Tire choices

[Bird of prey]

looking for a new set of tires 335 30 18 rear. Choices are very limited, was considering the continental’s extreme contact sport. Anyone have experience with these tires. Trying to find something that still handles well, (not going to track the car. But last more than one year. Nitos what’s on the car now, really stick, but looking for something that last a little longer.

[eschaider]

Nitto offers a 335x30x18 NT555RII drag radial on their site, click here => Nitto NT555RII 335x30x18 that they list with a 44 psi max operating pressure. The tire has relatively stiff side walls and at the pressures they suggest, I suspect, very stiff side walls — not your typical drag radial. They are also DOT compliant, which is a nice touch.

[CowtownCobra]

Ditto on the Nitto's, I just put on a new set

[Bird of prey]

Yeah, Nitto’s are what I have now. But worn out. I definitely like the grip. Just looking for something with a longer tread life. The nt555rll looks like a pretty good tire though.

[Tom Wells]

Bird,

Don't lose sight of the tradeoff between grip and tread life. They're opposites, so more of one means less of the other. Just sayin'

Tom

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by Tom Wells

Bird,

Don't lose sight of the tradeoff between grip and tread life. They're opposites, so more of one means less of the other. Just sayin'

Tom

The same correlation exists between grip, tread life, and how sticky gravel gets thrown at the paint (yours and those following closely).

To the OP, how many miles are you getting on a set? The Goodyears on my Cobra lasted as long as I had it (8000 miles?) but were of the same generation as the Goodyears OEM on the first few generations of the GT500 and the Ford GT. They were hard as rocks when cold but behaved reasonably when warmed up. Because of the Cobra experience (a couple of pucker events on cold pavement/cold tires) I switched the Ford GT to the Bridgestones which were medium stick and had a tread life of only about 5K miles, less if you tracked.

[Thor maine]

Mickey Thompson's are a great choice for the street.

[Bird of prey]

Well, I decided to go ahead and give the continental extreme sport 02 a try. Really limited choices in my size.
Checked on the Mickey Thompsons they weren’t available. in my area At least. I think I’ll feel better with these for driving across the state. Never know what you’re gonna run into up in the mountains on any given day around here. As a former owner driver of a pro stock mustang, I have a good grasp on tire compounds. It’s always about compromise. I’ll report back sometime after I’ve had them on the car for a while. Should be here one day next week.

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by eschaider

Nitto offers a 335x30x18 NT555RII drag radial on their site, click here => Nitto NT555RII 335x30x18 that they list with a 44 psi max operating pressure. The tire has relatively stiff side walls and at the pressures they suggest, I suspect, very stiff side walls — not your typical drag radial. They are also DOT compliant, which is a nice touch.

I don't see any recommended pressures on the Nitto web site - all I see is maximum tire pressure ratings. Actual pressure should be based upon vehicle weight and contact patch area, so I suspect many Cobras should be running these in the range of +/-25 PSI, perhaps lower. To really fine tune tire pressure, tire temperature readings should probably also be taken and considered.

https://kktse.github.io/jekyll/updat...footprint.html

[eschaider]

You are spot on about using tire temps to set tire pressures, Brian. Although Nitto publishes a max operating pressure, I suspect that is more of a cautionary do not exceed sort of communication.

If you inflated those tires to that pressure, the ride would be painfully harsh, and the handling would be less than if you had used a more appropriate (lower) tire pressure. The 51 psi maximum pressure Nitto publishes for the tire provides a load-carrying capacity of 2441 lbs per tire — about equal to the total weight of a Cobra but supportable by a single tire

I am sure the ride at that tire pressure would be memorable - in the extreme. I am guessing, but my suspicion is that 22 or 24 psi might be a good starting point to begin the process of determining what the car really wants / needs.

[Old Painless]

I had my 18" Halibrands widened to 12" and I'm running Toyo R888R's 335/30/18's... incredible traction, you really have to try to get them to break loose when they are warm.

My car has 540+ to the wheels through a TKX and 3.73 gears, so they are being put to the test.

For me wear is not a issue, I care about traction above all else. If you want the best traction go with my setup.