Buck268

Well, in the process of bringing the '89 WS6 back on the road I'm going to have to replace all four tires soon... Unfortunately it seems 245/50r16's are amoung some the more expensive tire sizes about. Does anybody have any ideas for a good, economic tire for this car? Good traction and handling is desirable, as is good tread life; but a fairly durable quality tire is virtually a must. I've been running BFG traction t/a's on my Vic for a few years now and find them to be an excellent tire, to give some perspective.

Tire rack isn't being too helpful, as the only really low-cost tire they seem to have is that Kumho Ecsta AST. I've heard good things about Kumho's, but it looks like those tires would get me stuck in a gravel parking lot, and I do love to blast down the back roads and even hit the fire trails when the oppertunity presents itself. Right now I'm not sure if I'll be using this car as my daily driver or if I'll get the Crown Victoria back on the road; they both get abysmal mileage but insurance is cheaper on the Ford, but I digress...

8T9 BANDIT

just bought sumitomo htr-z 255 50 16 for the back and the 245's in the front, came to a little over $300 for them shipped. i was gonna go with bfg's but they would have been another 150 or so.. i havent received them yet i just ordered them tues..

krisb410

iTrader: (9)

I have the Kuhmo Ecsta AST's now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with them. I drove with them in the snow, rain, dry. I haven't got a single complaint about them.

coolram62

iTrader: (2)

I have Summitomo HTR-H4 235/55-16's all the way around.I know they are a size smaller than what you are looking for but so far they are very responsive and quiet(usually don't get both).I haven't driven in the rain(my '83 doesn't see rain)but they are highly M&S rated.Like 8T9 bandit,mine came from Tire rack direct shipped to Tire Kingdom for a little over $300.

Buck268

The only reason I shy away from smaller tires on this car is the reduced ground clearance. I always scraped the hell out of my Camaro, and have really enjoyed the couple extra inches my Vic has; especially when I go up to the firetrails and what not. Otherwise I'd be all over it, since it can only help the granny-geared rear end on this thing! On the plus side, The Ecsta ACT's are just a hair over $420 out the door at discount tire...

patgta

I have the Kuhmo ECSTA Supras on my 88 Trans AM. If you want a good performance tire and your on a specific budget then get a set of these. I am going on my second set now and have been pleased with what they have to offer.

They are summer tires so you won't be able to drive them in snow, I once did with just 2 cms (about 1 inch) of snow on the road and i probably won't be doing that again.

In dry conditions even on the back roads (i drive the trans am camping up north sometimes) the tire are very good and stick to the road like good tires should. In the rain these tires are very good again, and i'm able to say that i trust these tires (i personally don't trust many tires in wet conditions).

And finally for duriability this is the single aspect that made me decided to invest in my second set of kuhmo tires. To make a long story short, last summer for some reason my front tires lost their alignment and i had the alignment done that spring when i received the tires (my dad probably took the car for a cruise around the block and hit something or fell in something, when i was out of town, which later turned out to be true) and i didn't really notice throughout the entire summer that my tread wearing out prematurely. So one day in early fall, i was driving back with my girlfriend and the road noise was just getting to me (it was getting worse from one month to the next) so i decided to pull over and check the front tires. And man, what did i see, on the outer side they were pretty fine, on the inside there was almost no steel belts (there are two on these tires) left and of course no rubber. It turned out that was driving on a time bomb for about a month and extremely luck not to have blown a tire especially on the highway. My bestfriends uncle who owns the shop where i get all my car needs done and is also tire specialist to say the least. (they work on nissans to ferraris) And he basically said luck and the kuhmo tire saved you from an accident.


So.....Just getting the message across you won't go wrong with buying a set of kuhmos weither you buy the summer tires like i have or the all-seasons like some of the other guys have mentioned earlier.

Pat