18, 19, & 20" replacement tires ...

[dougmac]

I know there have been a few threads on TIRES that I could have added to, but I wanted to start fresh ...

Anyone shop for replacement tires yet ??

The 18" size (245/55-18) appears to have never been used on a production car as neither TIRE RACK or DISCOUNT TIRE DIRECT have ANY listings for this size.

For the 19" size (245/50-19), only ONE replacement pops up on TIRE RACK and it is a Yokohama Advan S.T. Street/Sport Truck "Summer" tire with a W Speed rating ... $206.00 each.

For the 245/45-20, only 7 results pop up DTD and 12 on TIRE RACK:
2 MP Summer car
2 UHP Summer car
1 Summer truck
2 UHPA/S
2 HPA/S
1 GTA/S
2 A/S truck

For the 275/40-20, only 7 results pop up on DTD and 21 on TIRE RACK:
4 MP Summer car
10 Summer truck
4 A/S truck
2 Snow (V rated)

The 20's have an ok selection (not much for A/S unless you want truck tires), but for the 18/19" sizes GM better either build a TON of Camaros or start putting these sizes on OTHER cars so we eventually have a decent selection of tires to pick from !!

Factory 18 & 19" tires will be "T" Speed rated "Touring Tires" ... Touring tires are for SEDANS and MINIVANS !! Although I suppose they are following suit as this is what Ford puts on the V6 Mustang.

A sporty car with 300+HP on tap like the Camaro should have at least "H" speed rated HPA/S tires; "W", "V", or "Z" rated UHPA/S or HPA/S tires would however be better yet !! If they don't come from the factory, you should at least be able to get better performance tires later on. This being the only car at this time to use these tire sizes, the only replacements for a long while will more than likely be O.E.M. replacement or equivallents from other tire manufacturers.

I really LIKE the fact that Chevy decided to put these large diameter tires on this car because it gives a decent section height (distance between rim & road) for real world driving while giving the wheel sizes everyone THINKS they need ... the shortest section height of all the factory tires (275/40-20) is 4.331" which is the EXACT same section height as the last 2002 Z28's 275/40ZR-17 !!

The 18's have a section height of 5.305" ... the performance tire most 80's Mustangs GT's came with were 225/60ZR-15 which had a 5.315" section height ... losts of rubber between rim & road !!

Doug

[zebra]

$206!! that's it?!

that's a bargain, considering the tires i'm used to buying are that or more easy, but then again, those are for trucks

[dougmac]

$206 for a "W" speed rated passenger car tire is a bit steep IMO ... I'd hope for something in the $125-150 range.

On tire rack, the 275/40-20 range from ...
$144 for a "V" speed rated truck A/S to
$448 for a "W" speed rated MP Summer

and the 245/45-20 range from ...
$115 for a "V" speed rated HPA/S to
$389 for a "Y" speed rated MP Summer

Those 2 bottom end tires would not be a matched set.

The cheapest 20" matched set would be Yokohoma Parda Spec-X ("V" Speed rated Street/Sport Truck A/S) ... $144 rears & $149 fronts. These also have a decent 420 A A tread wear rating AND are the TOP rated tire in this catagory @ TireRack.

Doug

[Vash]

Sumitomo's are my favorite. Cheap and really a good Japanese made tire.