Here goes... The 26" H rated MT's have too low of a load rating and the 29" H rated aren't being made at the moment. Also, seems Mickey Thompson's have had/continue to have problems with "excessive balance weight". Industry standard is 2% and MT has the best warranty for this problem of anyone, so I'll pass. Zip for Goodyear, so that leaves BF Goodrich and Cooper. I wondered why I always saw those tires on GS's. Flip, tink, tink, tink...
https://www.google.com/maps/place/D...2d5fb259c47c9d!8m2!3d36.6323466!4d-76.3742431 The map above shows Route 17 (Chesapeake, VA) that snakes to the right of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal Bank for about 15 miles traveling south, before entering North Carolina. That's a lot of road and 115 mph on the straightaways is fairly easy...
You could always put a 16” wheel like the GNX wore; there are still Z rated tires in 245/60/16… https://www.tirerack.com/tires/Tire...6&rearWidth=215/&rearRatio=65&rearDiameter=15 Patrick
168 mph and only 300 treadwear rating, yikes! I just bought a beautiful set of #57 Buick Rallye 15" x 8" wheels, so moving up from the 14" wheels. It's my first GS and and I didn't really do my homework on what "tires" would be available...
Personally, I’d be more worried about deer and idiots than I would tire failure. Put 255/60/15 Radial T/As on it and see how much time you really want to be above 118. If you really do end up driving that fast, for long streches, frequently, you may have to compromise a little and put some cool 16s or 17s on it for the Kowalski runs. Patrick
I'm more concerned about black bears. They can be slow critters, especially the cubs. Must be the physics of the swamp, but deer are more like squirrels at that speed, you rarely hit them. We have SDS100's for the "other" bears...
I have a set of 15" V rated tires on my 85 Crown Vic Kumho's Can't remember the size. I will check and post it up. Got them at Tire Rack. Tim
Are they this size - 215/70R15? Seemed the only size sold for that yr/make. Yup they had a few H & W rated tires, but too small of a size. Appreciate it, but just dropped her off at the tire shop. I real dodgy, creepy place where the guy got the price of the tires wrong 4 times (I printed their website prices). Then he acted like getting an alignment was too much trouble for him (they have to send next door to their neighbor's shop to do that). Went with BF Goodrich, which interesting enough has NO mileage warranty; they have a 6 yr "wear" warranty with more fine print than the Space Shuttle owners manual. Thought about the ONLY other option, Cooper, but declined due to pressure from other GS friends who (for some reason) prefer BFG. Waiting for the call to pick her up... That sales guy seemed likely enough to drive her off the lot and just keep going. Times have changed WAY, WAY too much...
BRFORE: AFTER: I like the 245/60r15's in the front, but the 275/60r15's in the back seem too close to the chrome trim in the wheel-well...
Check both sides. Having more clearance on one side is very common. I have that same problem on the driver's side of my car. Stock 15 X 8" wheel back space is 4 1/2". I need 5" on my driver's side. I shimmed the springs to raise the ride height, so I am good for now. I ordered two 15 X 8" wheels, with 5" BS from Wheel Vintiques in June of 2021. Still waiting.
Funny thing, I started looing for the wheels on YearOne and Wheel Vintiques and both were backordered like crazy. Called Wheel Vintiques and they said their manufacturer was out of steel. Luckily I have an old GS buddy who will be in town today and he'll take a look...I like 50 year old cars!
The 325/30r19 Goodyear super car tires on my ZL1/1LE have a 100 tread wear rating. Tires alone are around $500 apiece. My front tires are 305/30’s. I’ve got Michelin PS4’s on it now. They last more than 3k miles or two track days…..whichever comes first!
I started thinking about this since I'll need some track tires for my Skylark eventually. I think you're really limited to track only tires for those speeds. I really hate how anything over 15" looks, but that's just me. I found Hoosier A7s are available in: 295/35/15 275/35/15 245/40/15 225/45/15 These all may be shorter sidewalls, but they are W rated (168 mph) and pretty wide. I think the larger sizes are about $300 per tire though. Just some food for thought! I also found Hoosier's radial slicks and vintage line which seems to come in some better 15" sizing: https://philstireservice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Hoosier-Vintage-Historic.pdf https://philstireservice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Hoosier-Radial-Slicks.pdf These also seem to be about $300 or more per tire.
I wouldn't worry about tire speed ratings for drag racing unless you are running donut spares or something drastically ridiculous. From https://www.lesschwab.com/article/tire-speed-rating-and-why-it-matters.html : "How Are Speed Ratings Determined? Tire manufacturers determine a tire’s capacity for heat and speed using a testing machine. Testing is done to meet ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) standards, with a scale based on kilometers per hour (km/h). A more rigorous test is sometimes done to meet SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) standards. For the ECE test, the tire is properly inflated and mounted on a wheel attached to a testing machine in a room that’s heated to 77º F. The tire is then pressed against a metal drum with enough pressure to simulate a realistic load. Starting at a speed of 40 km/h lower than the proposed rating level, the tire is spun for 10-minute increments at higher and higher speeds until it reaches the target speed. The tire spins for 10 minutes at the target speed. It’s then removed from the machine and inspected for any failures, like separation of tread components. If it’s intact, it passes the speed rating. Sometimes an SUS (step-up speed) test will be added after the tire performs at the target speed rating. Speed is increased until the tire fails. If the tire is being tested at the SAE standard, it’s required to run for an hour at target speed in a room heated to 100 degrees." -Bob C.
"...Don’t use the rating as a guideline for the top speed you can drive...". That was my main take away from the article you cited...
