It's been a while since I've posted here life has been busy, but with Spring weather right around the corner, I wanted to see what everyone was using.

Currently have 255/40/17 on the back.

Car makes 700/500, and it's over powering my old Azena RT 615's.

I still drive the car on the street, but it see's minimal mileage, maybe 1500-2500 /yr. Looking for something that won't sacrifice cornering, but still provide traction for some spirited driving.

Thoughts?

 

I had good luck with the Mickey Thompson ET Street Radial. 275/40/17

On the track you can get pretty aggressive with ramping boost in. On the street it's a bit more finicky. But overall a very good multi purpose tire for street/strip.

Longevity was a season. But I raced and drove the car a lot! Which means lots of burnouts because burnouts are fun. And necessary.

 

I'm very interested in these, but they don't seem to come in the sizes I need

A friend ran Nitto NT-01's on his mustang, and really liked them for track racing, also looking @ the NT 555r's.

I've seen several places offer "heat cycling" and I'm wondering if it's worth it.

 

NT01s are good. What size wheels are you running out back? Can you go wider than 255?

 

If you don't want to sacrifice cornering/handling as you mentioned, then the Drag radial recommendation is a poor one. A better option would be to run an extreme summer in a wider width, like a 285 or 295. That would require a new wheel set though, so your next best option would be to just deal with a less broad heat range tire with reduced longevity and move to an R comp, either in a 255 or move to a 275/40 with the understanding that this will effect your overall gearing. This you may still find beneficial however, considering your output.

Nitto is the bottom of the barrel as far as adhesion in their particular category. The NT01 have proven to be just marginally better than an extreme summer on the road course and the NT 555 are about as sophisticated in rubber compound as your outdated RT615. They get hard fast and not going to be an improvement for you. These tires are outdated by todays current line up.

 

The cornering characteristics in a 40 series drag radial will be better than the traction characteristics in a summer tire at that power level.

What's more important? You'll have to sacrifice one or the other to an extent.

 

If you don't want to sacrifice cornering/handling as you mentioned, then the Drag radial recommendation is a poor one. A better option would be to run an extreme summer in a wider width, like a 285 or 295. That would require a new wheel set though, so your next best option would be to just deal with a less broad heat range tire with reduced longevity and move to an R comp, either in a 255 or move to a 275/40 with the understanding that this will effect your overall gearing. This you may still find beneficial however, considering your output.

Nitto is the bottom of the barrel as far as adhesion in their particular category. The NT01 have proven to be just marginally better than an extreme summer on the road course and the NT 555 are about as sophisticated in rubber compound as your outdated RT615. They get hard fast and not going to be an improvement for you. These tires are outdated by todays current line up.
[/quote]


I appreciate your input. To be honest, the RT's @ the time were a great tire, although I was only around the ~500whp range at the time, and when the car was down, and came back out, they had been sitting on concrete for almost 2 years...which in hindsight was a mistake, and now they are hard as a rock with the added power.

I'm not looking to go out and race it from light to light, but I am looking for something that will hold up in the upper gears, the car is a bit twitchy at speeds when boost comes on, and to be honest, that's no beuno for me, lol.

I forget the exact fitment of the rims, they are Rota Slipstreams *gasp*, but I can't recall the specs of the rim. I just remember reading years back when I bought them, the largest tire was a 255, before you'd get into the nonsense of rolling fenders, relocating bumper tabs/etc...the car has a mild drop with Teins.

So w/that said, what is a good recommendation?

Thoughts?

 

I'm ok with it spinning first, I mean I'm on a stock tranny (2nd one), and stock diff. If it spins a bit, I'll save parts. Outside a full on slick, I don't think I'll get past the spinning in 1st and 2nd realistically.

With that said, I'd like to keep as much "Cruising" and back road characteristics in place, go with something that is a good "all - around" tire, if there exists such a thing.

At this point, I'm going to keep the Azenis on the front, and just replace the back 2.

Fronts are 225/45/17
Rears are 255/40/17

 

At 700hp, that tire doesn't exist.

ANY recommendation will be some what of a compromise.

 

From what I have read a drag radial will hold the power but not be ideal for a guy carving corners. A summer extreme tire will handle well but def not hold that power. I'm not sure of you could ever go full throttle lol. Maybe in third or fourth gear. Boost by gear would be nice. R comp in a fatty size should be nice. Will hold better then summer extreme. Will wear a lot faster but if you only drive a few thousand miles a year it's not bad. I have had mine for 5 years now and 20k ish miles. I will only buy r comps. Either toyo ra1 or pilot sport cup tires. I like full thread r comps. The aggressive thread ones will be horrible in the rain. And let's face it you can get caught in it.