced (yikes!) where I checked today.

 

Go with Hankook tires. You may also have better luck if you post this thread in the wheel and tires section.

 

I'm pretty happy with my Yokohama S4's. They weren't my first choice, but I'm almost completely glad they were out of what I wanted.

Try Tire Rack, by the way.

 

Michelin Pilot Super Sport from Tirerack. I have a roadster and can't believe how quiet they are. Incredible stick as well.

 

I have the Hankook Ventus V12 tires and they were under $900 even after mounting and balancing for wider than stock sizes. (245/35R18 Front & 295/30R19 Rear).

Also, TireRack can recommend a list of local installers and you can find a pretty good deal. Mine were all of $20 each to mount even with the extreme sidewall profile.

Good luck!

 

The wheels on the black coupe in your sig look like those I am interested in. What size/offset are they on your car and are these the wheels you mounted the 245 and 295s on?

 

They are currently on the car and yes they currently have the Hankooks I spoke of on them. In the signature it states the rim sizes, just not the offsets.

TSW Nagaro Rims: NOTE: This particular style is no longer available.

Front: 18" x 8" 32mm Offset
Rear: 19" x 9.5" 35mm Offset

Closest style to these that TSW currently has is probably the Indy 500. Main difference is the 5 spokes are split. They have a really nice selection and MOST of the TSW wheels are not super expensive.

You can see them here...

 

I have the Hankook ventus v12, about 3000 miles on them. Great tire, very good price. A far superior tire than the OE Contis. If you have a pep boys in your town , they are hankooks dealers, Or go to tire rack or discount tire & order them. FYI, in the latest road&track magazine , they give a good write up on a new high performance tire from Cooper Tire. you might want to check them out as well. They started at about $130.

 

OK if I stay stock wheels, can I use slightly wider tires front and rear?

I'd like to go to 275-285 rear and 245 fronts. will the rims handle it?

 

I think some owners run slightly wider tires in the rear 275's, but don't quote me on that. I wouldn't personally due to sidewall flex that doesn't or shouldn't be there. These are low profile tires, and in my opinion, it just adds another direction in which stress is put on the sidewalls. Quite a few people have done it and haven't had problems from what I've seen. They may be using 265's though.

As for the fronts, I wouldn't recommend it at all. Due to our cars having large, wide wheels already, a large one can cause rubbing and other terrible things to happen.

Remember also that putting different diameter wheels on a car effectively gears up or down (depending on if you put larger or smaller than stock on) the car, usually causing it to work harder. I'm not sure if an inch would make a difference though. I know a good amount about tires, not so much about the internal workings of drivetrains.

 

I concur. Extremely good in wet conditions. May be needed as when the ladies see our cars they start getting in the right mode..

 

I'll let you in on a little secret. I have 245/35R18s front and 295/30R19s rear on wider than stock rims as mentioned above and I have absolutely NO rubbing issues even at extreme articulation of the suspension. I believe my rear spacer is 10 or 12mm. I would prefer a 15mm back there.

That being said, if I remove the rear spacer, the 295s DO rub at 3/4 upward articulation. Just forward of the rear axle and up on the body structure beam. When looking at the driver's side wheel about the 10 to 11 o'clock position, from the passenger side, about the 1 to 2 o'clock position. Not severe, but noticeable.

The trick is keeping the tires centered in the wheel openings both inboard and outboard.

 

For normal everyday use, I love the Generall Exclaims I have which are reasonably priced.. Been on the car for about a year now and no complaints. Of course I take them off when I hit the track.

 

Possible to make our SRTs in to a 10-sec car? Without NOS and on street tires? Would like to beat the ugly but nice sounding supras...

 

Thanks to all of you, I decided on staying with the stock wheels and ordered the stock size tires. Should be here early next week.