[Sillysspeed]

Hi ladies and gents, I have an Lt1 trim car. The stock tires leave a lot to be desired as far as traction goes, so I’m ordering 2 wider 9.5 wheels for the rear. I want a good dry traction tire (guessing 275/35). Not necessarily a drag radial but I was good straight line traction. Open to all suggestions

[LiqTenExp]

Best all around tire is Michelin PS4S. They work in the cold well enough, don't mind rain, have good traction, and will handle a modest track day. If this is your nice weather driver you won't have any issues, if it is your all year around car, eh maybe.

If you want to go DR in the rear, only plan on using them in 2-3 seasons, and don't want to die if they get wet I'd suggest Nitto 555RII (not 555R) with PS4S in the front. I've run this combo April-Nov and it works well.

Be prepared for many other suggestions. In general you can't beat PS4S.

[Sillysspeed]

Originally Posted by LiqTenExp

Best all around tire is Michelin PS4S. They work in the cold well enough, don't mind rain, have good traction, and will handle a modest track day. If this is your nice weather driver you won't have any issues, if it is your all year around car, eh maybe.

If you want to go DR in the rear, only plan on using them in 2-3 seasons, and don't want to die if they get wet I'd suggest Nitto 555RII (not 555R) with PS4S in the front. I've run this combo April-Nov and it works well.

Be prepared for many other suggestions. In general you can't beat PS4S.

Thanks for the response. So I saw a pair of PS4S at a shop today. They look like all seasons to me. They are technically but they hook just as good or better than other summer tires? Mine is a good weather only car. Garage king, fun time for me and the kids and occasional draggy or strip action. I just want it to hook and not spin thru second gear

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by Sillysspeed

Thanks for the response. So I saw a pair of PS4S at a shop today. They look like all seasons to me. They are technically but they hook just as good or better than other summer tires? Mine is a good weather only car. Garage king, fun time for me and the kids and occasional draggy or strip action. I just want it to hook and not spin thru second gear

You can't beat or get close to a drag radial with a normal tire under optimal conditions, PS4S or not. (And no, they are much better than regular all-season tires, read up on the dual compound composition they use.)

Try LiqTenExp's suggestion for PS4S fronts and Nitto 555RII rears for maximum dry traction coupled with still reasonable behavior under other circumstances.

[Crushin_LT1]

Originally Posted by Sillysspeed

Thanks for the response. So I saw a pair of PS4S at a shop today. They look like all seasons to me. They are technically but they hook just as good or better than other summer tires? Mine is a good weather only car. Garage king, fun time for me and the kids and occasional draggy or strip action. I just want it to hook and not spin thru second gear

The PS4S is a summer tire, there is also a PS A/S4 you may have seen.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/michelin-pilot-sport-4s

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/miche...t-all-season-4

[Crushin_LT1]

For what its worth, I went with the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500. Won't be able to tell the difference between them and the PS4S if you're not on a track. Great dry or wet. Reviews indicate similar mileage to PS4S / Conti ECS, just cheaper.

[cariboocreek]

PS4S or Pilot Sport All Season. The AS 3+ is pretty good as well.

[asthmamax11]

Nothing comes close to the Nitto or Mickey Thompsons
Good weather only you'll be more than fine with Nitto RRR or RRRII if you can find them

[goata8]

I'd vote for the Nitto R2 drag radials. They've been great throughout the bunch of sets I've owned.

Where'd you get the wheels? Dealership? I'm trying to source a pair of matching 9.5s for my LT1 but don't really wanna take the risk with "remanned" ones off ebay.

[Sillysspeed]

Midwest wheel and tire. They have all the Oem Gm wheels. They were good to deal with

[Sillysspeed]

I got Oem sensors from them too

[KingLT1]

If it's more of a weekend car that won't get driven in inclement weather, but you want max traction with the least amount of drivability compromise, I would get a Nitto a 555r2 for the rear. If you need daily driver tires the Firewhawk Indy 500's are pretty decent. The 555r2 will put you in the 3's 0-60.

[JimGnitecki]

My LT1 with Magnuson 2650 is mostly a fair weather car, but might be used for long highway trips at some points to visit my son who lives 2250 km = 1350 miles away (each way) on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. If I do such trips, they would not be in winter, but could be in Spring or Fall, and you know how the mountains are outside of summer.

While I appreciate the run flat feature of the OEM tires, the lack of traction when using the Magnuson's power is frustrating. At WOT, the car is trying to fishtail right up into highway speeds (restrained by the traciton control and stability control), even though I always wait until I am doing at least 15 to 20 mph before applying WOT. Plus. the datalogs seem to show that the traction control is retarding timing.

Would putting a pair of Nitto 555R2 tires make a meaningful enough difference to appreciably reduce the degree of traction control intervention, and even notably affect zero to highway speed time?

I'm mostly a very conservative driver (no track or drag, and mostly run on the highway at 115 kph = 71 mph), but that traction control intervention is driving me nuts. What's the point of having the supercharge power if the tires don't have the traction to support it?

Jim G

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by JimGnitecki

My LT1 with Magnuson 2650 is mostly a fair weather car, but might be used for long highway trips at some points to visit my son who lives 2250 km = 1350 miles away (each way) on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. If I do such trips, they would not be in winter, but could be in Spring or Fall, and you know how the mountains are outside of summer.

While I appreciate the run flat feature of the OEM tires, the lack of traction when using the Magnuson's power is frustrating. At WOT, the car is trying to fishtail right up into highway speeds (restrained by the traciton control and stability control), even though I always wait until I am doing at least 15 to 20 mph before applying WOT. Plus. the datalogs seem to show that the traction control is retarding timing.

Would putting a pair of Nitto 555R2 tires make a meaningful enough difference to appreciably reduce the degree of traction control intervention, and even notably affect zero to highway speed time?

I'm mostly a very conservative driver (no track or drag, and mostly run on the highway at 115 kph = 71 mph), but that traction control intervention is driving me nuts. What's the point of having the supercharge power if the tires don't have the traction to support it?

Jim G

Well, let's be fair to GM engineers, you supercharged your LT1, they didn't , and the ZL1 has different tires for a reason. That said, those Nittos will be much better for straight line dry traction.