Which tire 295/35/18 vs. 315/30/18

[Mike E]

I'm getting ready to order wheels and tires for my car. I want to be able to drive my car on these tires without fear of rain. I have a set of 275/60/15 drag radials to put on the car when I go to the drag strip, so no need for them on the 18" wheel. I want a tire that handles well and I don't want to have to pull to the side of the road if I get caught in the rain. I'm not concerned so much with hooking the power, but it would be nice to have some traction. I'll turn the boost down when street driving.

I can run a 18x11 wheel pretty easily on the rear. I am torn between a 295/35/18 BFG KDW2 or a 315/30/18 BFG rival. The KDW2 is a bit taller and would fill out the wheel well better. But I hate to not take advantage of the notched frame an extra room with a 315. But the 315 is shorter and there will be a bigger difference in front and rear tire sizes. I've looked at 305/35 and 315/35's and they are all either drag radials or autocross/road race tires.

I'm going to run a 245/40 on the front on an 18x9 wheel. Both tires are available in that size and it roughly matches the height of both rears.

So, which is a better daily driver type street tire?

 

[Slow91z]

NItto DR's, I never had a problem in the rain and I even had to do snow duty once and there is some semblance of traction when you roll into the throttle...Never used 18's though.

 

[coach]

Hell Mike,
Get some 24's or better yet...26's!!! Spinners...no knock-offs...and dont forget the under car neon...Hahahahaha

On a serious note...I really like the look of the BFGoodrich G-Force TA radials...I'm just not sure of the sizes.

 

[scot w.]

Mike,

I ran the KDW2's recently and they performed very well on & off the street and also in the rain...... The Rival will give you a bit better traction on the street vs the KDW2.... If it were me I would stuff the 315 Rival in there and try to match the front tire height as best as possible...

I know I mentioned in the past to avoid going over 25" tall for the front tires but these front tires dimensions is so minute over that 25" it shouldn't make a difference.

Here is what I found for Rivals

Front - 265/35-18 = 25.3" Tall
Rear - 315/30-18 = 25.44" Tall

 

[TurboTnZ06]

The street tire version of the Nitto NT05 is what I run on my Z06 which sees rain and roadtrips. Price is right and they have up to 295 in the 18 inch version. It runs slightly narrow, but whats a couple mm anyways.

 

[Mike E]

Mike,

I ran the KDW2's recently and they performed very well on & off the street and also in the rain...... The Rival will give you a bit better traction on the street vs the KDW2.... If it were me I would stuff the 315 Rival in there and try to match the front tire height as best as possible...

I know I mentioned in the past to avoid going over 25" tall for the front tires but these front tires dimensions is so minute over that 25" it shouldn't make a difference.

Here is what I found for Rivals

Front - 265/35-18 = 25.3" Tall
Rear - 315/30-18 = 25.44" Tall

I would do that combo. But, can I stuff a 265 up front on an 18x9 w/ 4.7 bs and baer t4 brakes?

Looking at tire rack, I dont see a rival in a 265. They have 245's, then a 255/30 (too short) then jump to a 275.

 

[BuickMike231]

If you want a good handling street tire do whatever it takes to make the Rivals work. They are amazing. I run the small 15" ones when I autox on stock T Type wheels and have never been beaten by another street tire car in my class. The few times I haven't taken first were to guys running Hoosier autox slicks. On these Rivals I've gone to the Good Guys autocross and placed 7th out of 33 late model cars, beating Camaros, Mustangs, Vettes, CTS-Vs etc.. They are awesome and totally street able, and work great in the rain. Ran two autox events in the pouring rain this year with standing water and all, never lost traction unless I got greedy with the boost trying to cut some time. Just my two cents!

Mike

 

[scot w.]

I would do that combo. But, can I stuff a 265 up front on an 18x9 w/ 4.7 bs and baer t4 brakes?

Looking at tire rack, I dont see a rival in a 265. They have 245's, then a 255/30 (too short) then jump to a 275.

I looked on BFG's site and that is where I seen them....

The 265 would fit best on a 9.5" wheel (possibly a 9") with at least a 5" Back spacing..... The reason for at least the 5" BS is due to the front wheels getting pushed outward 1/2" by the BAER brakes... That 1/2" has to be compensated somewhere...

 

[Mike E]

I called BFG and that size is not in production yet. They said it was not scheduled for this month. The cs rep said probably next month, but it
sounded like she was guessing. Too bad because that would probably be a good combination that would fit and be affordable.

 

[Mike E]

I looked on BFG's site and that is where I seen them....

The 265 would fit best on a 9.5" wheel (possibly a 9") with at least a 5" Back spacing..... The reason for at least the 5" BS is due to the front wheels getting pushed outward 1/2" by the BAER brakes... That 1/2" has to be compensated somewhere...

That's the first I've heard of using 5" bs or more. I talked to John at CCW and he told me the 4.75. I can't afford the ccw's so I'm going with a Weld RTS. I wanted a 18x9.5, but the only bs options were 4.2,5.2 or 5.7 (though I needed 4.75). I could get a 18x9 in a 4.7 so that's what I've ordered. You say I can do 5" min, so I assume I could use a 5.2 and at the minimum put a small spacer on it and I got a PM from someone with the baer brakes saying to do 5.0 or 5.25. I just ordered wheels two days ago, so I can probably cancel them and get 18x9.5 with 5.2 bs. If I do those, can I squeeze a 275/35 front (stock lower control arms and sc&c uppers, can't swing the ridetech stuff yet). I'm not afraid to take a heat gun to the plastic wheel wells or mod the steel part of the inner fender.

 

[tbone87]

That's the first I've heard of using 5" bs or more. I talked to John at CCW and he told me the 4.75. I can't afford the ccw's so I'm going with a Weld RTS. I wanted a 18x9.5, but the only bs options were 4.2,5.2 or 5.7 (though I needed 4.75). I could get a 18x9 in a 4.7 so that's what I've ordered. You say I can do 5" min, so I assume I could use a 5.2 and at the minimum put a small spacer on it and I got a PM from someone with the baer brakes saying to do 5.0 or 5.25. I just ordered wheels two days ago, so I can probably cancel them and get 18x9.5 with 5.2 bs. If I do those, can I squeeze a 275/35 front (stock lower control arms and sc&c uppers, can't swing the ridetech stuff yet). I'm not afraid to take a heat gun to the plastic wheel wells or mod the steel part of the inner fender.

I'm shure u could fab up some nice wheel wells!!!

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[Mike E]

I'm shure u could fab up some nice wheel wells!!!

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app

I've thought about it, but I've got to get mine done asap to get started on that other project you've probably seen.

 

[tbone87]

Ha ha!! Can't wait to start!!

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app

 

[scot w.]

That's the first I've heard of using 5" bs or more. I talked to John at CCW and he told me the 4.75. I can't afford the ccw's so I'm going with a Weld RTS. I wanted a 18x9.5, but the only bs options were 4.2,5.2 or 5.7 (though I needed 4.75). I could get a 18x9 in a 4.7 so that's what I've ordered. You say I can do 5" min, so I assume I could use a 5.2 and at the minimum put a small spacer on it and I got a PM from someone with the baer brakes saying to do 5.0 or 5.25. I just ordered wheels two days ago, so I can probably cancel them and get 18x9.5 with 5.2 bs. If I do those, can I squeeze a 275/35 front (stock lower control arms and sc&c uppers, can't swing the ridetech stuff yet). I'm not afraid to take a heat gun to the plastic wheel wells or mod the steel part of the inner fender.

John talked me into the 4.75" back spacing too but when I installed the BAER brakes they pushed each front wheel outwards 1/2" and that pushed the tire much closer to the wheel well lip so instead of sending them back in to be re-done, I just modded the inner wheel well and called it a day... So you can actually stay with the 4.74 BS but you might run into rubbing issues... I just thought if I were to do it again I would compensate that 1/2" in the back spacing putting the wheel back where it was before the Brakes.

 

[ttypewhite]

Mike, I run a set of M&H 325/40/18 on mine. Great stability and hooks unbelievably well. I looked into the same tires that you are with a 35 series tire. When I originally bought my Simmons rims, they came with that series tire on it. So I drove it around for a little bit to see how I liked it. I was not too happy with that selection. First reason being I have a 3 speed tranny in the car and that has it revving high at road speeds in 3rd gear. 2nd reason is the low profile tires are like putting a set of 4.56 gears in the rear. Absolutely a waste even at moderate throttle. So the M&H was my best choice at finding a happy medium and retaining decent hwy revs and all around drive-ability. The fronts are a little more tricky. I had to take a couple stabs at tire selection because the offset needed conflicts with the size you can run. I had tires hit the outer fender and rub inside on turns. I opted for a 245/45/18 for the front in the end. Adj coilover struts to level out the ride stance and your golden. Hope is helps. Here are some pics of the tires.

And the overall ride height without the rear coil overs installed yet. Still factory ride height in the back. I need to bring it down 2 inches and it will sit really nice.

 

[TurboTnZ06]

Drag radials aren't actually for the street. I talked to the M&H guys directly as I like to run their DR's on my 17's, and they said I was crazy driving 450 miles on them each way to race, since they aren't steel belted like a normal tire to absorb hits of debris, as they are purposefully made soft just for racing. Just throwin' it out there. M&H do hook well though but I didn't like them in the rain.

 

[Mike E]

I hydroplaned and wrecked my mustang in the rain on drag radials. It was years ago, so I've moved past the fear, but I definitely won't run them as my regular street tires. I do stll have my 275/60/15's drag radials when I need them.

I guess I'll wait for the wheels to come in and put them on the car to decide tire sizes. I would really like to do 275's and 315's.