I just received my hypercoated FR500's! I have a very important question:

I have the Cobra-R front bumper on my car so my car sits a lot lower than stock right now. My current rims are 17x8 with 245/45/17 tires & my FR500's are 18x9. I was told that if I put 265/35/18 on the FR500's, that the entire car will sit around about a quarter of an inch lower. The older tire/rim setup is 652 mm, the new will be 643 mm. I was also told that with the new tire I'll have more of a 4x4 look. It would be nice to lower it an inch in the future, but with it already sitting so low and the new tires making it even lower, I'm concerned that I won't be able to lower it because of no ground clearance. If the new rims/tires are dropping it 1/4" and I put springs on it that drops it another inch, that's a total of around 1.25" which I'm not to sure about.

What I was thinking about:
If I take the new tires from a 265/35/18 to a 265/40/18, the car will actually sit higher. The old rim is still at 652 mm and the new one will be 669. (+17 mm or a little over half inch higher). So if I drop it an inch with new springs. My car will only sit a half inch lower than it sits right now instead of 1.25".

I'm just not sure the /40/ tires will look alright or look to "thick". Thoughts? Opinions? No I won't take the Cobra-R bumper off lol

 

As a FYI, the 2000 Cobra R ran a 265/40/18 . . .



You could always run some springs that don't drop your car as much, such as Vogtland (which is what I run on my Mach) and you shouldn't have any issues regardless of the size you choose . . .

 

Cobra R

 

I've called around and no one can seem to get me a matching set of 265 & 285 tires lol. A lot of places said they will call me back because this isn't something they keep in stock. Some places said I will have to go with one name for the front and one for the rear.

Has anyone heard of Sumitomo II tires? AmericanMuscle has them for $161 and they will mount and balance them at no cost and no taxes since I'm out of state. I really want to keep my budget low. It would be nice to spend $300 bucks on name brand tires, but I don't have that lol. But I want something that I'm not going to be afraid to drive down the road and have something happen to the tire especially at high speeds. I also want something that looks good. The tires will only get around 400-500 miles per year driving only to and from car shows.

The tires I have now on my Bullitt's are Yokahama's, been on their for 8 years and still look new.

 

I'd go to Discount Tire and get these...
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...w=false&cs=265

 

Those aren't to bad... the only problem I'm having is that if I ordered my rims from American Muscle and my tires from somewhere else, I'd have to pay $30 per rim to mount and balance (I've called everywhere and they all want $30). If I purchased both my rims and tires from AM, they mount and balance free, free chrome valve stems, no sales tax and free shipping. They also have Nittos for $215, but the Sumo's are only $161.

 

The Sumitomos are popular because they are grippy and yet reasonably priced. They are not poor quality IMHO. I've never owned them myself but I did buy a set of Cobra wheels from a wrecked 03' Terminator and that guy had them on his car. They do sell alot of them I think and they are making a name for themselves for being a good value in a sticky tire.

 

On my last car, a couple years ago. I bought a set of Falken 912's. I did some research on who made the Falkens. I found out Dunlop, Falken Tires, are of the 'Sumitomo Rubber Group'. I guess they are good tires.

 

After reading your post and researching, it also looks like they are in some kind of an alliance with Goodyear which would be a good thing. I originally thought they were just small cheap knock offs, but the company dates back to 1909.

 

is meaty a tire size?

 

What about the Nitto 555? A lot of Stangers run them. I've run them on several cars and they handle and stick very well. If you buy the tires from Discount Tire they usually cut anyone a pretty good deal mounting and balancing if you buy the tires there. You don't have to explain anything about the wheels you bought elsewhere.

If your worried about the 1/4" difference in overall tire height consider this...if you install the tire on your car you cut that height in half which is an 1/8" difference. That isn't going ruin your lowered stance at all.Don't sweat the small stuff,your springs will settle at least 1/8 to a 1/4 inch low.

 

You have a good point lol... I'll see how much lower my car sites after these new rims are on... that'll determine how much of a drop I can give it. I think I'm going to go ahead and get the sumitomo tires because I've been reading on their site over the past couple hours and it seems like a very good company. They own Dunlap and falken tires and are in an alliance with GoodYear. On the site they have a timeline of major company events dating back to 1909. The company has really grown a lot.

 

Dave, Sumitomos are pretty good tires. Because I've run the Nittos I'll probably run those. If you've done your research on the Sumitomos you'll see they back their warranties. Post pics when you get them installed.