High Performance Tires for the SHO

"TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts" (the-vancen) 02/27/2015 at 10:00 • Filed to: SHO Taurus

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And a bit of a project update.

Any recommendations? The size is a bit odd, 215/55/16 on the OE rims. There will some agressive driving, including autocross and drag racing on an unprepped runway. And quite possibly some full blown track days.

Also, I happen to have a set of 15" steelies (shown above, pretty sharp eh?) with snow tires on them, a set of Pirellis from my fathers Sable, so no need for snow shoes.

Yes, the car has a long way to go before any of this happens but the car needs tires anyways. It is getting there! Slowly.

The brakes are fixed but the fellow doing the safety inspection found that both front wheel bearings were completely hashed. So, instead of doing that in my snow filled driveway or waiting till spring, hes done the brakes wheel bearings and ball joints.

As a side note, does anyone have experience with nitrogen filling? Worth it or not?

E. Julius > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 10:05

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One of my favorite car colors.

E. Julius > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 10:06

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I have no experience with nitrogen filling, but air is like 70% nitrogen anyways. Doesn't seem worth it to me. If you can find a place that will do it for free (like I used to see advertised on TV) you might as well, but otherwise it seems like any possible gain would be unnoticeable.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 10:06

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Is it being dailied? I loves me some Direzza ZIIs. They seem to last a bit longer than many of the other streetable track tires, and still have tons of grip.

Meatcoma > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 10:07

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I've noticed that with nitrogen, tires tend not to fluctuate in pressure as much as with regular air. With Nitrogen filled it's +/- 2 psi whereas my air filled can be +/- 5 or more. That's about the only thing I've noticed.

Will with a W8 races an E30 > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 10:08

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What's the rim width? I'd bump to 225/50R16, and run a Dunlop Direzza ZII Star Spec (Worlds greatest track driven street tire, btw.)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.js…

Sn210 > Meatcoma 02/27/2015 at 10:32

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same here. I got nitrogen for free as a promo when I got new tires on my last car. No noticeable difference other than I had to adjust the pressure less often. I wouldn't spend the money to get it

Rock Bottom > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 02/27/2015 at 10:40

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I ran those on an autocross Escort and they were glorious, but will they stand up to the longer duration thermal loads of a track day?

Rock Bottom > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 10:42

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16s generally seem to be a tough rim diameter to put tires on. Would it make long-term financial sense to step up to some 17s? There might be some cheaper tire options then?

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 10:57

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The compressibility factor of air at normal tire inflation pressure and normal ambient temperatures (say between 250 to 350 K) is like Z=0.999. Even assuming nitrogen behaves completely ideally (I.e. Z=1), the difference in the T/P relationship between air and pure nitrogen is likely to be in the tenths of a percentage point, so less than 0.1 psi.

Race teams only use Nitrogen to control the amount of water vapor that makes it into the tire. Water is polar and can skew the Z lower. Because the normal water vapor concentration in air varies so much, race tires get very hot, and because tolerances are much closer, race team choose nitrogen for predictibility. The nitrogen you get at the shop is likely contaminated with just as much water vapor as the cold winter air is anyway.

TLDR: Don't waste your money on nitrogen, it is does not behave measurably different than air.

Will with a W8 races an E30 > Rock Bottom 02/27/2015 at 10:58

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I get 10-20 hours from a set depending on the track and how aggressive the driver is. 205/50R15 on an '87 325is.

Will with a W8 races an E30 > Will with a W8 races an E30 02/27/2015 at 10:59

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Also, they don't really get greasy - probably the least temperature sensitive tire I've tried.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Rock Bottom 02/27/2015 at 11:16

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I've never had a problem with the regular ones on my BRZ. I've overheated the Star Specs in my MR2 before, but that was probably my fault more than anything.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 02/27/2015 at 11:46

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It will be dailied eventually.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Will with a W8 races an E30 02/27/2015 at 11:50

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Theyre 16x6. So I'm not sure how much bigger it can go. The strut on the front is awfully close.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Rock Bottom 02/27/2015 at 11:51

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It could be, but ive found that the Taurii and Sables have a funky bolt pattern and back spacing that limits me on wheel options.

NaturallyAspirated > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 02/27/2015 at 12:34

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^ This.

Nitrogen is used in airplane tires as well, for the lack of moisture. Landing gear wells aren't pressurized, and you definitely don't want a slug of ice forming inside your tires at altitude.

As an added bonus, if your brakes overheat on landing to the point that it deflates a tire (there's a safety disc in the wheel that will blow out before the tire does), there's no oxidizer in them to potentially catch things on fire.

Will with a W8 races an E30 > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 14:15

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Jesus that's narrow! Get them in 205/55R16 then, will be cheaper and fit just fine :)

The Compromiser > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 19:49

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I think that for every time you get something for the Taurus, you should drop the. And the r. New tires, fo SHO.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > E. Julius 02/27/2015 at 22:36

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The Turd needs some TLC, but it'll look shiny and new eventually. The only debate is wether to paint it this original green or the green from this Torino my father restored years ago.

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E. Julius > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/27/2015 at 22:39

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Dark tourmaline metallic all day every day.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > The Compromiser 02/28/2015 at 00:31

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You mean like, "High Performance Tires fo SHO"?

The Compromiser > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 02/28/2015 at 12:58

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Fo shizzle. ;)