Noob topic: Money aside, Best tires for '97 Camaro.

[Deoxyribonucleicvitriol]

Pretend money is not a problem... what are the best tires for my money? I searched the forum and found a tire topic... seems like every guy in the world has his own idea of which tire is best.... I need some solid options, then I'll just choose based on looks.

Questions:
1) If I get good "racing" tires or whatever... am I going to lose the tire faster?
2) Are there tires that have awesome traction and very long life... or are they inversly proportional (good traction = short life, or long life = worse traction)?
3) What are tires vs. wheels? I always used the words interchangably until reading on here.
4) I hear that bigger wheels/tires are definately better on this car. Should I get 18s all around, or is it better to get the 17front/18back thing.... I think I'd like to be able to rotate my tires normally.
5) Are the only good rims the C5s and the Z06s or are there other classy options? ...Those are all I see people talking about on here.
6) If there are other good rims... where can I look at them/buy them online?

Thanks tons tons tons! I'm learning loads on here!

[ReodDai]

1. Yes
2. Inversly proportional. Higher the performance the shorted the tire life.
3. Tires are the rubber part, wheel is the metal. You put a tire on a wheel.
4. Depends on what you want to do.. if you want to drag get some light weight 16s. If you want to autocross some 17s would possibly be better.
5. There are thousands of rim/wheel possibilities. Go to discount tire and look through their 5 foot thick catalogues.
6. See above.

[Deoxyribonucleicvitriol]

Alright... -_-' what are the best tires for longevity regardless of price. I'm sure there are only a few that are considered extremely good.

Also... what is a good site to look at rims? Man, I wish these fit the Camaro [img]tongue.gif[/img] http://www.aewheel.com/images/categories/203.jpg

[ReodDai]

They have rims like that that will fit lol. My rims are for trucks. Take that picture to discount tire and I'm sure they could find something atleast similar that will fit your car.

As for your tire questions go do some research at www.tirerack.com

['94firebirdv6]

man...you need to read up some more
if you want tires w/ very good tread life your gonna have crappy traction...Kuhmos Ecsta(supra or MX),BFgoodrich Indy 500s,Perrellis(sp?), Goodyear Eagle F1s are all good performance tires: good traction and grip, high speed ratings, poor tread wear. If you just want longevity and dont care how well your car sticks to the road(not a good idea) then just get the standard Goodyears, Firestone, etc. basically what comes stock

as for rims obviously 16" comes stock and ppl upgrade to 17s or 18s again for performance but mostly looks. the stock rims are only like 8" wide but many people put 9.5",10",10.5" wide in the rear for added traction
practically any wheel with a bolt pattern of 5x4.75 will fit our cars
C5s,Z06,Eagle 077,Eagle 185, Torque trust IIs,Smoothie IIs are the most common wheels found on F-bodys agian for looks

as for rotating your tires...probably not gonna happen b/c even if you do have 17s or 18s all around you will probably not have the same width in the rear as you will in the front for ex. if you put 10.5" wide wheels in the back and 9.5" wide wheels up front you could not rotate them just make sure you have you car aligned when you put new tire and/or new rims on your car

[V6Bob]

"what are the best tires for longevity regardless of price"

Almost nobody on this site picks tires like that. Mostly they pick for looks/performance/low price.

But, if that's _really_ what you want...

I run Michelin Harmony as my winter tires. (I have a beater for snow) 215/60-16s are a little more than 100 each. Decent traction, 80,000 mile guarantee. Highly rated on tirerack.

Bridgestone Turanza LS-Ts are another tire in the same league. The new Michelin HydroEdge may be a bit better.

Most people here would hate any of these just because of looks and trading traction for tread life. But they fit what you asked for, and they work better than most high mileage tires.

[speedy-v6-camaro]

Look into Potenza S03's. They have it good all around....and I can confirm that.