Kotobuki

Living down here in Texas, they have annual safety (and where I live emissions) inspections to keep the junkers off the road. Part of the safety inspection is (reasonably) the tires. My stock 235 Pirellis are running on the wear bars on 3 out of 4, so there's no way they're going to pass inspection (which is due by month's end). That actually probably leaves me enough tread depth to run em a couple more months, but I don't have that option.

Most of the tire threads I see on here are about 20"s, and then 18"s, so I thought I'd put this out there. I'll be keeping the stock wheels, which I rather like, and think complement the car. This means I'm pretty limited to a choice of sizes, 235/55 or 255/50 by my best guess. I need to drive the car year round, and there are a couple days a year in Houston where the temperature gets low enough to nix a Summer tire choice (besides, I might want to take a road trip to chilly places). I don't have a tuner or anything to correct for a larger diameter tire than stock, so (as much as a hair more sidewall would look good on it) I'm looking to stay away from those. Besides, most of the ones I've found seem to be truck tires.

Obviously, I could put the stock Pirellis back on, which I really don't have any complaints about. If there's a tire out there, though, that's significantly better for a not significant difference in price, I'm all ears. Mind you, I bought the car used at 23,500 and the tires looked fairly fresh then (maybe, though not necessarily new) and I'm about to turn 50,000 19 months later, so I need a set of tires that'll last that long at least (25,000ish, if I managed 50K on them that would be okay too)... I don't want to replace tires every 10,000 miles.

That said, I'm kinda liking the idea of the slightly wider 255/50s for a slightly more aggressive look, and some of them (in the rather limited selection on TireRack) are only marginally more expensive than the Pirellis, and show similarish numbers.

What I'm looking for is, basically, suggestions of High/Ultra Performance All Season tires in 235/55/17 or 255/50/17 so I can go comparison shopping next week. Price is a factor, so I'm not really looking for $200/a tire, but I'm not trying to kill myself running a $80 S rated tire either.

I thought about posting some options that I'd come across up here, but I don't want to really color anyone's judgment. Anyone else actually keep their 17"s and put some new tires on them?

825LTRGT

I am in a similar boat and bought a set of the stock 17s from NewTakeOff for the winter so the stock polished 18' don't get bad during the winter (I live in the rust belt and my '08 is a DD).

If you are happy with the stock Pirellis, give them a look. A set of 4 235/55/17's are $349.

Kotobuki

That was one option I was considering. If you don't mind though, could you read and post the manufacturing date code from the tires they sent you? Information on what to look for is here. I'm just concerned about possibly ending up with old tires that have been sitting around forever. There was a great news story about how much more likely old tires are to fail than fresh tires.

825LTRGT

They are in between the 13 and the 45 week of 2008.

Hope this helps.

TakeOffStang

Out of the take-offs. They are brand new sticker tires from them now @ that price

ChrisM

I just put a set of General Altimax HP on my 2005 with stock 17" wheels. They got rave reviews on Tire Rack and were reasonably priced and locally available. Here's the link to Tire Rack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

97svtgoin05gt

PM if interested. I have a set of brand new concept rims with tires. They were taken off the car about 2 weeks after I got it. I'd be willing to do a good deal.

I-70 west

I`ve been considering these, let me know what you think of them.

Kevindust

Just putting it out there but tires are the single most important aftermarket dollars that you'll spend, way too much cheapness is going on.

Desoter_Stang

When I bought my 05 GT way back in Nov 04, the dealer gave me a "tires for life" guarantee, I really wanted a set of the Black bullitt wheels but hey free tires are free tires. So I opted for a set of 17x9s which the 235/55 stockers fit on very well, fast forward 5 years and Ford has discontinued this "promotional" tire guarantee (I got 2 sets @ 25k & 50k so not a total loss). Well a month ago it was time for new tires (just about 75k on the car) and I was gonna drop a bundle on new wheels and tires as I wanted to go wider and lower profile, however as this car is a daily driver I wanted to keep the same size at each corner for rotating. I was just about to pull the trigger on a set of 18s and 255/50s when the fellow at Les Schwab showed me a set of Toyo 275/40-17s that fit the car perfect, look great handle well and cost a lot less than new wheels and tires.

ChrisM

They've only been on for a few hundred miles but they ride great and handle well in the rain. I'm pleased with my purchase.

I-70 west

275/40/17 are an inch and a half shorter than stock, they wouldn`t fill the wheel well. If anything I`d go a little bigger, but there just not available in 17.

Desoter_Stang

Actually after lowering the car they fill the wheel well perfectly.