225/50/15 Tires almost gone

[GLHS-024]

What's everyone doing for 225/50/15 tires? Needing a set for a Daytona Shelby Z. All I'm really coming up with are Kumho Ecsta AST.

[cordes]

What are you looking to do with them? There are a few 225/50 and 225/45 sizes out there, but I wouldn't want to drive in heavy rain or year round with them. They also won't last forever.

[Rrider]

The ones with high treadlife are almost gone. Johnny found some Ecstas for a decent price on ebay, I think that is the best bet.. for as long as those last. Fast wearing ones are much easier.

[GLHS-024]

Just a good all around summer tire, with decent treadwear. Everything I'm finding is like a autocross tire. Local tire shops have nothing, and saying they can't get anything. Might have to start looking for a set of 16" pumpers.

[HSKR]

Maybe?? I have the 16" Ninja wheels for normal driving. Going to use my 15" snowflakes for snow tires.
http://www.onlinetires.com/products/vehicle/tires/maxxis/225%252F50-15+maxxis+ma-z4s+victra+95v.html

[marc]

What about a tire in the 205/55-15 range. I'm thinking of going with that size in a summer tire for my Daytona. Same revs per mile as a 225/50-15, perfect rim width with the 6 1/2 inch crab wheels, always felt the 225/50-15 was a bit to wide for the 6 1/2 inch crab wheels. Although thinner, I think it would have more grip due to the summer tire compound vs a wider All-Season tire compound. I was thinking of the Yokohama S.drive.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=S.drive&partnum=055WR5S&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

[Vigo]

205/55/15 is still available in decent selection but 225/50/15 is effectively gone as far as street tires. Time marches on so you'll either have to change tire or wheel sizes to get back in business.

[going4speed]

I changed wheel sized on my car. I just could not fathom using Kuhmo's. They are permanantly banned from my household after losing it on the highway many years ago on a set of Kuhmo's.

Anyway I went with 16x7 wheels with 225/50/16's on the lancer. I figured I did not want to have tires on the car I could not replace if we had a blowout or in the near future they completely stop supplying that size and I need a pair I would need to buy a set at that point. I figured by paying for the 16's I was paying it forward and buying some insurance in regard ease of replacement.

[contraption22]

Going with a more modern sized wheel would not be the most horrible thing in the world. 225/45/17's on a 17x7-8 wheel would fit fine on Daytona, and still give you plenty of meat.

[HSKR]

I changed wheel sized on my car. I just could not fathom using Kuhmo's. They are permanantly banned from my household after losing it on the highway many years ago on a set of Kuhmo's.

Anyway I went with 16x7 wheels with 225/50/16's on the lancer. I figured I did not want to have tires on the car I could not replace if we had a blowout or in the near future they completely stop supplying that size and I need a pair I would need to buy a set at that point. I figured by paying for the 16's I was paying it forward and buying some insurance in regard ease of replacement.
I've used a few sets of Kumho's on my truck. Nothing wrong with the tires. Of course all the ones I used were high performance rated. Actually the Kumho STXs I used are still some of my favorite tires I have run, but they stopped making them in the size I need for my truck.

[GLHS-024]

How do the 205/55/15's look on a Daytona? Hate to buy wheels right now, trying to spend money on the Charger.

[Reaper1]

Don't want to start a tire "p*ssing match", but I've never had any issues with Kumho, either. I've run a few sets of them and loved them all. Currently have Kumho XS 225/50/16's on my RPF01's (16x7). Provided the road and tires were warm enough they had cornering grip for days! I was impressed that they wore fairly well, too considering how soft the compound is.

[contraption22]

Ive also had good experience with Kumho's. Had a couple of sets of the old Ecsta Supra 712's and we've used several sets of Azenis RT615's on our Lemons car.

[jonnymopar]

I just happen to have my Neon wheels on my Daytona right now and they're Kumho Ecsta 4X 205/55R15 mounted on 15" pumpers from a Shadow. I'll snap pics when I get home. I think they look a little small with the larger ES ground effects, but on a Shelby Z, they'll probably look right at home.

I don't know how much power you've got, but with a 2.4L and a 555 with LSD, I'm right at the brink of traction in 3rd gear with that tire size. Granted they're all-seasons, not strictly summers.

[Rrider]

Hopefully it will be one of those deals where, once it gets narrowed down to a single maker. Then EVERYBODY will have to buy the Kuhmos. And there will be enough sales for that one tire to continue on. That is what happened to 8.75x16.5.

[marc]

So what do you guy think would give better grip, the Kuhmos 225/50-15 All-Seasons or the Yokohamas 205/55-15 summer tires?

[Reaper1]

What models specifically? Typically a summer only tire is a higher performance tire, but that doesn't always mean it's better.

[GLHS-024]

Only Kumho I'm finding is the ECSTA AST 50R.
Unfortunately I can't even get the Kumho's locally. I tried a tire shop in Ashland Ky, Huntington WV, and Prottorville Ohio they all told me their suppliers have 0 in inventory. I'll have to order online.

[Vigo]

AST is not really a high performance tire. I have some of those in 225/50/15. They are just ok. You can almost certainly get a more aggressive 205/55/15 that will perform better overall.

[marc]

Thank you Vigo, that was the answer I was looking for. My 944 Porsche also has a limited selection of tires too. I ended up putting on Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum Grand Touring All-Season 215/60-15. Its the right size for the car but just not a high performance tire. My 86 Daytona Turbo Z with a full 89 Shelby swap has Goodyear Eagles GT's 205/60-15. I'm no race car driver, but the Daytona is the better handler of the two.

[HSKR]

Dodge likes to use obscure tire sizes on it's vehicles for some reason. The stock size of 255/55/17 on my Dakota R/T are extrememly hard to find. Had same problem with the 2008 Charger I owwned before the divorce. I've found that if you actually figure out how tire sizes work you can find other sizes(I like to go wider usually) that keep the same overall diameter, as to not screw with speedo too much, that are more plentiful, and usually cheaper. Since my truck is lowered, I'm actually running a shorter tire on it right now. I run 255/50/17s which is the stock size for the 94-96 Impalla SS and the options in that size are plentiful, vs the two options in the factory size. Kind of the reason I went to the 225/50/16s on my Daytona IROC, and now my Spirit R/T. More options, and cheaper ones at that.

[jonnymopar]

Here's a 205/55R15 on a Daytona (car also has a 1" drop all around). Dunlop, Nitto, and Yokohama have some aggressive options in this size.

Rear:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o134/jonnymopar/daytona/DSCN3465.jpg (http://s119.photobucket.com/user/jonnymopar/media/daytona/DSCN3465.jpg.html)


Front:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o134/jonnymopar/daytona/DSCN3466.jpg (http://s119.photobucket.com/user/jonnymopar/media/daytona/DSCN3466.jpg.html)

Like I said, I think they look a little small on mine, but it's also got the larger ground effects. It also may be that I'm more used to seeing it with 215/55R16's on Shelby pumpers instead. You can always play around on here: http://tire-size-conversion.com/tire-size-calculator/ . Figure out what will fit without throwing your speedometer way out of wack (and even then, you could play with the different color speedometer gears).

[HSKR]

This is my go to tire/wheel calculator. I haven't found any others I like as much or that give as much useful info in an easy to read format.
http://www.dakota-truck.net/TIRECALC/tirecalc.html

[marc]

I'm going to assume this car has 225/50-15 on it. Both the 225/50-15 or the 205/55-15 do look a little small on a Daytona but stock is stock. It would kill me to use anything other than the Crab wheels on my Daytona,54272

[contraption22]

Don't ignore the tire manufacturers' recommended wheel widths for a given tire size.

[Ondonti]

Don't ignore the tire manufacturers' recommended wheel widths for a given tire size.

Love me some sidewall bubble :D

[jonnymopar]

Don't ignore the tire manufacturers' recommended wheel widths for a given tire size.

Are the crab wheels wider than 6"? Now that I'm thinking about it, 225 seems pretty wide on a 6" wheel.

[contraption22]

225/50's are too wide for a 6" wheel

[Reaper1]

Love me some sidewall bubble :D

Nah man...I want to use ALL of those 185 tires' tread...gonna stretch them onto 10" wheels! ;) :thumb:


Are the crab wheels wider than 6"? Now that I'm thinking about it, 225 seems pretty wide on a 6" wheel.

There are 6" wide AND 6.5" wide crab wheels. You have to look at the back to see what the casting says or measure it.

[Ondonti]

225/50's are too wide for a 6" wheel

I am going to stick with your first comment and follow the recommended 6" rim on 225's per manufacturer :D
Especially with the ET Street-R tires.

[contraption22]

I am going to stick with your first comment and follow the recommended 6" rim on 225's per manufacturer :D

If the MFR says its ok, I'm sure it would be safe. But I'll stick to the opinion that is less than ideal.

[4 l-bodies]

I am going to stick with your first comment and follow the recommended 6" rim on 225's per manufacturer :D
Especially with the ET Street-R tires.
What Chrysler vehicle besides maybe very early G-bodies came with 225's and 6" wheel? The Shelby Z's that had crabs and 225's came with a 6.5" wheel. As did the #'d Shelby vehicles that had 225's. Even the 88 CSX-T that came with had 205's had a 6.5" wheel. I agree with Mike and others, 225's on a 6" wheel is far less than ideal from looks to performance. Here is another shot of 205/55/15's Dunlops on Lemans wheels (6.5"). Stock on this vehicle was 205/50/15's. IMO, the P-bodies with 205/50/15's look too short.
Todd

[marc]

I think the first G bodys that got the 225/50-15 were the Daytona's with the C/S package. That got you the 255/50-15 tires, 6.5 Crab wheels, 1.25" front sway bar, a larger rear sway bar, and gas shocks (commonplace today).
If you go to Tirerack web site and look at the specs of a 225/50-15 tire they have a rim width range of 6 to 8 inches with a preferred width of 7 inches. The 205/55-15 tire they have a rim width range of 5.5 to 7.5 inches with a preferred width of 6.5 inches. I need to stay with the 6.5 crab wheels. Chrysler should have made a 7 inch pizza wheel for the C/S, I like the look of the pizza wheel over the crab wheel!

[Ondonti]

What Chrysler vehicle besides maybe very early G-bodies came with 225's and 6" wheel? The Shelby Z's that had crabs and 225's came with a 6.5" wheel. As did the #'d Shelby vehicles that had 225's. Even the 88 CSX-T that came with had 205's had a 6.5" wheel. I agree with Mike and others, 225's on a 6" wheel is far less than ideal from looks to performance. Here is another shot of 205/55/15's Dunlops on Lemans wheels (6.5"). Stock on this vehicle was 205/50/15's. IMO, the P-bodies with 205/50/15's look too short.
Todd

Talking about ideal FWD tire combinations that basically don't exist anymore is fairly ridiculous. I consider it benchracing that nobody would put their $ behind on some very stockish FWD cars. Start equiping high end tires on serious cars and maybe its gonna matter. Telling someone to choose a tire based on their potential to one time race in an autocross is hard to justify. I have driven on some extreme bad tire combinations and even that is not a big deal if you are aware of what that does to your vehicle control. That is why I mentioned to someone not to run small tires in the rear and giant ones up front. You can, but fair warning mr drift guy.

Ideal looks...I don't think that exists with a car, especially with a FWD dodge. Vigo loves his cars super low. Most people here seem to hate that. Saying a car should look exactly like what the easiest available tire and suspension mods were 10 years ago is wrong. That is all gone except a few group buys.

BTW, a lotta guys run 24.5x8x15 slicks on 6" wide rims and thats 1" below recommendation. Oh well! If I was running in a competitive racing class I might run a 10" rim on that thing but for my real life, it doesn't matter.

[Vigo]

I think tire diameter and lowering are attached at the hip. If you don't lower, you need a bigger tire diameter. Or, if you want a small tire diameter, you have to lower it to make it look right.

Lowering options are basically the first thing any car community gets straight. Any community but this one, i mean. :p I think the lack of any respect being paid to the interplay between lowering, tire sizing, wheel fitment, etc is why hardly any of these cars end up looking aggressive.

Back in the mid 80s nobody was using very wide wheels on street cars because noone was making very wide street tires. 225/50/15 was a big deal in 1986, and they're the main reason an 86 c/s is basically the most aggressive looking daytona.

[marc]

In post #24 the point I was trying to make that even a stock 86 Daytona Turbo Z C/S looks a little funny with the 225/50-15 (23.9 inch diam) where a 205/60-15 tire fills up the wheel well better. The goal for my car is to remain stock appearing. The only thing look wise the 205/55-15 will be slightly narrower tread and I can live with that for the added grip. I think the thing that makes the gen 1 Daytona Turbo Z look aggressive no matter if its a C/S or not is the side skirts/front air dam. It give less space between the body and ground making it look more "lower" than actually is.

Remember in the 60's and 70's the aggressive look was to jack up the rear, put on N60-15's with Cragar S/S and than Center Line Wheels in the late 70"s. How tacky would that look today!!:yuck:

[HSKR]

In post #24 the point I was trying to make that even a stock 86 Daytona Turbo Z C/S looks a little funny with the 225/60-15 (23.9 inch diam) where a 205/60-15 tire fills up the wheel well better.

I think you got your numbers wrong. A 225/60/15 is a taller tire and will fill up a wheel well better than a 205/60/15. I think you meant 225/50/15

[marc]

I think you got your numbers wrong. A 225/60/15 is a taller tire and will fill up a wheel well better than a 205/60/15. I think you meant 225/50/15

Thanks HSKR, I edit my post.