Calling Ken C.... Need a recommendation...

[Jon99TARamAir]

The firestone firehawks have 37k miles on them and will need replacing soon! Any recommendations on a simular wet handling performance tire! ! !

Thanks,,, Jon

[Joe 1320]

While for Ken's response, I though you might want to read a little.


I loved the SZ50, but dry grip went away after the first 1/3 of the tread wears off. The SZ50ep I don't think was much better. It was still a good tire for the money, the rain performance was great. I think I've found a replacement that is even better for similar pricing:

http://www.f-body.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10546


I've had various Goodyear tires and have had mixed feelings with them. These so far are the best Goodyear tire I've tried. Now I'm just curious how the tread wears and now the perfromance varies with tread depth. Right now, they outperform the SZ50 in the dry and in the wet they seem equal. They look more aggressive and are a little wider in section width too.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

More stuff for while you wait. I've been happy with my BFG KDWs (not KDWSs).

[Jon99TARamAir]

I've owned a lot of Goodyears in the past for my other cars, but wasn't ever impressed with their performance tires. The F1 were my second choice when I was looking the last time, but understood that their wet performance wasn't very good. BFGs were my third choice. I'm not racing my car, but still looking for an overall good (wet and dry handling) performance tire. Since I have a pretty good relationship with my local Goodyear dealer, I may be leaning towards the F1's.

I think Ken C. is busy breakin in the new GTO! I'm in Albuquerque, New Mexico on business and wish I had the bird here. Lots of open country! ! !

[wolfdogs]

goodyear is overpriced and over rated... (no offense... the dont like me either, my testing resulted in the re design of the first aquatreads that failed to meet the claims by a long shot... , both in water shedding and treadwear UTQG numbers)

the new Firestone Wide Oval is the sz50 line upgrade replacement..........


ok......

bye yall.......

i gotta git off the puter and out side.......

[Rhode Island Red]

Here is what I can find on the wide oval

A press release: can be found here


The picture : can be found here
and $144 at Tirerack

Other than that I dont see no reviews on the tire by users ... too new I guess

[Jon99TARamAir]

Thanks Ken and others. I've already been to TireRack. I have a few months to figure out what I want to get!

Time for me to order some more ZXF for the bird.

Ken... Enjoy the new GTO! Good thing it doesn't have a T-Top.... you don't have that much hair left to loose!
HAHAHAHHAHA

Duckin & Runnin

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

A Tirerack rep on another board said that they haven't been able to test it yet due to winter weather. They should be getting to it soon.

I've been doing some searching, but find anything past what has been posted already.

[Joe 1320]

goodyear is overpriced and over rated... (no offense... the dont like me either, my testing resulted in the re design of the first aquatreads that failed to meet the claims by a long shot... , both in water shedding and treadwear UTQG numbers)

I've had Aquatreds, Gatorbacks, GSCs, F1s and haven't liked any of them. Well, that's not entirely true. There were certain aspects of each tire that I did like but somewhere there was always a fatal flaw that made the rating as a whole not so hot. The Aquatred was stellar when new in the rain. It wore like crap. The Gatorbacks were decent in a straight line but lost it in the turns along with being noisy. GSCs were one tire I couldn't really find a redeeming quality. The tread looked pretty good.? F1s didn't really float my boat either. Just like the GSC, the F1 seemed to be OK right up until they broke loose. The breakaway wasn't gradual, it was abrupt with little warning. These GSD3s don't seem to be like the others. The part that I've yet to see is the treadwear. If that goes OK, I'll have a better opinion of Goodyear.

I've had Cooper too. Back during my divorce I needed a couple of sets to get me by. The PEP Boys Futura Ultra Z is made by Cooper and isn't a bad tire for the money. When new I managed to cut a couple of 1.9 60' times. They didn't have the ultimate grip of a dedicated maximum performance tire, but one set lasted me 40K miles! And I wasn't completely gentle with them either. If I put lots of miles on a car, I would consider these again.

The only issue I had with the SZ50s was the grip went away quickly as the tire wore. They felt a little squirmy when new, but hooked great. The squirmy feel goes away as you get down toward 50% tread and so did the dragstrip type grip. They still cut though water great down to about 1/3 tread and then to me, the tire got pretty worthless. I still have a set with a little over 50% tread and these new Goodyears have much more stick in back to back comparison. I just can't hook with the SZ50s anywhere near as well as the GSD3s which do not have any of the squirmy feel that the SZ50s do when new.

[TraceZ]

Just like the GSC, the F1 seemed to be OK right up until they broke loose. The breakaway wasn't gradual, it was abrupt with little warning.

No crap. That abrupt breakaway cost me a 1 year old 10,000 mile Z28 once. It let loose on an onramp and I was not able to get it back. I went down the ditch and through a fence. It was totalled.

[SteveH95Formula]

I've got the Goodyear GSD3's as well, I had them installed the tire pressure in the back was about 38 PSI I lowered them to 29 PSI and got much better dry traction. The fronts I left at 38 just to have lower friction and they don't wander over roads too much. I'm pretty happy with them so far.

[Joe 1320]

No crap. That abrupt breakaway cost me a 1 year old 10,000 mile Z28 once. It let loose on an onramp and I was not able to get it back. I went down the ditch and through a fence. It was totalled.

I can relate with several instances of similar situations only I narrowly escaped any impacts. A terrible tire at the limit. GSCs on my Vettes weren't any better with an IRS. I swapped ends a couple times in those too.

[RocKin1967]

get some gator backs...... lol