Help! Tire Replacment

[Idaho Slim]

Hi everyone, back from a great winter and its CFV time again!

I am getting ready to do a burnout display for a DVD video, and afterwards that will be it for the rears, they are about gone now.

I know Goodyears are the original replacement brand, but what type/model??

When I bought the car, 96 LT-1 Coupe, it had brand new B.F. Goodrich G-Force T/A KDWS tires on them and we have gotten great miles off them I think, 28,500 - especially with the "overindulgence" of the rears

The rears have 275/40ZR17 98W M&S, fronts 255/45ZR17 98W M&S.

? #1. Which Goodyear tire will give me the best performance and wear.

? #2. Replace with another set of B.F. Goodrichs.

? #3. Why are the fronts shorter than the rears.

Thanx everyone, and have a safe summer!:cool

 

[Toms007]

There are other tire manufacturers of tires. I will step on some toes here by saying this but, I've never been a fan of Goodyear tires, so if you are limiting your choices to Goodyear and Goodrich I'd say BFG. I have Falken tires on my 94 and like them OK. Kuhmo, Toyo, Michelin and others out there also have pretty good tires for our cars.

As far as shorter tires in the front...I don't think they are shorter....narrower yes but the 245/45's are the same height to the 275/40's

 

[RVN]

#1 Don't know.

#2 Sounds good.

#3 The fronts are fractionally taller at 25.68" and the rears are 25.66"

245/45R17 -
Section Width: 9.64 in 245 mm
Rim Diameter: 17 in 431.8 mm
Rim Width Range: 7.5 - 9 in
Overall Diameter: 25.68 in 652.27 mm
Sidewall Height: 4.34 in 110.23 mm
Radius: 12.84 in 326.13 mm
Circumference: 80.67 in 2049.0 mm
Revs per Mile: 809.9 ​

275/40R17
Section Width: 10.82 in 275 mm
Rim Diameter: 17 in 431.8 mm
Rim Width Range: 9 - 11 in
Overall Diameter: 25.66 in 651.76 mm
Sidewall Height: 4.33 in 109.98 mm
Radius: 12.83 in 325.88 mm
Circumference: 80.61 in 2047.4 mm
Revs per Mile: 810.6

 

[gmjunkie]

There are other tire manufacturers of tires. I will step on some toes here by saying this but, I've never been a fan of Goodyear tires, so if you are limiting your choices to Goodyear and Goodrich I'd say BFG. I have Falken tires on my 94 and like them OK. Kuhmo, Toyo, Michelin and others out there also have pretty good tires for our cars.

You got that right Tom!!!I only have 1 set of GoodYears on the Property!!I have OEM Eagles on my 78,The rest I have 1 set of Firestone on the Z06 and Kumho's on the rest!! I LOVE my Ho'sI have 35,000+ miles on my ASX's on my 03 and I'll get another 15-20,000 out of them!! So far thats about 10,000 more than I got out of the run Craps and I can still hear the stereo!!!

 

[Tuna]

I'm a Goodyear guy and have GY's on all 4 cars.

A base suspension '96 should have come with 255/45/17 tires on the front (on 8.5" wheels) and the rear should have come with 285/40/17 tires (on 9.5" wheels). Check your RPO code listings (glove box or rear compartment lid) to see which suspension option you have and then check the wheels to see if they are all in the right places. Hope your car didn't have run-flats on it!

I recommend the GY F1 D3 if you can get it. Great in the dry and great in the wet.
After that, I really like the Michelin Pilot Sports.

 

[Idaho Slim]

Tuna, good to hear from you again! Been awhile, so what kind of mileage do you get out of your GYs?

 

[Tuna]

Tuna, good to hear from you again! Been awhile, so what kind of mileage do you get out of your GYs?

Some good, some bad. Depends on which car and how I drive it.

The '92 has GY F1 D3's with 20K on them and still half the tread left.

My '06 has nearly 30K on the car and I've had to replace the fronts due to an alignment problem but the rears (GY F1 GS2 EMT's) are still hanging in there.

My '08 barely has 8K on it now with the GS2s and they still look new.

My '04 CTS-V came with GY F1 SuperCar EMT's and I went through 2 sets of them in 2 years - about 13K on each set and they were toast - lousy mileage but they really stuck to the pavement. Replaced them with F1 D3 EMT's which have about 13K miles now and they still have half the tread left. And, the D3s are a whole lot better in the rain than the SCs were.

I've changed my driving habits some recently due to the cost of gas but I still lay onto the throttle every now and then just for fun and to hear the exhaust.

Except for the '92, each car has run-flats and I can't complain about the new GS2 or D3 EMT tires. Then both my C6s are MagRide cars and the CTS-V has a "Z51" style suspension. I tried run-flats on my '92 years ago and could not wait for those things to wear out - the F1 GS-C EMTs of the C4 era were terrible.

 

[Rich96c4ce]

I'm a Goodyear guy and have GY's on all 4 cars.

A base suspension '96 should have come with ..............................!

I recommend the GY F1 D3 if you can get it. Great in the dry and great in the wet.
After that, I really like the Michelin Pilot Sports.

That's correct, the base vehicle uses the 255/45/17 tires on the front (on 8.5" wheels) and the rear should have come with 285/40/17 tires (on 9.5" wheels). Both those tires have the same diameter.

The upgrade suspension used 275/40x17 front and rear on 9.5" rims. Of course, those are the same diameter.



The super upgrade suspension (GS vehicle) uses 275/40x17 on 9.5" for the front and 315/35x17 on 11" for the rear. Both those are the same diameter.

The diameters must be the same for the ABS and Traction contron to operate properly. Why? Because the computer checks the rpm of each tire using the axle tone ring to make sure that there is no tire RPM difference because that indicates tire slippage on the road. Any tire rotating too fast or too slow will elicit an automatic vehicle control response to either reduce engine power (ASR) or to actuate ABS. While you might get away with slightly different tire tire diameters and still have not have ASR or ABS actuate, the fact is that at some point, they will when the RPM difference becomes larger than the setpoint in the computer. At that point, one of them will automatically operate. An example of that is discussed in the latest Corvette Fever on page 76, the letter titled "Traction Control Demons." The author's demon was that he chose to install tires that were not the same diameter and at 85 MPH, the ASR would operate. He hit the ASR operational setpoint for front/rear tire RPM difference. In his case, the rear tires were too small in diameter and the ASR computer thought that they were rotating too fast relative to the front tires. As a result, power reduction was applied.

So, make sure that you use the correct tires for your C4, or if you don't, make sure that the tire that you do use front and rear, even though different in size, are very close to the same diameter (using the manufacturer's published specifications for those tire sizes.)

P.S. My tire recommendation would be for Nitto NT-555 DRs or AutoX. The Autox come in 275/40, the DRs are in 275/40 and 315/35 (my setup). Of course, that really doesn't respond to the mileage part of your question, but on the otherhand, the traction and handling is unbeleavable. The tires are not too expensive, either. That is good because you will need to replace them more often than the GY D3s (a really great tire.) BTW, my C4CE is not a daily driver, but a weekend warrior for legal drags, autoX and rallies (or the occaisonal trips to the CM and CF or Carlisle.)

 

[Rich96c4ce]

Some good, some bad. .................. I tried run-flats on my '92 years ago and could not wait for those things to wear out - the F1 GS-C EMTs of the C4 era were terrible.

Oh yeah!!!! Those GSC-EMTs were on my Vette when I bought it used at 108K miles. The original owner had the Vette serviced only at the selling dealer and only with GM approved or supplied parts. The tires were relatively new at that point, but they helped me nearly total my Vette shortly after I bought it. I had taken it to the local strip. While the acceleration traction was okay on normal road surfaces, a prepped track with lots of rubber nubbies on it was no match for the GSCs. Within the first 60 feet, I achieved pointing at the tree and the jersey barrier too many times and was able to react fast enough for the ABS to keep me inches from the barrier. Recovering from the embarrassment, I leisurely drove to the end of the track with my tail tucked in and tried to be invisible on the return road. The GSCs were being recycled before the next weekend.

 

[LORR1943]

C 4 TIRES

Hi everyone, back from a great winter and its CFV time again!

I am getting ready to do a burnout display for a DVD video, and afterwards that will be it for the rears, they are about gone now.

I know Goodyears are the original replacement brand, but what type/model??

When I bought the car, 96 LT-1 Coupe, it had brand new B.F. Goodrich G-Force T/A KDWS tires on them and we have gotten great miles off them I think, 28,500 - especially with the "overindulgence" of the rears

The rears have 275/40ZR17 98W M&S, fronts 255/45ZR17 98W M&S.

? #1. Which Goodyear tire will give me the best performance and wear.

? #2. Replace with another set of B.F. Goodrichs.

? #3. Why are the fronts shorter than the rears.

Thanx everyone, and have a safe summer!:cool

I HAVE USED THE BFGs ON TWO C 4s. I RECENTLY INSTALLED FOUR(4) FALKEN ON MY "89 WITH 18" C 5 WAGON WHEELS, AND I LOV'EM. THEY AND THE BFGs ARE GREAT RIDING, HIGH MILEAGE TIRES, IF TAKEN CARE OF. I RUN 40 PSI IN ALL FOUR AND IT WORKS GREAT! HAVE AT IT!

 

[LT4man]

I have been running only GYs since I bought my first Vette in 92.

I traded my 92 with 51,000 miles in June 94. The tires were the original GY GSCs and they still had tread left on them!

I traded my 94 in March 96 with 33,000 miles and it had the original GY GSCs. Plenty of tread on them!

I put 40,000 on my 96's GY GSCs. Replaced them with GY F1 Steels and put 35,000 on them. Now I have GY GS D3s for the past 20,000 miles and they still have plenty of tread.

Tire manufacturer is important. Correct tire pressure is very important. Driving habits are also very important.

SAVE THE

 

[John Robinson]

? #3. Why are the fronts shorter than the rears.


GM did this to improve the handling of the car. When you change the stagger of the tire size you change how the car handles. I do not remember which condition they were trying to correct (over-steer or under-steer - Tight or Loose.) So if you change the tires keep the correct stagger between the front and the rears.

 

[LT4man]

GM discovered that when the front tires are narrower than the rears, the vehicle turns much easier. The maximum difference they want to see from the front to the back is 30mm.

Both in city driving and performance driving there is a big improvement.

This started in 1994.

SAVE THE

 

[Tuna]

The skinny front tire makes a more stable car: less prone to trailing throttle oversteer or loose condition.
The skinny tire also means less 'hunting' on the highway when driving over cracks and grooves in the pavement.
The skinny tire is easier to turn since it has less grip on the road. The Z51/Z07 cars got the same size tires front and rear (except for the Grand Sport coupes).

GM got less complaints about twitchy driving when they went to the 255/45/17 tire.

I went the other way on my '92 by putting the 315/35/17 tires on the rear.

 

[Idaho Slim]

Thanks everyone

I ordered another set of G-force KDWS's. 168 mph rating and I did get outstanding mileage out of the last set, even with many burnouts and hard use!

Almost bought GY F1 GSC's, but they were $300 total more!!hnoes

Getting them on this after noon............... Zoom Zoom!

 

[Tuna]

Sounds like a plan.
I like the looks of the KDWS's but I've never tried them.

 

[Idaho Slim]

HOLY MOLY's!!!:W

What a incredible difference in having new shoes on the Car. After 5 years of driving you get used to crappy tires, and no tread, the CFV feels like a new machine, floats down the road, bumps that got me wondering if our suspension was sacked out, I don't even notice now! And all the handling and precision is back! Yipeeeeee!!!

I will not try and squeeze every last mile out of my tires next time.

What a maroon I was !:duh

 

[LT4man]

After spending almost forty (40) years in the automotive mechanical repair industry (& still working P/T!) I found an easy way to tell if your tires need to be replaced.

Look at the tire while it is ON the vehicle.
Store that tread condition in your mind.
Now multiply that condition by 10.

If you take the tire OFF the vehicle, you will see that the tread condition is MANY times worse than what you saw with the tire on the car!

Something to be said about being able to look DOWN at the tread instead of looking at an angle through shadows.

Tire condition is much easier to assess being able to see the whole tire in good light!

BTW, did you experience how much better your brakes work? I have a good analogy for that, too!

SAVE THE

 

[hotshotzny]

fyi .... i put a set of falkens on my 00 mustang and i must say they are great, much quieter than the firehawks that were on there and they really have a lot of grip on the road wet or dry (absolutely suck in the snow) i would have put a set on my vette had they made a set in my size. i have a set of hankook snows i put on it in the winter that turn it into a tank compared to what it was with all seasons on it

 

[KANE]

... Kuhmo... also have pretty good tires for our cars...

I've run Kuhmo and been happy.