Tires

[rdorman]

In a 15" tire tall enough to fill the fender wells, Yoko is the front runner. Although the Firestones are picking up steam! I to had a real problem putting a Yokohama tire on my Cobra... just didn't seem right. But, I get over it every time I drive it. Excellent crusing tire and very good in the wet as well. I think a couple of mine required no weight to balance at all!

If you don't care about driving in the rain, tire life over single digit thousands miles, rock chips, hunting, the first few miles of 'flat spotting' ,etc... I highly recommend the Hoosier TD. I drove on them for two years on my car and they are LOTS of fun! I did not find them hard to live with at all and I dropped over 60 pounds of unsprung weight compared to the BFGs that where on the car. Amazing how much difference you can feel when dropping that kind of unsprung weight.

If you truly want a ultra high performance street tire (ie you can actually drive in the rain, DOT, etc) that sticks well in all directions, is typical of the sizes we run (so you don't end up with the empty wheel well look)... there is nothing that fits the bill in a 15". Really, unless you can fit ultrawide tires, north of 300, you have a real tough time coming close to the heights of the OEM tires even in a 17" rim. If that matters to you.....

Hoosier also make a ultrahigh performance radial in a couple of compounds but they are short (in the 15" sizes at least). I guess you could lower the car to make it look better and they would stick like glue. The A6 & R6, but these are also dry weather tires only. The have a good wet radial as well but you will need to go up in rim size.

The classic big letter goodyears are a excellent choice. They look GREAT but they have the same sort of issues you get with the TDs, except they are full tread and you can drive in the rain. If you are willing to live with the compromises, they are a great choice.

Of course then you could always have a set of slicks grooved......

[Excaliber]

Goodrich TA's, the most dangerous tire you can run on a Cobra. They have NO traction, there a virtual joke. WHY do people still run them?

As stated above: Low cost, look cool, I wouldn't let a set get anywhere near MY Cobra.

[ack fia]

I can attest to the poor reformance of the Goodyear GTII's. They are just ok on a dry street but wet is dangerous. A wet race track is down right scary with them. I gave up on a trackj day in the rain because the car was so scary with GTII's.

[Burnd]

Originally Posted by mzhun

I just went to the track this weekend with Radial T/A's and it was a joke, no surprise! I can now drift with the best of em!! I am now looking for something with more grip but am limited with the 15 inch rims.

Consider a set of M/T Sportsman S/R's for the front and put a set of M/T ET Radials on the rear and I will be surprised if you don't lovem. You have a multitude of sizes. I dumped the the T/A's (worst tire I've had) but i wanted 26"s tall to match the heigth of the TA's and still utilize my 8" rim on the front with my 10" rims on the rear. I put 255 50 15's on the front and 275 50 15's on the back and what a ride. They look good; handle great on the street and although I only got one pass at the track on Saturday before they threw me out; my 60ft was a 1.52 coming off the tree at 2500. With some experimenting I know I can get that down further. I like the blackwall look too, or I should say it suits my car well. From the front they are an eye catching tread pattern with a little bit of an attitude. Having said that; you can only expect about 8000 miles on the reat ET's but you will get normal wear on the front with the S/R's. Just a suggestion.

http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/street.html

(It just occurred to me; your track and my track may be two different type tracks: mines a 1/4 miler at full bore)

Bernie

[autoxmike]

Originally Posted by mzhun

I just went to the track this weekend with Radial T/A's and it was a joke, no surprise! I can now drift with the best of em!! I am now looking for something with more grip but am limited with the 15 inch rims.

Matt,
I have a set of wheels and tires for track/autocross. Tires are Kumho V710 265/45/16 on all 4 corners. I wanted a wider rear tire but that is the widest V710 16" tire. The wheels are from Diamond Race Wheel (16"x10" Avenger line) in Milwaukee (www.diamondracingwheels.com). They make inexpensive race wheels with any offset you need. A fairly inexpensive combo. Not very pretty but it was effective at the track. Probably the cheapest way to improve lap times per dollar that I can think of for most cars.

[Alex Donghi]

Bernie
I checked your link but I don't understand the sizes. I have 7X15 front wheels and 8x15 rear.
I was figuering to use 245x60x15 fronts and 275x60x15 rears How does that equate to the M/t tire sizes do you know?
thanx

[autoxmike]

Originally Posted by autoxmike

Matt,
I have a set of wheels and tires for track/autocross. Tires are Kumho V710 265/45/16 on all 4 corners. I wanted a wider rear tire but that is the widest V710 16" tire. The wheels are from Diamond Race Wheel (16"x10" Avenger line) in Milwaukee (www.diamondracingwheels.com). They make inexpensive race wheels with any offset you need. A fairly inexpensive combo. Not very pretty but it was effective at the track. Probably the cheapest way to improve lap times per dollar that I can think of for most cars.

These wheels are $125 each and weigh 23 lbs - not as light as alum wheels but lots cheaper, especially since you can get them in custom offsets

[Alex Donghi]

Bernie
I reread your link and I think I get it now... seems the following would fit those rims
Model # 6650 26x8.00R15LT
Model # 6653 26X10.00R15LT

[Burnd]

Originally Posted by Alex Donghi

Bernie
I checked your link but I don't understand the sizes. I have 7X15 front wheels and 8x15 rear.
I was figuering to use 245x60x15 fronts and 275x60x15 rears How does that equate to the M/t tire sizes do you know?
thanx

Alex: They changed over to this stupid inches system on some of their tires, so now I have trouble cross referencing. However, I gave you the wrong link. This link is to the tire I was talking about which is the strip/street tire. It also correlates to the normal system by sizes which we can relate too. I would suggest calling their tech group and tell them what rims you have and they will tell you what part # and sizes would address your needs. This is the link is for the radial that you would want on the rear though. Then go back to their home page and go to the Street Rod Tires on the left hand column and you will see the Sportsman S/R.

http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/strip.html

NOte: if this link doesn't say ET Street RAdial then it's the wrong tire. You want the ET STREET RADIAL on the rear. I have part #3753R as my rear tires on the link (275x50x15). You have to keep radials on front and rear, so the Sportsman S/R works well with the ET Street/strip Radial. We were shocked at how well they ran together. No push in the front and the rear is like glue. We are still shaking our heads at the driveablility and traction. BTW: I spoke with M/T support and then I bought them from Summit and had them in my hands in 2 days. I would call these clowns and have them give you the correlating conversion for the S/R Sportman based on your 245 size for the front.

Bernie

[pequa joe]

Bernie
Wow! 1.52 60 foot for a Cobra, that's great. Time for me to change tires,given up on those bill boards. Recommended rim for 3753R is 8.5", you're using 10", you think the over all diameter has been reduced that much from the 26" because of that? Also I guess you're using #6653 (26x10.00R15LT) fronts, rec. rim 8" you're good there, mine are 8.5" but I think rule of thumb plus or minus 1 inch of tread width so that will work. You say the ride is good with the LT front, I thought it might be a little harsh because it's made for a truck. I only get to see my car on the week-ends, last week when I opened the garage door to see another flat that's it no more Good Years. And the DOT issue on those tires has me concerned. What track did you get kicked off? I guess with 1.52 60 foot, you're in the full roll cage class.
Joe

[Burnd]

Hi Joe:

Yeah, your right. "Midpoint" recommendation on the 3753R is 8.5, with the spread being "to" a 9.5" rim (and there is a 1" allowance built into that design). I am 1/2" wider and they didn't think it would be a problem; and it wasn't (it sealed without a wrap belt on the machine immediately). And yes; I am matched in the front with the #6653 which is basically a 255x50Rx15. However, with the 10" rims they did not recommend me dropping the air below 16lbs. On my Weld Rims (which I didn't use) I can screw the tires in and drop the air to 12/14lbs. I didn't even go that far. I dropped them to 20lbs on the Halibrands; went "around" the water box; did a quick "clean off" without lighting them up and left the tree with a simple launch at 2500rpm's. There is nothing harsh about the ride "whatsoever". [(IMO)I don't think LT in the M/T scheme means Light Truck tire, but I don't know that for sure]. The tire is rated at 130mph which is good enough for the track.

Again your right;they wanted me in "heavy" which is an "altered" class and they failed me at tech. I went to the tower and "pleaded" my case and the GM was decent and let me run to see what happens. ET under 12 and I was out of there. They initially failed me on the following:
Open face Helmet
No Fire Suit, Fire Gloves and Fire Shoes. (????? that caught me off guard)
2 Point bar and they wanted full 6 point cage.
(I had the 5 point belts and arm restraints).
I think they let me run because the WC Cobra is so heavy with the reinforced frame and doors and when they put me on the scales it was 3200lbs exactly. They were so jumpy they were making me jumpy; holding me up at the tree and checking my arm restraints, etc. I got off the tree late (fiddling with the shift) and got one pass at 11.2 @ 120 mph and they said "bye". I was really dissappointed in the pass. I know i can do a lot better than that for a multitude of reasons but I'll run again at another track with multiple passes the 1st week in July and determine what the car can really do. I KNOW that 60ft will come down more. I didn't get ANY experimentation with launches and in front of our shop, doesn't count. I didn't have any of this BS two years ago with the 351C in the car. However; once I fired up that 427 they were all over me and the car.

The track was Maple Grove Speedway in Reading, PA which is a "big boys" track and there was plenty of them there. Anyway; at least i got a benchmark to work with. I had no idea what to expect with the new motor. Getting back to your original inquiry; I honestly think you'll like these M/T/s. We lovem. Don't hesitate to email me if you have other questions.

Bernie

[pequa joe]

Bernie
Thanks for the feed back, getting ready to order the tires now. Called MT to confirm size of Sportsman, Summit lists the 6653 as 9.2 width, MT web says 8.8. They said (MT) to believe their site. But you did use the term "clown" on one of the threads, should I trust them? Only kidding. We don't have a track anymore on Long Island closed up 2 years ago, but there is talk of one. Several of us went on a Sat. (unknown to us it closed the next day) It was a test and tune day and I guess because they were closing I got to make lots of runs all 11.3 124mph oh yea except the first one, stalled on the line, but that's the first time on a track in 37 years. And with those Good years which I was told are great when you heat them up. Hell finding out now they a better wet handling then dry. So I think high tens should not be a problem, but then again I'll be in the same boat as you,one run and off the track. Unless test and tune bypasses some of the rules, don't know. There was a club that rented a track for the day and invited 10 of us to help fill the cost, safety insp. only I think. But requires a trailer, to many miles to drive, it was rained out anyway. Plus I haven't been on a dyno, want to try a 950 carb instead of the 750 I'm using now. Okay time to order tires.
Have a good day.
Joe