[whitelt1]

I live in South Florida where we get a lot of rain and I'm looking for the right balance between performance and resistance to hydroplaning. I definitely dislike the stock Goodyear F1 all season runflats on my LT1 because I'll feel a little sliding when I go from dry road at 50 mph to the road being suddenly wet at night due to sprinklers and I feel that whenever the roads are wet, I have to drive like a grandma.


I was almost considering buying wider wheels, but I was turned away from doing that as I heard wider tires can make you more likely to hydroplane. I am also considering Continental DWS06+ for tires (I only want all season). What are your thoughts on tiring sizing and what tires do you recommend?

[arpad_m]

Like everything, this is a tradeoff, too. Wider tires on wider wheels will afford you more grip and cornering capability, but wider rears may step out more easily on our cars and may be more prone to tramlining.

However, the stock Goodyear runflats are spectacularly bad and not representative of a proper street tire that you can actually use in the wet, especially as temps get colder. Don't let this experience alone steer you away from wider tires.

For example, I have Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, much wider than stock, and have zero issues with hydroplaning or wet traction, I can drive almost the same way in a downpour as I do when driving like a normal person. Continental also makes excellent tires for our cars, these are both quiet, ride much better and have no issues in the wet.

My recommendation would be to first just get some takeoff SS wheels and get proper tires in stock SS sizes, which will already be a tangible improvement over your stock LT1 setup. Then if you want still better dry traction and/or look, you can step up to SS 1LE / ZL1 sizes later (but that will cost you much more and you may never really need it, hence my recommendation). The ultimate is ZL1 1LE sizing that is even wider (on 19" wheels, though), but unless you race the car, you'll never need that.

[BatMobileLT1]

+1
The Continental DWS06+ is a great choice and as arpad noted will be *much* better in the rain (and everything else!) either at the stock size or at SS wider rear wheel/tire size. So if you want wider don't let the poor wet traction of the run flats scare you off.

I went with the stock SS wheel/tire sizes w/DWS06+ (see signature) and have had no issues in the rain with them.

I didn't have luck finding rear SS take offs so I went with https://midwestwheelandtire.com/ that has good selection of Camaro OEM wheels.
Good luck!

[whitelt1]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

Like everything, this is a tradeoff, too. Wider tires on wider wheels will afford you more grip and cornering capability, but wider rears may step out more easily on our cars and may be more prone to tramlining.

However, the stock Goodyear runflats are spectacularly bad and not representative of a proper street tire that you can actually use in the wet, especially as temps get colder. Don't let this experience alone steer you away from wider tires.

For example, I have Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, much wider than stock, and have zero issues with hydroplaning or wet traction, I can drive almost the same way in a downpour as I do when driving like a normal person. Continental also makes excellent tires for our cars, these are both quiet, ride much better and have no issues in the wet.

My recommendation would be to first just get some takeoff SS wheels and get proper tires in stock SS sizes, which will already be a tangible improvement over your stock LT1 setup. Then if you want still better dry traction and/or look, you can step up to SS 1LE / ZL1 sizes later (but that will cost you much more and you may never really need it, hence my recommendation). The ultimate is ZL1 1LE sizing that is even wider (on 19" wheels, though), but unless you race the car, you'll never need that.

I believe the tire setup on the SS if I'm not mistaken is 245 front and 275 back. The LT1 is 245 on both front and rear. Do you believe there will be noticeable benefit switching from 245 to 275 on the rear and keeping the front wheels?


Yeah I can't believe how they put such horrible stock tires on. My father's stock Michelin Pilot A/S 4 runflats on his C8 Corvette are way better runflats.



Now switching from runflat to non runflats, do you carry a spare tire on you or a patch kit at all?

[BatMobileLT1]

Originally Posted by whitelt1

I believe the tire setup on the SS if I'm not mistaken is 245 front and 275 back. The LT1 is 245 on both front and rear. Do you believe there will be noticeable benefit switching from 245 to 275 on the rear and keeping the front wheels?

Yeah I can't believe how they put such horrible stock tires on. My father's stock Michelin Pilot A/S 4 runflats on his C8 Corvette are way better runflats.

Now switching from runflat to non runflats, do you carry a spare tire on you or a patch kit at all?

Yes - just upgrading the rear wheels gives good benefits (and great bang for the buck!).
See my post at: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...8#post11343108
for some info on going with staggered vs square setup.
Yeah - the run flats are terrible, the only good thing about them IMO is since they are so heavy when you replace them with wider wheels & better/wider tires you can still reduce unsprung weight!
And yes to both, I got an inflation kit in case I get a flat now. (but if going on a long enough trip and have enough room I will throw in one of my old 8.5" rear stock wheel with run-flat as spare tire).

[Christian1LE]

The only right tires to drive in the wet are proper rain tires, not street tires that are also good on the track. ie. Hoosier wets. If you're using regular street tires you're always going to be gambling a little bit, you really have to slowly build into it and not risk any areas where the water tends to pool up or the track surface is different.

[ctrlz]

I will recommend BFG comp 2 plus all seasons for the Florida rain. My son had them on his G37 for 4 years in Ft. myers and they served him well. Technically it wasn't the "plus," but that's what they sell now. I also have them on my SS here in South jersey.

[whitelt1]

Originally Posted by BatMobileLT1

Yes - just upgrading the rear wheels gives good benefits (and great bang for the buck!).
See my post at: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showt...8#post11343108
for some info on going with staggered vs square setup.
Yeah - the run flats are terrible, the only good thing about them IMO is since they are so heavy when you replace them with wider wheels & better/wider tires you can still reduce unsprung weight!
And yes to both, I got an inflation kit in case I get a flat now. (but if going on a long enough trip and have enough room I will throw in one of my old 8.5" rear stock wheel with run-flat as spare tire).

Yeah I'm definitely going to consider rear SS wheels and keeping the stock LT1 wheels (haven't done enough research, but I'm assuming the front wheels on the SS and LT1 are identical). Great post by the way and it makes a lot of sense to me why staggered is better.



Now excuse my stupidity here, but I'm a bit confused as I heard that the speedometer can be off? I'm not sure what it is I'm hearing, but I think I either heard that it was just people putting bigger tires on smaller stock wheels and/or that changing the wheels can also cause speedometer accuracy issues due to the car's electronics being set up for only stock conditions. Do you know anything about this?

[whitelt1]

Originally Posted by Christian1LE

The only right tires to drive in the wet are proper rain tires, not street tires that are also good on the track. ie. Hoosier wets. If you're using regular street tires you're always going to be gambling a little bit, you really have to slowly build into it and not risk any areas where the water tends to pool up or the track surface is different.

It's not a bad suggestion at all and it surprises me a bit because I never heard of anyone bringing up rain tires before. Though it's not a route I want to go on because I'd like a performance orientated all season tire that has better capability on the rain than stock or other "ultra high performance" all season tires. I'm not exactly looking for the best tires in the world that deal with rain. But hey, I did learn something here.


And hey you're absolutely right, street tires are indeed more of a gamble in the rain. When I first moved to Florida years ago, I remember a couple scary incidences where I had some sliding from puddles while making turns (not anything crazy fast) and partially lost control but regained before I almost hit a curb. I feel that I have built up the knowledge and skill over the years to spot hazards from wet roads and deal with it.

[whitelt1]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

I will recommend BFG comp 2 plus all seasons for the Florida rain. My son had them on his G37 for 4 years in Ft. myers and they served him well. Technically it wasn't the "plus," but that's what they sell now. I also have them on my SS here in South jersey.

I appreciate the recommendation. Sounds like a good tire, but from what most tell me from all over, they recommend the Continental DWS 06+. I feel that this tire has built up a better reputation.


Out of curiosity, when did you decide to switch to those? Did you immediately swap your stock SS tires or did you wait until the stock tires wore out?

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by whitelt1

Yeah I'm definitely going to consider rear SS wheels and keeping the stock LT1 wheels (haven't done enough research, but I'm assuming the front wheels on the SS and LT1 are identical). Great post by the way and it makes a lot of sense to me why staggered is better.

Now excuse my stupidity here, but I'm a bit confused as I heard that the speedometer can be off? I'm not sure what it is I'm hearing, but I think I either heard that it was just people putting bigger tires on smaller stock wheels and/or that changing the wheels can also cause speedometer accuracy issues due to the car's electronics being set up for only stock conditions. Do you know anything about this?

You are not stupid at all, Sir. Here is a good guide for tire sizing: https://tiresize.com/comparison

All you need to do is input your current and desired sizes, and it will tell you every difference incurred, including the speedo display. As you can see in my screenshot below, the overall diameter (height) difference in your case would be approx. -0.4%, which is hardly detectable. These websites aren't 100% accurate and they can't be, because nominal vs actual tire sizes vary by manufacturer and load etc., but they're good for reliable ballpark estimates.

Make sure you also consider wheels, not just tires, your car came with 8.5" wide wheels and trying to fit a 275 or 285 wide tire on those is ill-advised, hence the recommendation for takeoff 9.5" SS rear wheels.

The rule of thumb with the 6th gen Camaro is that you are okay with changing wheel/tire sizes as long as you 1) don't go crazy, because the wheel well or the suspension will be in the way, and 2) keep the aggregate front-to-back difference from stock at or under 3%, otherwise the ABS and Stabilitrak systems will throw errors and may stop functioning correctly.

To illustrate this "~3% rule", say, you make the front tires shorter by 1.4% and the rears taller by 1.1%, then the total difference is 2.5% and you're good. Make the fronts 3.5% shorter and the rears 1.5% shorter, the resulting aggregate difference is 2% and you're good again. However, if you, say, increase the front tire height by 3% and decrease the rear by 1.4%, the overall delta is 4.4% and you're in trouble.

(Note also that practically every car overcorrects speed a bit from the factory, indicating higher than actual, so if your new wheel/tire choice results in a slightly lower than actual displayed speed, it may actually be closer to the truth. This isn't the case with stock SS rear sizing, though.)

Finally, once you're comfortable with the basics, the Koenigsegg of wheel and tire sizing websites is www.wheel-size.com, you will be able to tweak every little detail and see all aspects of the changes your new sizing brings.

[BatMobileLT1]

Originally Posted by whitelt1

Yeah I'm definitely going to consider rear SS wheels and keeping the stock LT1 wheels (haven't done enough research, but I'm assuming the front wheels on the SS and LT1 are identical). Great post by the way and it makes a lot of sense to me why staggered is better.

Now excuse my stupidity here, but I'm a bit confused as I heard that the speedometer can be off? I'm not sure what it is I'm hearing, but I think I either heard that it was just people putting bigger tires on smaller stock wheels and/or that changing the wheels can also cause speedometer accuracy issues due to the car's electronics being set up for only stock conditions. Do you know anything about this?

Sure - and there is really no concern about speedometer impact changing to the 275/35/20 rear size as it is so close to the diameter of stock rear tire (-0.4%).

See a few posts above mine on that link to this great calculator https://tiresize.com/comparison link and sample output posted by arpad.
The concern with speedo impact is really only for changing overall diameter up or down by larger %'s (some people have changed by +or-2% or more).