Firestone Firehawks
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 4,194
Likes: 305
From: Lake Havasu City Arizona
SoCal Events Coordinator
St. Jude Donor '12
I do not have them on my vettes but friend of mine put them on his c6 and likes them alot. Good traction, quiet and the price was excellent.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,545
Likes: 17
From: Bartlett Tennessee
I have the Firehawk Indy 500's ( non-runflats ) on my C6 .They ride and handle better ,with no cabin noise and are a big upgrade from my Goodyear run flats ! The price was less than half of a set of Goodyears ! I have had these on since last May and don't regret buying them.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,549
Likes: 30
From: Shenandoah Valley Virginia
Put a set of the Firestone Firehawks on my 03 Z06 two years ago. Overall impressions after about 8K of street driving are as follows. 1) Wet driving - better than the GY. They have larger grooves and do not aquaplane nearly as easily 2) Warm weather traction - about 80% of what the GY offered - not as high a limit 3) Cold weather traction - fine till ambient temps hit 35 deg and the road surface gets cold. Below 35 they are worthless and loose traction easily, you have to go very easy on the throttle. 4) Noise - they are slightly more noisy than the GY due to the size of the tread blocks - not objectionable the Z is loud anyway. 5) Wear - after 8K miles, I can hardly see any noticable wear. I estimate probably 30K normal street driving from them.
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 367,781
Likes: 24,683
From: In a parallel universe. Currently own 2014 Stingray Coupe.
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Good info to know. I am thinking about a set for a second set of wheels I have for my car. I ran a set of the Firestone Firehawk runflats on my '00 and really liked them.
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Drifting
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,317
Likes: 9
From: McCall Idaho
On my second set of the SZ50 RFT's in stock sizes.
Pros:
Got 35k+ from the first set.
Performance is good even when close to the end of their life, very good when new.
Very predictable when it's limits are reached both front and rear.
My wife drives our '02 on occasion and the peace of mind knowing she can make it to a tire shop or at least home is worth it to me.
I consider these pretty good performers in wet conditions and adequate in a heavy rain or a little standing water.
Cons:
Expensive, $1500+ for a matched set.
DO NOT drive them if they have been sitting <cold> in temps colder than 35-40 degrees!
*However I HAVE driven them into a slight snow storm that they handled pretty well as they were already warm from a couple hundred miles of highway driving.*
Although not OEM GY loud, these are not quiet by any means and get louder when they are near or at the end of their life.
Did I mention they are expensive?
HTH
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....wk+SZ50+EP+RFT
I'd probably get a third set when needed if they're still available. Was considering a second set of rims and the Wide Ovals for fun driving/track days this summer...
Pros:
Got 35k+ from the first set.
Performance is good even when close to the end of their life, very good when new.
Very predictable when it's limits are reached both front and rear.
My wife drives our '02 on occasion and the peace of mind knowing she can make it to a tire shop or at least home is worth it to me.
I consider these pretty good performers in wet conditions and adequate in a heavy rain or a little standing water.
Cons:
Expensive, $1500+ for a matched set.
DO NOT drive them if they have been sitting <cold> in temps colder than 35-40 degrees!
*However I HAVE driven them into a slight snow storm that they handled pretty well as they were already warm from a couple hundred miles of highway driving.*
Although not OEM GY loud, these are not quiet by any means and get louder when they are near or at the end of their life.
Did I mention they are expensive?
HTH
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....wk+SZ50+EP+RFT
I'd probably get a third set when needed if they're still available. Was considering a second set of rims and the Wide Ovals for fun driving/track days this summer...
Last edited by mtndv8; Mar 5, 2012 at 12:25 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,549
Likes: 30
From: Shenandoah Valley Virginia
Advanced
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 55
Likes: 0
From: Keaau HI
I have had the Firehawk runflats on for about two years now. The road handling seems better, and there is less "wheel hop" too. The wet/dry handling is just as good as the Goodyears- though being in Hawaii, I can't testify to the cold weather handling ability. In my opinion the road noise is also lower than my original Goodyear runflats.
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 16,795
Likes: 62
From: Lake Havasu City, AZ
My second set of RF's were the Fire Hawks.
I greatly preferred them over the stock GY RunCraps.
Better dry traction, better wet traction, more predicatble at the limit, quieter, lonber tread life.....
I greatly preferred them over the stock GY RunCraps.
Better dry traction, better wet traction, more predicatble at the limit, quieter, lonber tread life.....
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 154
Likes: 14
From: NY
Just got back from having them put on. $715 for all 4 mounted bal. tax out the door. One thing I will say, spin them a little to get the glaze or whatever off. I took of and left about 20 feet of marks. Was not expecting that. Talked to the guy he said that is normal LOL. They are fine now.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 6,528
Likes: 752
From: South Dakota
I have Firestone Firehawks in the C4 sizes. They are narrower than most others in those sizes also.
Other than being narrower, they drive pretty well and pretty good in the wet. They don't seem to be the most responsive tire though.
Much better than the Goodyear EMT's.