Are these tires, to be frank, shit?
 

So...I've been thinking of getting 17" wheels instead of 18"s..mostly because I found these dirt cheap tires, which would end up saving me a lot of cash and I would be able to buy some H&R super-sports with the wheels.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....R7HTRZ&place=2

Buut, usually with cheap prices come cheap quality, so anyone have anything to say about these tires?

other than those, I don't see many tires that are significantly to 18's, so unless I can save a few hundred $$ by getting 17's then 18's, I'll be getting 18's

It'd be 800$ for 2 17x9's and 2 17x10.5s (FR500) and H&R SS's from AM, and about 400$ for those tires.


This is mostly directed to zigg since he seems to know everything about tires. lol

haha..I know a bit.

well you would be getting the same setup I have with the same tires.

The Sumi's in the rear won't last as long as the fronts...I have found that the 315's start at a tad under 5mm off of the tops of the wear bars. The 275's measure a tad over 6mm. Starting with less than 5mm on a tire with a tredwear rating of only 160...it's not going to last very long...I got a shade over 10,000 miles on my first rear set...that includes 4 or 5 burnouts...I would imagine w/out the burnouts you might see 20k miles or even more. Well, you would be replacing the right rear the most I suppose :kekekegay: lol. The first set of fronts I had were only half worn at 10k...then I had a flat and just replaced both of them and used the older good one as my spare.

I drive agressive in the corners ...so tires dont' last long for me anyway.

The best thing...for the size these tires are, they are CHEAP!

so...they may not be as grippy or as long lasting as their much more expensive counterparts...but bang for the buck can't be beat in those sizes.

you'd have to pay twice as much or more Premium brand tires in those sizes.

in conclusion...

Sumi's for the 275/40-315/35 crowd...FTMFW

Alright, and you do a lot of hard cornering in your stang, so I suppose they can grip the road pretty well?

And what about wet traction..that's my only downfall, being in Florida. hehe

I'm planning on getting struts/shocks/braces/etc,etc later in the future, rather make it turn well then attempt any go-fast bits

They grip well enough that I am contemplating the need for more supportive seats.

The only wet traction issues I have is during take off. drive smart in the corners in the rain and you have nothing to worry about. Wide ass rear tires like the 315's can hydroplane easier than a less wide tire. It's never happened to me though...it rains good and hard here in Georgia.

your plan of attack with your car is similar to mine...chassis and handling before power.

once you get yer car handling well...get Cobra brakes.

Alright man thanks, 17's it is then.


Now I need to go job hunting, hahaha.

no prob.


Good luck wit de job. I may be in your shoes here soon.

Thanks

You mean these brakes?
http://www.americanmuscle.com/ford-r...onversion.html

yeah basically...but the anniversary Cobra brakes with the red calipers would look sweet behind some black FR's.

Ah.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/10th-a...onversion.html

100$ extra to have them look cool, haha.


Okay, now you need to explain to me some suspension shayit.

After I get the wheels/springs on, my shocks are probably going to need replacing...after helping put a coilover suspension in my friend's little civic and seeing the huge difference it made in cornering, I got to get my hands on some, haha. I see some struts/shocks going for around 50-80$ each, and then much more expensive packages by brands like Bilstein and Tokico for about 600$ I assume there's a significant difference in performance in those because of the huge price gap, right? I really have no clue what to look for in shocks/struts besides them being stiff to keep body roll to a minimum, but other than that I'm like:confused:

Once I got that taken care of I guess a strut tower brace and maybe sub-frame connectors and I should be good on the suspension stuff.

I suggest you use MM HD spec Bilsteins for shocks and struts. Bilsteins are VERY well made and last forever almost. I've had them on the last 3 vehicles I've owned and I'll never use anything else if I can help it. your stock shocks were not designed to operate at a lower ride height...so they may wear faster than normal and Bils or Toks work better with the springs overall, they better control the stiffer springs you will have. I don't have a STB...so I cant comment on that. MM full length SFC's are a nice choice...but I hear there are cheaper ways to go about that...ask R3d. I could not believe how much the SFC's changed the overall feel of the car...awesome mod!!!

Alright man, what's the best place to go for the Bilsteins? AM?

I bought directly from MM. dunno if that was the cheapest but only they can sell you the MM spec HD Bils...I don't think you can get them elsewhere. the shocks and struts are valved per MM's specs just for our cars...its a beautiful thing! call them up...they are the Mustang suspension Gods.

Alright man! if I can land a job within the next 2 weeks the wheels/tires/spring should be on in September and then the rest is just downhill from there, hehe.

My brother has these (275 up front, 315 in back), they look super-freeking wide, on his 01 GT Silver Vert, with some 3.73's he had no problems with traction at all. (I once took it out for a spin on this setup and those tires are sticky) However, he now has a kenny bell pushing only 6psi of boost making ~350 brake horsepower, and I took it out yesterday and can spin the tires accidentally. So, at your point in mustanging with a v6 they should be fine.
/rambling
AND correct me if I am wrong... but these rims do NOT have 'rim/lip protectors' In other words, there is no extra lip of rubber made for the lip of the rim, it just kind of goes down and into the rim, so curb rash could be a problem. (After prolly 10+K miles my brother has no rash... but he drives it like his baby when it comes to not hitting things X_X)

^^ Alright man thanks for the additional info.

As for the curb damage possibility I'm not too worried, I don't cut corners much

tire edge rim protectors are for girls. lol. you only need them if you drive or park like an idiot...they aren't gonna save you from any real rim damage anyway. hell, come to think of it...most Bimmers I see have that on the tire...Bridgestones usually...and almost every one has curb rash.

Okay so after a little research and calcuating I can either:

Buy wheels off AM, tires from tirerack, and have them mounted & balanced locally for:
$1,083.59


OR

Buy wheels & tires from AM and take advantage of their free mounting&balancing for:
$1,038.36

So..assuming AM doesn't treat the wheels like shit, and puts hidden weights on the wheels, I might just go with them. But I haven't heard anything about their mounting/balancing service.

It would save a lot of time and waiting though to have the wheels shipped with the tires already on em, though :D

by hidden weights you mean stick-on weights...as in the ones that are NOT clamped on the rim edge. MAKE SURE wherever you take them to be mounted and balanced uses STICK-ON weights. Make sure thats what AM does as well if you decide to have them mount and balance them for you.

Stick on weights provide better accuracy for balancing and they have no chance of damaging the rim edge. plus clamp on weights look like shit.

If you have AM do everything and then ship them to you...when you put the wheels on you will need new lug nuts, as the ones you have are the straight through type...they will work, but look bad because they are not meant to be exposed. I just bought the lugs used on the cars with Bullitt style wheels. Also...torque your lugs to 100 ft/lbs.

Yeah, for lugs I was going to go with black ones & 4 locking nuts from AM.

And yeah I meant stick-on weights, didnt know what they were called.

yeah black lugs will look sick with the black FR's. goos choice. I hadn't thought of that. make sure the locking lugs they sell are good...cause some are cheap and the locking portion(the part the special socket fits onto to turn the lug) is not thin, or small....make sure its good material. I have seen these strip out a lot on the cheap ones.

I sure as hell hope they aren't cheap quality because it's 15$ for 4 of them little bastards.

They look nice anyway
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c..._1956_26913601
:boink:

Okay so I have everything set in stone now

Grand total is going to be $1,327.95 for the 4 wheels, tires, 20 black lugs, 4 locking black lugs, and H&R super sports.

That's like, 13 chin spoilers.

Hahaha

And I'm debating between FR500 or running pony centercaps, but I won't get those till later.

Those lockers look very tough.

I suggest running Pony center caps cause they have a black background. When you say FR500 caps do you mean the Ford Racing ones or a different type?

Yeah the FR caps with the silver background

thats what I have...I dont think they would look good with black FR's with black lugs. at least the Running Pony ones are a black background.