my brain is hurting looking at tires. all the performace tires i see are too small in diameter.
i can't afford to give up any ground clearance. i want sticky summer tires to help cornering.
i don't feel comfortable putting anything wider than 235 (9.25") on my 8" rim.

any suggestions are much appreciated.

 

You need to get more comfortable with that idea if you really want any grip.

 

I suggest you buy wider wheels for bigger tires.

 

funds are tight at the moment so rims are out for now. i thought it was a bad idea to go over/under an inch of the rim size.

 

The more sidewall on the tire the wider you can go. A 15x8 rim can hold a 275 no problem. You can probably get 255's on a 17x8 and be perfectly safe. Most tires will give you an approved rim width with the other specs online.

 

You can fit a variety of tires on an 8" wide wheel, 245's and 255's will fit provided the sidewall is tall enough - what Bullitt said.

If your sticking with a 235 and currently have all-season tires, going to a summer tire will provide a dramatic improvement, moreso than just going to a wider tire.

Tires provide the biggest improvement in grip and if you get a chance, springs, dampners, and sway bars will help as well, they will mostly tame the high speed shennigans that the regular GT suspension suffers rather than improving overall cornering performance though.

Going to a wider tire doesn't nessecarily increase the amount of overall grip with the car, but it does provide an improvement in lateral grip since the contact patch bias changes. Well this is one school of thought anyways, the reason being, contact patch is (to put it simply) vehicle weight X air pressure.

 

that makes sense. the shorter the sidewall the steeper the angle. thanks guys.

i want to get a lower control arm for the wheel hop. lightweight K-Member/A-Arms, Coil-Overs are on my list.
as are headers (-10lbs), 13lb battery, hood. trying to shed as much front end weight as possible to attack the under-steer.

seems i have time to find tires since winter is not letting up