SPF Tires Avons or Mickey T's????

[dblvenom]

Planning to replace my Yoko Avid's for new tires. I have narrowed my choices down to Avon's or M/T's. Ignoring cost, which tire would be the best choice on 15" rims?...Leaning towards the M/T ET Drag radials

[Lew Ledyard]

The Avons are designed to go around corners.

[Rick Parker]

Avons without a doubt.

[Calbullet]

another vote for AVON's

[D-CEL]

I havent run the Avons, so i wont say the arent as good as the M/T's . But the M/T's are unlike any other street tire I,ve ever run.
They still have some side wall flex, so in that respect they are not like a late model, lower profile tire.
but the soft compound , radial construction, and relatively stiff sidewalls make it perfect in Cobra applications.

Jason

[Stentor]

I am very pleased with the Avons--good traction and handling.

A little bit more expensive than other tires, but well worth it in my opinion.

[bret a ewing]

Yep, Avons.

[turnpike boy]

For all those who espouse Avons, just out of curiosity and in keeping with the original question........have you tried the M/T's? Or is it that the Avon's are that much better?

Hard to make much of a judgment call on this. One M/T, five Avons, nobody comparing side-by-side as yet.

[Got the Bug]

Originally Posted by turnpike boy

For all those who espouse Avons, just out of curiosity and in keeping with the original question........have you tried the M/T's? Or is it that the Avon's are that much better?

Hard to make much of a judgment call on this. One M/T, five Avons, nobody comparing side-by-side as yet.

You may not find a huge population of Cobra owners who have tried both tires and can offer a side-by-side comparison. If you do a search on tires, I think you'll see a lot of positive comments regarding the MTs.

If I was going to switch, I think I'd be torn between the two. When you see pics, those Avons look sweeeet!

[SPF1061]

If you want to go fast for more than a few seconds at a time and also put your car into high G turns, the Avons are designed specifically to do this, and to do it very well. Regarding the M/Ts Drag Radials. They are fine tires. I have a set that I use on the rear when I go drag racing. That is what they are designed for. Why in the world would anyone want to put a tire on the front of their car that is designed to run low air pressure, get squishy and provide good traction under hard acceleration for a short period of time? Has anyone called the M/T tech support people to ask them what they think of using the drag radial on the front of a Cobra replica? It seems like a very dangerous, bad idea to me, but, what do I know?

[turnpike boy]

It's understood that a drag radial probably won't make a great corner-carving tire.....but M/T makes the Sportsman SR radial, which isn't specifically a drag tire, are available in the right sizes for 15" rims, and carry the hope that maybe they're a good alternative at a much better price (even Goodyear billboards are half the price of the Avons).

Maybe the right people to ask about these are the street rod crowd, since the SR's are marketed pretty much in their direction. Then again, they're probably not the most informative source as they seem far more interested in easy cruising than hauling a$$.

It would sure be nice to have a relative comparison (i.e., SR's vs. BFG's) before just giving in and going to 17" wheeels.

[Bill Bess]

My Mickey Thompsons S/R Radials work pretty darn good on my Hurricane. They hook up good and seem to stick very well when cutting through a tight turns. I have 4000 plus miles on them and they show no wear at all. The best part is that they look great with the low profile and the flame tread design.....sort of old school look.
Anyway, I'm not a racer so I can only tell you my own experience with these tires, also I have not used any other brand so far.

Best Regards, Bill

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by SPF1061

Why in the world would anyone want to put a tire on the front of their car that is designed to run low air pressure, get squishy and provide good traction under hard acceleration for a short period of time? Has anyone called the M/T tech support people to ask them what they think of using the drag radial on the front of a Cobra replica? It seems like a very dangerous, bad idea to me, but, what do I know?

I know it doesn't sound logical, but if you put some air pressure in them (to stiffen the sidewalls) they stick like glue. Necessity is the mother of invention. All I know is that it works really, really well on the street. On the track is a different story (they will wear quickly), but on the street that combo is quite incredible.

-Dean #747

[bret a ewing]

I would be interested in the results of a tire comparison between these two. The specs (ratings) are different but what are the seat-of-the-pants and real world performance opinions?

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by bret a ewing

I would be interested in the results of a tire comparison between these two. The specs (ratings) are different but what are the seat-of-the-pants and real world performance opinions?

Bret, you will get a ton of differing opinions on something like this. One person's seat-of-the-pants feel will be different from another. Same with driving styles. Not too many of us are well-heeled enough to afford and experiment with both. And even if someone has, will they make the effort to post the results?

All I know is that everyone that has shelled out the big bucks for the DOT approved AVON radials has been very happy with their performance. They are a legit high performance tire. I view the MT drag radials (also DOT approved) as a poor man's (my words) approach to the same problem, that of trying to improve lateral and straight-line traction while aggressively driving on the street. My budget necessitated something better than the Dunlop street radials I was running, and after careful diligence I went ahead and gave the MT drag radials a try. They hook like mad and lateral grip is quite impressive. Would I drive these tires in the rain? Well, they do have grooves but I'm sure the ride would be "challenging", to say the least! Could I track the car with these tires? Maybe for a couple hot laps, but then they would start breaking down quite rapidly.

I keep saying on this forum...If someone would build a DOT approved 'Billboard style' radial tire (i.e. with the looks of the non-DOT Goodyear bias ply), the Cobra/GT40 crowd would beat a path to their door.

-Dean #747

[bret a ewing]

Fair enough, Dean. I have the Avons and they are 100% better than the Goodyear GTII's they replaced.

They will be on the track this weekend.

Bret.

[Jim Maxwell]

I had Goodyear R1's on CSX 3288 from 2000 to 2008 and only got about 6000 miles out of them, not to mention dozens of chips on the rear fenders from the rocks thrown by those sticky tires. They looked great and really drove nicely, but aren't made anymore and I am concerned I won't have much paint on the rear fenders soon, so I installed new Goodyear Comp T/A's and they have been fantastic. Still get plenty of chips but I'll get a lot more than 6000 miles out of them, they look correct and the drive nicely.
I run Michelin XWX's on the 289, CSX 2401 and they do very nicely as well. I have Goodyear R1 race tires on the American Racing magnesium 5 spokes I have for the track and they do make a difference, but the XWX's are great on the street.

[Scufty]

I just put on a set of MT sportsman S/R and they are sweet...very sticky once warm and just a cool looking tire in my opinion