Tire selection

Which tires? 235/60-15

  • Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/T

    Votes: 2 50.0%
  • BFGoodrich Radial T/A

    Votes: 2 50.0%
  • Cooper Cobra G/T

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    4

pkschul

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2002
My 86 GN hasn't seen the road in 12 years and the tires are looking a little long in the tooth. I've decided to replace them. Car will be 95% cruiser and only has very minor mods. I'm planning to take it on a 500+ mile road trip this summer so I'm looking for good handling highway characteristics. It won't see ice/snow, but more than likely will hit a rain storm so wet traction would be good. Working on a budget and I think I want to go with 235/60 15s all around. I think I've narrowed down to my top 3 choices. Please vote, or if you have strong opinions about anything, let me hear your concerns. Thanks!
 
When I bought my car it had 235/60 BF radial TA in the front and 255/x (can't remember the aspect ratio) on the back. I'll look at the aspect ratio when I get to the shop tonight as I still have the tires. They performed well and hooked surprisingly well on the street on a car that was in the 12.7 range at the time.
 
Oh and the OWL on a GN is killer in my opinion. If ET Street drag radials came with OWL I would buy them lol
 
Thanks for the feedback. I was considering going a little wider in the back, but I'm also considering being able to rotate the tires. Hmmm.
Excuse my ignorance but what is "OWL"?
 
245-60-15 BF Goodrich out back always looks stock with a tad more beef then the front..
 
Thanks for the feedback. I was considering going a little wider in the back, but I'm also considering being able to rotate the tires. Hmmm.
Excuse my ignorance but what is "OWL"?
OWL = outlined white letters. I have 225/60/15 BFG TA's all around. Being able to rotate them was a plus. They were good for just cruising. The only downside is even with the few bolt-on's I have now, traction is terrible. They're useless in 1st and 2nd if I nail it :D. I have a set of MT drag radials waiting to be mounted but I'm a little bummed that I'll need to flip my front BFG's around so that the white lettering is on the inside...
 
Tires are cheap and if you enjoy driving these cars enough there is no point in rotating all 4 the standard way. You will be replacing the whole set more often instead of just 2. Now if you a mild mannered driver my point has no merit.

Just looked and both my 235 in the front and 255's in the back were 60 aspect ratio. I also remembered the OWL wrong...they were solid white letters. I still liked the look. When clean it gave a nice little pop to the otherwise black hole

I now have 295/55/15 drag radials on the back :D and I'm going back to 215's on the front. Yes I like that "raked" look
 
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I respectfully disagree. Some people like the ability to rotate.
 
I respectfully disagree. Some people like the ability to rotate.
Man I'm sorry I didn't mean to be argumentive. I should have qualified my statement. In the "scope of things" tires are cheap. Especially when you get them at cost, and mount and balance them yourself. When you abuse tires the way most of us do I can't seem to think you really get much more out of your money by rotating them.

When you burn tires, or drive aggressively (lots 1/4 mile testing in mexico with friends) your eating rubber. Whether you replace them twice as often in pairs of 2 or half as often in sets of 4 makes no difference. The end result is the same. Difference is more meat out back might let you win instead of spin. Cost difference isn't a point. 235/60/15 vs 255/60/15 price is within $1 per tire my cost. I just looked.

As long as the tires are not directional you can just rotate the fronts side to side to help eliminate the wear caused by braking since the tire is stressed in only one direction on non-drive tires. Make sure alignment is right and you shouldn't have wear issues.
 
Man I'm sorry I didn't mean to be argumentive. I should have qualified my statement. In the "scope of things" tires are cheap. Especially when you get them at cost, and mount and balance them yourself. When you abuse tires the way most of us do I can't seem to think you really get much more out of your money by rotating them.

When you burn tires, or drive aggressively (lots 1/4 mile testing in mexico with friends) your eating rubber. Whether you replace them twice as often in pairs of 2 or half as often in sets of 4 makes no difference. The end result is the same. Difference is more meat out back might let you win instead of spin. Cost difference isn't a point. 235/60/15 vs 255/60/15 price is within $1 per tire my cost. I just looked.

As long as the tires are not directional you can just rotate the fronts side to side to help eliminate the wear caused by braking since the tire is stressed in only one direction on non-drive tires. Make sure alignment is right and you shouldn't have wear issues.
No worries. It wasn't taken as being argumentative. What you say is true, many here burn the rubber off their tires like there's no tomorrow. In those cases I completely agree with you - many need stickier tires with more meat in the back to get any kind of traction. That's what I have the drag radials for. But there are others that don't drive that way and benefit from being able to rotate to extend tire life. That's the only point I was trying to make.
 
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