karlmalone1

I will soon be purchasing the non-chrome 18 inch gt500 wheels from americanmuscle. I am going to be putting 285/40 tires on the rear and 255/45's on the front. My two tire choices are the goodyear eagle f1 supercars, and the bfgoodrich g-force t/a kdw2's. The goodyears offer more performance in the dry, but less in the wet, and they also cost less. The goodrich's are more expensive, and not as good in the dry, but have a longer treadlife and are great in the rain, as well as look awesome. So i'm in a pickle right now, and im just looking for some input as to what you guys would choose? Also, if anybody has pictures of the kdw2's on the gt500 wheel, i would greatly appreciate it, even though that's a long shot. Thanks

DarkFireGT

Looking at tirerack, the numbers for dry traction for both tires are very close. I have the KDW2s and from personal experience will tell you that they are fantastic on dry and wet pavement both. I have a modest amount of bolt-ons and 4.10:1 gears, and, unless I'm trying to, they do not break traction. I honestly haven't run into anyone with the F1's, so I couldn't tell you any personal experience, but everyone I know with KDW2s loves them. There's a reason Overhaulin' puts them on most of their cars, and why the majority of shop cars sport them as well. They're great tires. Plus the tread pattern looks wicked.

Poco

^^^What he said as far as the KDW 2's. They grab great on hard cornering and hook up on a hard launch.

Speeddmn

bfg's all the way, stay away from the goodwears.

Black331

I wouldn't touch anything with the name Goodyear on it..

I've driven a Mustang for a couple thousand miles with the KDW2's on it and they stick really well in the dry, and have incredible wet traction.

delz05

A friend owns a local tire shop. I am using chrome version of those GT500 wheels 18x9 up front 18x10 rear. He advised not using the Goodyear, has had a lot of warranty issues, most with premature wearing and not holding air. BFG, Falken and Nitto are the three suggested. I am going with the 255/45/18 up front (+45mm off-set) and the 295/40/18 rear (+50mm off-set). Tire choice will depend on matching availablity. Will post final choice and pics next week. Currently running 255/45/17 and 285/40/17 on 17x9 wheels.

Northwest GT

I'm getting a little low on cash right now, so wheels and tires are going to have to wait until summer. But, if anybody can tell me again what the magic tire size is to keep the approximately the same total diameter when you go tofrom stock 17" to 18" wheels, I 'd appreciate it.

By the way, I would also go for the BFG's.

StangNut

I guess I'm in the minority here. I haven't been all that impressed with the BFG KDW2's. The traction is good, I'll give you that, but it's not great. I've had much better. (Nitto & Bridgestone)

Also, when they were brand new (AND I had stock exhaust) they were VERY noisy. The smoother the road, the worse they sounded.

On a positive note, when they first came out, the tread pattern was cool to look at.

It's getting close to time for me to buy new tires and I won't be buying the BFG's again, but no matter what, I wouldn't recomend Goodyears.

07 HOSS Mustang

Northwest ,you dont need the same diamter tires if you like a taller one just make sure the fronts are CLOSE to the same diameter as the new rears for the ABS to work right. I think 10 % or so is the number for acceptable difference in diameter. Anyone here know for sure??? Taller ones will fill the fender well more and make it look better.....

Northwest GT

Larry, what I want to do is keep away from having to re-program my speedometer. So, I'd like to keep the total outer diameter of the tire on the 18" rim the same as my current tires on the stock 17" rim. I have the answer back there somewhere. I'll search on it. I think there is one standard tire size that comes pretty close.

Didn't mean to hijack the thread. I'll go away now. As I said, got no money to buy new tires right now.

Speeddmn

discount tire has a calculator on there site, just input your current tire size and then input the tires you want to buy, will tell you width, diamaniter and so forth.


EDIT:: A 255/45/18 is -.14 smaller then the factory 235/55/17