Need Tire Advice - 2013 Mustang GT
 

Hello All,

Looking for Tire advice for my 2013 Mustang GT which I just bought.

Current Setup
245x45x19 all round. Wheels are from American Muscle - 19x8.5 all round. All 4 tires need to be changed.

The previous owner gave me 2 used 245x45x19 with 7/32 tread from the same car before they changed the wheels. Pirelli P Zero Nero All Season.

New setup
Looking to keep the 245x45x19 on the front.
For the rear I plan to buy a pair of 275x40x19.

Where do I live?

I live in Miami Florida so I am pretty sure I need All Summer Tires.

What I need?

I need tires with good grip when it rains aka pours here. I mostly drive my car on weekends, say 75% highway and 25% city. Only Street Car. Will never be on track.

My research

I went to tirerack, and decided to use their recommendation guide, and they showed me below options.

Sumitomo HTR Z3
Kumho Ecsta Ps 91
Bridgestone Potenza S04 Pole Position

Not looking to spend $300 a tire on the Michelins.

Questions
1. Is the setup of 245x45x19 on front, and 275x40x19 on the rear fine? I checked the overall diameter, and it will be same.
2. Can i have different set of brands on front and rear (as I already have a pair of 245x45x19 for the front). If not, would it be wise to go 275x40x19 on all 4 tires?
3. Is the Sumitomo HTR Z3 a good tire? I have read mixed reviews about them on various Mustang forums.
4. Any other tire recommendations


Thanks.

Are you planning on going to a wider rear wheel? 275s fit best on 9.5" wide wheels. You can get away with them on 9s, but they will not work too well on 8.5" rims. Under specs for each tire you can also find the measured and max/min widths of rims recommended for each tire size on tire rack.

If you want to go staggered I would say do 255/40 front and 275/40 rear (but on a wider rear rim). This way you keep the effects of shifting handling balance towards understeer (due to more grip on the rear) to a minimum. It will still be there, but unless you push the car hard in corners you may not notice.

I have used Bridgestone Potenza S04 as well as Conti Extreme Contact DW. Both great tires with good summer grip and fantastic in the wet. Either one would be a good choice. I don't have any experience with the other tires you mentioned.

If you're interested in more details I wrote up a complete review of the S04s here:
https://themustangsource.com/forums/...review-532159/

I do not plan on going with wider wheels on the rear. I decided on 275x40x19, after reading multiple posts that they will fit fine on 8.5's. Now that you mention that it will not work on 8.5's I am super confused.

They will physically fit, but the sidewall will curl underneath, and will not perform as expected. This is why the manufacturer doesn't recommend using less than a 9" rim.

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

Look under the specs tab for "rim width range"

There is one member on this forum who tried that combination, and after a while stepped down in tire width to 255/40-19 due to how soft the sidewalls felt.

If I go with 255/40/19 then it would have to be all around, right? I wont be able to do 245x45x19 on front and 255x40x19 on the rear.

I guess I would be better of sticking to 245x45x19 as I still have a pair of 7/32 245x45x19.

You could if you wanted to, it won't be that noticeable. The rear would be a touch shorter than front though, which would be kinda weird.

right, i think i will try to see if i can find a pair of used 245x45x19 locally, and then when i change all 4 tires i would do 255x40x19 all around.

I ran 255x40 R19 on my stock wheels 19x8.5. They were Cooper zeon's they were not bad, but I have the Pole position now and like them better.

I would not recommend a 275 on an 8.5 wide wheel.

I moved from 255 40 19 Pirelli's to 275 40 Bridgestone S04's mounted on the stock Brembo 19 x 9" wheels. I like how they fill up the wheel wells, but the side wall is a bit softer. I am not sure if it is the make up of the tire, the slightly taller side wall or the fact that they are on the narrowest recommended wheel. They do curl under a little, but it doesn't look that bad to me. I am looking at 9.5 or 10" wide wheels to spread the tires out a bit more. I wouldn't try a tire in this size on an 8.5" wide wheel.

Add me to the list of people that wouldn't recommend a 275/40 tire on an 8.5"-wide wheel.
A 255/40 or 255/45 would be the widest I'd recommend for the 8.5 width.

If the current wheels are American Muscle reproductions, chances are they have 19x10 versions of the same wheels, and on those you could easily do a 285/35/19 tire with no bulging of the sidewall.

Let me point out the obvious..... one thing to consider if running staggered setup is the loss of tire rotation. Tire purchases will come more often.

Thanks for the advice peeps :)

Got another another pair of 245x45x19, so that I can use the use the 2 tires I had.

Will not be going with 275 on a 8.5 rim. Once I wear these out, I will be going 255x40x19 on these rims (19/8.5), unless I get a good deal on 10inch rims to run 275 all around. Staggered look option had to be taken off the drawing board for lack of tire rotation options.