What to Buy When Ready for new 17" Tires?

[John Boothby]

I just put a new set of GS-D3's on my car and they are great. I love them and the looks too. I just returned from a Cedar City, Ut car show and had rain for about 75 miles including the Virgin River gourge which is nice and twisty. The tires held up great at speed going through there. The only drawback is expense and the rears are hard to find. I paid $241ea for the fronts and $348ea for the rears at Discount Tire.

Good Luck!

[tomtom72]

Ray, I vote for the Khumos for your use.....and this is from a 2 time GSD3 user. If you don't do any wet work then no need to spend the dollars on tires for those applications like the PS2's or the D3's.

just a fwiw the last set of D3's went 32k on me before I replaced them, funny thing was that even as worn as they were, 3/4 worn, they still worked in the wet. I tossed them because they were 7 yrs old and I had some front bushing issues causing the out side shoulders to get a bit wiped. Another thing I noticed was they have a great resistance to scalloping if you push them fairly hard. I had none on mine. They are expensive and hard to get if you need them at the wrong time in G/Yrs production schedule, but for my money they are worth the price. JMHO.


Tom

[ammrpm]

Another tire that is currently available in our stock sizes is the Nitto NT05. I just put a set on my car and they work very well. I don't really drive the car in the rain so I can't give you a good evaluation there. They are a good tire at a good price. About $800 for a set.

[C4Fan]

Thank you everyone. I appreciate you all taking the time to share your experiences with me.

[evl_twn]

I'm looking at options for tire replacement also. My Z sat for several years after having the rears replaced (PO never drove it) and they are currently GSC's with a 2000 date code. I put new fronts on when I bought the car in 06, and the fronts are F1 GS D3's. I've got a vibration in the car, and it gets a lot worse above 75 mph, so at the very least I'm going to replace the rears and have the front tires road force balanced.

My question is this - I've looked around at tire pricing and availability, and I want to switch to the Pilot Sport PS2's, has anyone had issues with the wider (335) rears on an otherwise stock wheel/suspension setup? Are there any issues with running the PS2 rear with D3 fronts, until they're worn?

Edit: wanted to add that I'm in IL, so the car sits for 3-4 months out of the year due to crap weather. The tires sit on a treated floor though (epoxy coated) but the car sat from 2000-2006 on bare concrete. I'm guessing that's what started the tire issues, and I've always had a slight vibration, but it's time to do something about it.

[ScottZ95ZR1]

Originally Posted by evl_twn

My question is this - I've looked around at tire pricing and availability, and I want to switch to the Pilot Sport PS2's, has anyone had issues with the wider (335) rears on an otherwise stock wheel/suspension setup? Are there any issues with running the PS2 rear with D3 fronts, until they're worn?

Several guys run 335 rear tires on stock wheels with no problems that I'm aware of. Check out this thread: http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread....ghlight=pilots

[tomtom72]

evl, This may be from left field on the mix & match tread patterns & brands.

This is jmho, but I'd think carefully about what you're thinking of doing. The PS2's have a sharper initial bite upon turn in than the G/Yrs. The biggest complaint about the G/Yrs is that they "feel" slow on initial turn-in. I kind of think that the carcass construction is perhaps causing this, the shoulder doesn't roll over quickly so the tire feels slow vs most others. I would expect that the PS2's on the rear could yield a slight bias toward over-steer, where the fronts respond slower than the rears on initial bite. In the dry this would proly be so slight that it could be a non-issue......I'd be a bit more concerned in the wet. The tail may actually slide more than the fronts due to the differing water evacuation methods of each tread pattern.....again, I'm only saying in 'theory' because I've never driven on PS2's. I compare notes with all my C5 & C6 buddies that use the PS2's.

sorry I'm not making too much sense trying to dissuade your mixing brands & tread patterns. It's like this as I see it: both tires are good at what they do, but they get there by different routes....that is due to matching carcass construction to tread pattern to get a result. The issue ( to me ) is will the grip & response be the same from both ends of the car? Specially in the wet.


Tom

[XfireZ51]

Check the Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta or General UHPs.
These get great reviews and reasonably priced.

[mlotruglio]

I work at a Discount Tire Co in Charlotte NC, we have put nitto 555 on a few ZR1s including mine. Nobody has comeback with anything bad to say. They stick really well I have about 3k on mine now and cant see any wear yet. Nitto 555 gets my vote all day long!!!!

[SteelBlueZR1]

I just bought and installed Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta in oem sizes, and after driving 75 miles in all conditions, I can say these are a great deal for $826 shipped from Group A Wheels in New York. The tires have received universally rave reviews on other boards, have a 280 treadwear rating, are super quiet, smooth riding, great traction in corners and no tire spin ever. What a refreshing change from the original Gatorbacks that have been on my ZR1 for 20 years! Shipping took 1 day, and the tire's tread pattern is really unusual, but makes the car look particularly exotic.