I searched the forum and got lots of my questions answered, but still have a bit more. I have the original 16x8 wheels on my GTA and have to buy new tires. You won't believe it but the tires are the original ones from 1991. Obviously I don't drive the car much, lol.

After reading through this forum I decided that going with 255s is probably not a good idea, although I'd like to hear some more on this. Maybe go 255/45 to keep the OD similar.

255/45 tires are very rare, in fact I can't find the suckers anywhere.

What I am really wondering about tho is whether I should go down to lower profile, to 245/45 from the stock 245/50 tires. Any serious problem with doing this (don't worry about the speedo, i don't care about that)? Pro or against?

Also, is there something fundamentally different about recent tire design over the old tires? My tires look like balloons, even tho they are 245/50, I want the wall to be more vertical, in line with the rim, not ballooning out like a hot-rodder, and new tires seem to look like this. I am looking into Kumho or Matador, I can get those for cost (very cheap Z rated tires).

Thanx for any help you can offer.

 

I ran 245/45r16's for a few months, because they were cheap. I have to be honest they looked stupid on the car. I ran 255/50zr16 BFG R-1's on the car for Auto x a few years back. The speedo was about 2-4mph slow, and the tires were kinda beefy. Right now I have stock size yokohama's AVS-ES100s on it. Looks good handles great, just my .02

 

I have the same question i got 16X8 alloy rims but i cant find decent P235/55r16 tires they are the stock size on my model are there any alternatives?

 

Yes 245/50-16 Its about the most popular size there is.

 

Ok thanx guys, I guess I'll stick with the original size tire..

How about my second question? Did something change in the way they make tires? I mean my tires look like they are ballooning out from the walls, but most tires today look like they are in line with the rim, real sharp looking. Furthermore, on the bottom of the tire new tires seem not to indent as much from the weight of the car, whereas mine have a big bulge even at high PSI. I can't articulate it better. Is it just that my tires are old models and look funny today?

 

LOL, my '91 Trans still has the original tires too! Just approaching 15,000 miles on it. I'm getting ready to put new rubber on it though. Still researching what to get at this time, but it seems things get complicated when size choices come in to play other than original (245/50/16x8"s). Doing a search here on tires brings up so many choices it makes my brain want to explode!

How many miles does your 91 T/A have?

 

Oh, my baby's got about 80,000 miles on it, lol.. The front tires are pretty much gone.. Like I said, this car has been only highway driven, no races, nothing like that, maybe a burn-out once a year for the ladies, but thats about it. At this point I can't drive the car in the wet at all, it slides around everywhere, they are like hard slicks, lol. In any case, new tires are going on before I put it back on the road this summer. I have decided to go with Matador 245/50-16 ZR, I get them for a great price. Of course going with Z rated is somewhat odd, but its whats available, probably only get 20,000 miles from those babies.

 

Well, the plus of having fat sidewalls is that if you run into a curb, you won't wreck the rim. Better the tire damaged than the rim.

I'm running Dunlop SP Sport A2s, which seem to be a good all-around tire although they don't particularly excel at anything. No complaints.

 

>>Well, the plus of having fat sidewalls is that if you run into >a curb, you won't wreck the rim. Better the tire damaged >than the rim.

Well, thats a great point Freeman, but I still love the look of the late 90's and up low profile tires. I am not a big fan of the 20" 30 series tires, those are kind of silly and even defeat the purpose, but a nice 275/40-17 would look great on the back of my car I think. 245/45-17 in the front and I'd be rockin. The profile would look the same for the front and back, its what I am going for.. but hey, I'll have to stick to the 16" since I have no money for new rims.

I am not really worried about hitting curbs, I've never been in any kind of accident even after 12 years of 30000+ annual kilometres. Just exellent driver I guess! <wink>

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by IROC212
[B]I ran 245/45r16's for a few months, because they were cheap.
You don't have any pictures of these do you. I just bought a set of Yokohamas with the same size, thought they might look good with the eibachs.

 

Freeman, heh. Guess that's what I deserve for using that avatar here

I wasn't referring to running into curbs at speed, actually. I meant parking at curbs, where most rim scrapes happen. You know, when you're trying to parallel park and you can't quite see where the tires are in relation to the curb until the car until you feel it. Usually happens at night.

 

You know, the 2 of you might be talking about 2 sides of the same coin. Many newer tire designs have a rim protector bead which sticks out to protect the edge of the rim from impacts and scrapes (nothing to do with accidents, involves curbs and other BS that you see way too much of around any major city), and those rim protectors cause the sidewall to stick out a little past the wheel which makes the sidewalls look more square rather then rounded.