15" wheels and tires.

[Bryce]

i am looking for 15" wheels and tires. i cant find any good tires with a 245 width. The only ones i found are a housier A6 race compound tire. How well will these work on a street car that will see some autcross days. i dont put that many miles on the car.

Second part of the question is i really want to run a 15" wheel to reduce weight, I have light car and 11.75" brake is all i need to stop and those fit in a 15" wheel. I cant find any really cool wheels that are 15x7.5 with a 4" backspace, any suggestions.

I can always go to a 16" with tons of tire options but 16" wheels are still rare.

[79-TA]

First off, they're 40 treadwear tires, so theoretically, they should last one tenth as many miles as a 400 treadwear tire. My guess is, without too much competition driving, you could get maybe 4000 miles out of them. So if your car sees less than 2000 miles a year and you don't mind buying new tires every 2 or so years, the Hoosiers could work out ok. Liz Miles at PHR runs BFG R1's on her (seldom driven) Camaro. Perhaps you could go to the PHR blogs and ask her how many miles she has gotten out of her tires.

As you've seen, finding good aggressive rubber for 15's is not easy. A lot of the good stuff (BFG R1's etc) comes in 225 and really small overall diameters. I checked tirerack.com and noticed that they also offer Hoosier R6's in a 245/15, which are little different from the A6's you mention.

My BFG Radial TA's worked surprisingly well, but they have nowhere near the grip of, say, a Kumho Ecsta XS or Nitto NT05. I run BFG G-Force Sports, 340 treadwear tires, on my Mustang and I've been very happy with them. In this case, they're 225/60R15, not quite the width (or perhaps aggressive compound seeing that you're considering an R-compound tire) you're looking for.

16's do open up a lot of options. A lot of wheels go straight from 15 to 17, but still, many, such as the Torquethrust D, are offered in 16". You might even consider 17's, which opens up even more options. I'm a fan of using as small of a wheel as possible, but with that comes large sidewalls, less aggressive compounds, and poor speed ratings. All of the Speed GT and ALMS cars at the Long Beach Grand Prix used 17-18 inch wheels, which I take as an indication of being sort of an optimum racing size.

As far as your second question, what do you mean by "really cool?" Are you looking for more classic American Racing or Vintage Wheel Works style 5 spokes? Perhaps you're looking for mesh style wheels?

[Bryce]

thanks for all that info. As for wheels, i wanted something with a protouring/race look. nothing blingy or chrome or polished.

i know billet specialties makes a 15" sfi drag wheel. its super light but only in a 7" or 8" width. and centerlines are usually 7" or 8.5".

i may race to settle on a 7" wheel in the front.

[High Plains Mopars]

Read this thread.

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=34692

[lvrpool32]

The trouble with tires such as A6's, R6's and the like is that they are not meant for the normal bumping and banging of highway use.
The overall construction of the tire is not as thick and the sidewalls are not as strong as a roadgoing tire, which makes them less resilient to sidewall punctures or impacts (say pot holes/curbs), not to mention if you are out on greasey, oily roads with what is basically a slick.
Also consider the legal aspect, get into an accident with these on your car and not only will the law come down on you, your insurance company may not look too kindly at your set up.

[Bryce]

thanks for the comments, i appreciate them!

[Ishmael]

mickey thompson makes some high speed 15" tires and black bart's wheels are as business as it gets.

[Bryce]

Thanks for the tip on the black bart's wheels, i was thinking something in aluminum for the light weight. But how do you think the black ones would look on my falcon?

Also do you know if there is a M/T tire that can handle high side loads, like at an autocross.

[opnwide]

Try the M/T S/Rs. They're H rated (130mph). 26" tall. and they make a 8" and 10" tire (205 and 255?) or even a 12" tire for the rear (305?).

[Ishmael]

The Bart's wheels are light - they're for racing. It depends on the look you're going for but aluminum in a 15" racing wheel looks a little 80's. Black would look more road race. Crager Soft 8's would look just as good. I think the 15's in black would look better than aluminum.

[Bryce]

i want a wheel around 15lbs thats the weight my centerlines are. i want to keep the performance of low rotational inertia by keeping my overall tire diameter small, 24.5". and a 245/45/15 is right there.

i agree a black wheel looks good, see attached. those are 16" with a 245/50. i want a smaller overall diameter for clearance and i like the look of some sidewall on the tires. i dont really like the low profile look. So thats why i want 15"s

[79-TA]

Wow, I didn't know you were going for such a small overall diameter. That opens up your options a bit. Hehe, and a 45 series tire is low profile IMO, but not bad looking by any means.

[Bryce]

i agree a 45 is low profile. But the sidewall relative to a 15" wheel looks like a lot more sidewall than a 40 series relative to a 17.

i have only found the hoosier A6 and R6 in 2 245/45/15. I was hoping for more of a street tire, HA. i would like that tire if it would work on the street, to local shows and just to have some fun.

I may need to step up to a 16" wheel, then the 245 width is super common as it was the stock size for a mustang 1994-2004.

[Ishmael]

You can get a 245 in a goodyear 14". Have you checked out the new Mickey Thompsons?

[Bryce]

so I found the toyo R888 has a 235/50/15 this will be my tire on all four corners. Also drag radials like the nitto 555R have a 275/50/15 this will be a good rear tire.

[fordsbyjay]

Just out of curiosity is it the narrow tread width that limits your tire selection? I always thought it would be cool to have some steel stock car wheels on my car but I guess most stock car tires are race only with no tread pattern.

[monteboy84]

Why not go with something like a 15" Superlite style wheel? More than Pro-Touring, you ought to be looking for a vintage TransAm look, based on the look your car has, and the common lightweight 15" wheels.

[Bryce]

Its the tire diameter that is limiting my selection. At my ride height I am limited to a 25" tire. If I can go with a 24.5" diameter I can lower the car even more.

So not to many tires out there with a 245 tread width and a 50 series sidewall on a 15" wheel. Hoosier A6 has a 245/50/16 but thats a DOT slick. The Toyo R888 is the next best thing.

The teamIII minilite would work but right now I have two 7" centerline autodrag with the correct backspace and they weighs 13 lbs. So I am going to head that route and buy another two 7" and have two spare 10" wheels with DOT drag radials probably a 275/50/15 nitto555R.

That falcon is awesome, it has a lot of body work to obtain that low ride height and wide tires.

[LSx_88_Ciera]

Don't know if you like the style of these or not but IMHO this would be the best option for light weight given the limited selection of 15" tires and wanting to stay at a diameter <25"
Enkei RPF1 16x7 13.7lbs (lightest 16 that I know of)
Hoosier Radial Wet 245/45/16 22lbs (1lb lighter the R6 245/50/15)

[High Plains Mopars]

Ya know, there is a reason why Centerlines have a disclaimer on them that they are not for sports, autocross, or road race applications. Yes, they are light, yes you can use them on the street, but start loading them up too much laterally and you may pop the centers out of them. Just be careful.

You kind of seem to be at cross odds with the objectives. Reading through the thread you want light, cheap, attractive, with a broad selection of tires. As your finding you will have to drop some expectations to achieve others. Light and cheap typically don't go well together, selection and cheap sometimes do. Attractive is always in the eye of the beholder, frankly I can't stand black wheels but lots of poeple think they are the schiznit.

What I'd recommend is find a couple different tire manufacturers of a size that is readily available that will accomplish what you want, then maybe spring for some custom or semi-custom wheels to use those. Any number of oval track manaufcturers will offer a variety of widths and backspace, and beleive it or not, decent performance tires in 16" are not that difficult to find. Certainly not as popular as 17", but not nearly as hard to shoe as a 15".