Help Choosing Tires

[Halon]

Well I'm in the market for some new tires for the Talon, and looking for advice from those who know more than I do about rubber.

Car "should be" a 10sec capable car. I currently have Sumitomo HTR Z3's (235/45/17) on 17x8 rims. I want to keep either the same size, or would also consider going to a 235/40 (to help with clearances).

I can spin the current tires in 1st, 2nd, and ever so slightly in 3rd. It's not too bad, I can compensate for it. 2 of the tires are shot, and the other 2 are still in very good shape (maybe 4k miles or so on them). One option I could chose is to just replace the 2 bad ones with good ones considering the rears aren't too worn at all. That'd be the quick easy cheap fix.

But before I do that, I'm wanting to look at other options I may have. The only racing I really do is drag racing, and taking the occasional clover-leaf at a spirited speed. But no auto-crossing or anything. No winter driving. Minnimal rain driving. So basically just looking for good dry-traction, geared towards straight fast acceleration. I don't want slicks, I don't want those street legal slicks (look like a slick, but with 2 little grooves making them DOT legal).

Hopefully that's enough info to give you an idea of what I'm looking for. If all else fails, I'll just get some more HTR Z3's. But ideally I'd like something with better traction, but not to the point of being slicks.

[Kracka]

When it comes to straight-line grip, to get a noticeably better amount of traction than your current tires, you're going to need some drag radials. The HTRZ III's are at the top of the Max Performance category; you could step up to Extreme but you'd be at <200 treadwear instead of your current 300, plus I think the only noticeable improvement would be during hard cornering i.e. track/autocross. My recommendation is to get two replacement tires and a custom alignment running minimal camber to maximize your contact patch going in a straight line.

After 12k street miles and 70+ autocross runs my Sumitomo HTRZ III's are going to be due for replacement in, I'm guessing, 3-5k miles. I plan on going with the same tires except in 245/40-17 instead of my current 235/45-17.

[4g63tcrazy]

Maybe try out the BFG KDW2 drag radials. I know Aaron was running them so you could ask him how he liked them. Those would be my tire of choice if I was in the market.

[Kracka]

Are you rubbing b/c your tire is too wide, tall, or both? If you have room to go a little wider you could get the 245/40-17 since it would yield a .3" wider tread contact patch while being .8" shorter.

[4g63tcrazy]

^^ Yea I noticed you're tires wearing from hitting the fenders. Have you tried rolling you're fenders out any? Looks like all you'd need is like half an inch and you'd be good to go.

[GsXtUrBo98]

I would agree with Kracka. If you were going to go with a profile of 40 you would have to go to a 245/40R17 to avoid your speedometer from being thrown off.

[Halon]

I already plan on rolling the fenders to help with my rubbing. I don't know if a 245 would clear, even after rolling the fenders, that's why I'm wanting to stay 235.

I'm not too worried about the speedo being off.

[GsXtUrBo98]

I'm not too worried about the speedo being off.

Ok I was just informing.

[Halon]

Info is good :)

[MustGoFaster]

A note for rolling the fenders, Jeff the alignment guy has a fender roller + heat gun that he rents out cheap. $30 or so and you get it untill you are done/ he'll give you a hurry up when someone else asks for it. I had it for a week. Worked well, I was able to stretch my front fenders out about 1" and up about 1" as well. The rears have a lot more structure to them, so you can't make near the gains you can get in front.

http://www.thealignmentguy.com/page1.htm

These would fix your traction problems but I'm guessing they would be a bit extreme for what you want.

http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/overview/g-force-t-a-drag-radial/1161.html