pologreen1

I have the 9.5's and the 11's. Both sets need new tires.

What are some recommendations for running either the staggered or just 11's on all 4?

What tire brand are you guys running these days? I have kuhmos on one set and Nittos on another.

I'm not racing, just street, but I need a little grab, price is a factor.

rjacobs

what kind of power are you making that you feel you need the 11" wide rear wheels for traction? I understand you already have them, thats not my point.

I just bought my 96 and a few of my buddies were telling me to get the 11" wide rears and some 315's for them... Im running Toyo R888R's which are a sticky *** tire. Pretty sure my lowly 330 hp LT4 wont break loose a 100 tread wear sticky 275 tire unless I do something REALLY dumb.

I have a buddy running 11" wide all the way around on his 87... He will admit there is zero practical reason he does it, but he does it. So it can work.

pologreen1

Thanks for the input.
More concerned about tire wear and prices these days for streeting.

MatthewMiller

I autocross on a set of 18x11s with BFG Rival S 315/30 tires. I also have a set of CCW 17x11.5 with Hoosier 315/35/17 tires on them for certain autocross classes. Finally, I still have a set of 17x11 A-Mold replicas that currently have Toyo 315/35/17 888 tires on them. They are old but still have decent grip. I'm a fan of running 11s at all four corners, if only to make rotation easier and because the car looks much more purposeful with them on.

In 17" tires, there aren't a ton of 315 choices left anymore. Toyo still makes a few, Nitto has several, Kumho has the Ecsta XS, and Mickey Thompson has a street radial in that size. Hope this is helpful.

AgentEran

Provided my LT4 has a couple bolt ons, I find that I cant keep my tires from spinning when im at high RPM in 1st and 2nd.. I have to buy tires every 10 mos or so, the guys at American Tire love me

rjacobs

what kind of tires are you running...

Im coming from a 600whp Z06 which had no issues putting down power with the Toyo R888's(top of 1st would get squirly, but that was it). I run around with a few guys over 1000whp and they have no issues on Toyo R888R's either.

There is NO WAY 350, hell even 400whp will over power a Toyo R888R unless you are dumping the clutch and purposely trying to spin them.

Get a good tire on your car and they will last longer since you wont be spinning them.

If you are running a nitto invo, yea I could see how you would spin the **** out them. They are junk, but they are cheap.

DMITTZ

I run 315's on all 4 corners with BF goodrich Rival S tires and am very happy with this setup.

pologreen1

Well, if they work for your buddies cars Toyo is what I need then I guess. Right now with 275's I can blow the tires off at will at 70+ with only 3.45 gears in the rear.

MatthewMiller

We need to clarify something: except for drag racing, power is not the only reason that wider rear tires are better. In any form of fast driving involving turns, the available grip of your tires is shared by acceleration or braking force as well as lateral acceleration (cornering). This concept is often modeled as a "friction circle." You can always take advantage of wider rear tires when cornering under power, by shifting grip forward with stiffer rear springs or swaybar. So wider tires are almost always a plus to performance.

Polo, those Toyo 888r tires are very grippy indeed. The downside is that they wear extremely fast in normal driving. Although DOT-legal, they are intended for competition and track duty, and maybe the drive to the event and back. You won't like their wear if you drive only on the street, you won't like their performance in standing water (damp is okay, puddles not so much), and they aren't intended to be driven in cold weather (freezing or below). So as with everything, choosing a tire model is a compromise.

Mr. Magoo

Can you guys post up some pics with 315's on all 4 corners?
I'm also looking into this on my Vette.

pologreen1

Exactly what I was hoping this thread would do, is shed some light on how different tires are these days.

Correct, this is a driver. I can make the power levels rjacobs mentioned, but I don't drag race. I have road race tires on all 4 of my 315's now, but they are basically shot. I might burn them off this year yet.

I just want a little more contact patch for both front and rear, and a decent wearing tire. I don't expect any tire to totally hook once you throw serious power at them with no traction control etc. I have a base '90 vert with no frills, just built for fun. For the streets I am not looking for the stickiest tire.

My Kumop 275's are ok, for a stock car, but hard to tell if I would like them in the car's current state.

MatthewMiller

The first three are my Forgestar CF5 18x11 wheels with 315/30/18 BFG Rival S. The last two are my 17x11.5 CCWs and my 17x11 A-Mold replicas, respectively.

AgentEran

Running Nitto nt555 285 40s..

Have a 4:10 gear..

ASR engages on a 3 - 2 downshift.. if I dont turn ASR off I will spin tires in that scenario every single time EXCEPT when tires are 1 month old or less.. Im simply amazed that you and your buddies with 600+ horse cars dont have traction issues on street tires.. flabbergasted really lol

pologreen1

I agree, that seems a little strange, but apples to oranges really.

Your car is sophisticated compared to mine with ASR etc, but the C5 and whatever else his buddies have are a completely different platform for performance. The c4 is a hoot, and on paper mine and others here will stomp newer cars no problem based n power to weight ratio, but for me at least my car has no chance of putting the power down the same.

MatthewMiller

Full disclosure first: that particular picture is actually the previous owner (MSR here on this forum) driving the car at a track near Houston. But that's the normal contact patch. Note it's pretty close to similar on the inside rear tire, too. The car has a lot of negative camber dialed in: about -3.5* front and -2.5* rear. So part of this look is the inside tires feeling the effects of that. Of course it's far more important to keep the much more loaded outside tires from develop positive dynamic camber, so the trade-off is worth it.

But if you want to see air under the inside front tire, here is me driving last fall on Hoosiers with too little rear roll stiffness. I guess you could say the rears were hooking up on corner exit!

rjacobs

Well since none of you will say what kind of power you are making....

All the cars are C5 or C6's.

I still find it DAMN hard to believe anybody can "spin their tires at will at 70+ mph" unless you are making 800+ whp OR you are running an absolutely GARBAGE worn out tire. The OP has not said what tire he is currently running that he is unhappy with so its real hard to really advise a tire... AgentAren says NT555's with a 4:10 gear so at least thats SOME information, BUT depending on how you are down shifting that 3-2, the tires could be breaking loose due to deceleration rates and not because of massive amounts of power.

So what kind of power are you all making that these feats of spinning tires are high speeds are occurring.... until then my bull **** meter is pegged.


NOW if you want 315's on all corners because you are road racing and want the added grip, ok theres a completely different scenario.

ghoastrider1

This for me is an OUTSTANDING post. Its full of info that many of us on the site may use and the advice is great. I just had my 86 apinted and am now looking for wheels and tires to help complete the look of what I think makes for a good looking, hot, corvette. Thanks toall that posted
.

MatthewMiller

FWIW, my 396 is probably good for about 420rwhp. I also have a 13lb flywheel in it, so it's a little more violent in the low gears than the power would lead you to believe. From a roll on my Riken Raptor street tires (275/40/17 rears which are new and I would consider "moderate grip") it will spin 1st gear but hold 2nd gear unless the road is absolutely awful for grip (maybe also in the cold - haven't had these tires long enough to know yet). I had an old, petrified set of Kumhos that it could spin at will in 2nd gear, sometimes even 3rd when it was cold out. But those were becoming garbage tires, as you call them. On any of the competition-oriented tires I have (BFG Rivals, Hoosier A7s, and Toyo 888s), it will usually hold even in 1st gear in a straight line. In general, I find that C4s hook up pretty damn well. On the Toyos, I actually spun the hub out of my clutch disk on a wet autocross course! Danny Popp was riding shotgun and couldn't believe how well the car was hooking up in the wet, and then it went "zing." So yeah, in general I think your point is valid.

DMITTZ

I run the 315's on a 4 corners for added cornering and breaking grip, not because I need then for traction. It also looks pretty agressive when you open the hood up and have 315's on the front of C4 IMO.

I can't imagine how much HP would be required to break my 315 BFG Rival-S tires lose at 70+MPH! A lot more than I have.

Natrlone93

What is the backspacing needed on an 18" rim running a 315 on the front? Same as rear? Or even a 17" rim for that matter?