Another Tire Question...

[BlackCobra96]

My Cobra has 6 wheels, 4 with +10 year old Falken Ziex P245 tires and 2 with balding 4 year old BF Goodrich P315 ties. I'm looking to replace everything and wanted opinions. Without some sort of super wide, grippy tire on the back, the car won't hook.

I'd expect people suggest Nitto DRs, BFG DRs, and MT DRs. But I wanted to get opinions on what people thought of Michelin Pilot Super Sport summer tires, which scored best in Consumer Reports. The car only gets driven 2000 miles per year and only in nice weather. Thoughts on how a highly rated ultra high performance tire would stack up against a DR on the street and the strip? Other suggestions?

 

[98$vt]

Michelins are awesome. Those tires are good, only problem with michelins is they dry rot since they're so soft.. But I'm also in the middle of the desert. Otherwise is say do it

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

Are you possibly thinking of the ultra high performance michelin pilot sport cups? Those have amazing grip but only last 3-2500 miles. The regular pilot sports are great all around tires but I'd go a different route personally considering your low yearly mileage. These are great for a sporty daily driver like a stock c6 corvette or BMW 335 because of mileage and sure footedness in the rain.

Pilot sports:
-20-40,000 miles
-great in the rain
-quiet
-evenly wear
-good grip
-not so good for 430whp...will spin
-pricey but good value
-will dry rot well before they wear out, 3 years or so. You'd theoretically need to drive them for 10- 20 years to wear the tread though so I'd just go with a stickier tire because you'll be buying new tire every 3 years either way.


I'd recommend nitto nt05's.

-more affordable
-much more grip in both acceleration or cornering, your car will feel like a track star.
-good wear, 4-10,000 mile life. 200 treadwear rating.
-good grip for being non dr's, you'll hook pretty easy all the time unless you do high rpm launches
-do need a little heat in them to be super grippy. They'll drive more than fine stone cold for average driving, but if your going to start apexing 30mph turns at 80, you'll wanna have driven on em for a good 7-10 minutes first to soften up the compound.

These are practically a streetable race tire because the compound is sensitive to heat. When cold, they last really well, when warmed up nice and hot, they grip a lot better than the 200 tread wear rating suggests.

Essentially, cold, these will hook almost as well as michelin ps's, but warmed up, these will stick almost as good as cup tires like the nt01's and toyo r888's. again, almost, say 93-95% as sticky.

These are also awesome in the rain, more than awesome. I ca drive through a rain storm at 70-90 like cake. I tested they're grip in a big parking lot on a rainy day, and panic stops from 50mph were under 100ft with ease, impressive to say the least.

Warmed up, they are so talkative and nearly telepathic that even when you break the limits of grip, they'll be smooth and easy to control. I can lead the car into a smooth, controlled 4 wheel drift at 100+ without sweating or growing a gray hair.

I run 275/35/18's front but in the rear, I run the drag radial version 315/40/18's nt05R's. heated up with a burnout, these hook almost like a Micky Thompson (1.65 60fts vs 1.53's) but are 100 times better as a street tire. They handle, the don't hydroplane ever, they are responsive, and they completely outlast them wear wise 10 fold.

For a cruiser, I'd go nt05's at all corners. If you cruise but go to the strip often enough, I'd go 275 nt05's front and 315 nt05R's rear. You'll get 3,000+ miles out of the drag radials and 5-10,000 out of the nt05's.

Good luck! The nt05's just look sick too

Here's a quote from ls1tech.com of a guy about driving his dads z06 on pilot sports

"my dad runs PS2s on his 06Z..he's not really into driving his vette hard but when i occasionally take it out i love to get on it..i seem to still lose traction hardcore doing 40-50 mph rolls"

http://ls1tech.com/forums/corvette-performance/1247058-c6-z06-new-tires-i-need-your-opinion.html

I'd go nt05's, 430whp on these should hook really well and handle amazing, the nt05R's keep me well footed with 9xxwhp and tall gearing so they might be over over kill but are worth a look as well, good luck!