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So, what would be your go-to tire for a '79 5-speed?
Are the Michelin Pilot Sports worth it? The Pirelli P7s for originality? Pilot Sport All-season? Vredestein for affordability? Staggered or 225s all-around.
Mine is all-natural, nothing fancy. Figured is I need to get a new alignment, I'd might as well look at some tire too.
So, what would be your go-to tire for a '79 5-speed?
Are the Michelin Pilot Sports worth it? The Pirelli P7s for originality? Pilot Sport All-season? Vredestein for affordability? Staggered or 225s all-around.
Mine is all-natural, nothing fancy. Figured is I need to get a new alignment, I'd might as well look at some tire too.
If you're looking for all-season, I've found the BF Goodrich Comp 2 A/S to be a good tire, but my favorite A/S is the Continental DWS 06 Plus. The Contis wear well, are quiet, and have very good grip on dry and wet road. The wet performance is especially impressive, to me. Snow and ice, they are okay.
In your case I would go with the original Pirelli that I thought had a unique name and a very unique tread pattern. I have a pic somewhere on HD.
For me When I put the new wheels on, which are 18 and wider I am going to go for wild looking tread AND sidewalls. But since the correct size especially circumference 25" flat are hard to get right I will probably end up with different brands on front compared to rear. But I want looks and I have a warm weather climate and will only drive for fun.
For roughly the same price, you can have the repro Pirelli P7s, or you can have Michelin Pilot Sports. For cars and coffee duty, the P7s. For driving your 100 point car down to 70 points, get the PSs.
For roughly the same price, you can have the repro Pirelli P7s, or you can have Michelin Pilot Sports. For cars and coffee duty, the P7s. For driving your 100 point car down to 70 points, get the PSs.
I run Nitto Invos on 2 928s, a 944 S2, and my 997. I'll keep buying them as long as they keep making them. Coolest tread pattern, great wet and dry grip, nice ride, decent life.
As hotly contested? Not really, way more opinions but with tires it seems folks are fare more acceptable of other folks opinions.
We're talking stock phone dials I assume? So 225/50-16. I wouldn't go staggered unless you get wider rear wheels. You can absolutely go staggered with the same wheel, but IMO it looks odd.
I'm kind of a tire geek and probably put way too much thought into such decisions. I have layers of spreadsheets comparing everything from tread width and weight of tires of the same size/
Tire Rack has 29 tires to choose from, ranging from $92 to $347.27 each.
Every single tire except one, is under Performance Summer or Performance All-Season. The only Grand Touring All-Season is a Laufenn G FIT AS.......I put a set of these on a friends truck. They are round, all she cared about.
The other 28 to choose from, in my nerdy opinion, every single one of them will easily out perform every tire on the market back in 1979. Even the $92 Riken Raptor ZR A/S. I know a few folks with these on performance cars and have no complaints about'em.
Two 928 owners I know have General G-Max RS tires installed, one is a supercharged GT. Both would buy them again.
I've run Khumo Ecsta PS31's on a few cars and really like them for a cheap performance tire.
A couple local Porsche owners (one 928) have the Firestorne Firehawk Indy 500 - that's a great tire. It's actually the Bridgestone RA series but they rebranded it under Firestone (The RE730 is one of the greatest all time tires, came out in the late 90's I think)
BFGoodrich G-Force Comp-2 A/S Plus mentioned above is probably the best tire on the list for rain and dry performance is better than a stock 928 can dish out.
I've never been a fan of Michelin Pilot tires due to cost. Test after test shows they are marginally better in an "all out" handling test, to the point such data is useless on the street anyway, so why spend the money?
My go-to tires these days are the Continental ExtremeContact Sport (whatever the current version is). I've found their handing ratings are a c-hair under the Pilots, way less money and excellent in the rain.
I never had any issues with Bridgestone Potenza tires either.
TLDR - if you are wanting to save money, I don't think it matters. My only concern with a cheaper tire on a stock 79 are looks and tire noise as they wear. So check the reviews for noise complaints.
If looks are important (I've bought one tire over the other because of how the tread pattern looked. I'm still pissed BFG discontinued the first generation KDW - one of the best looking tires in history). I would go with the vintage look P7's, which is what I'm going to put on my 78.
As hotly contested? Not really, way more opinions but with tires it seems folks are fare more acceptable of other folks opinions.
We're talking stock phone dials I assume? So 225/50-16. I wouldn't go staggered unless you get wider rear wheels. You can absolutely go staggered with the same wheel, but IMO it looks odd.
I'm kind of a tire geek and probably put way too much thought into such decisions. I have layers of spreadsheets comparing everything from tread width and weight of tires of the same size/
Tire Rack has 29 tires to choose from, ranging from $92 to $347.27 each.
Every single tire except one, is under Performance Summer or Performance All-Season. The only Grand Touring All-Season is a Laufenn G FIT AS.......I put a set of these on a friends truck. They are round, all she cared about.
The other 28 to choose from, in my nerdy opinion, every single one of them will easily out perform every tire on the market back in 1979. Even the $92 Riken Raptor ZR A/S. I know a few folks with these on performance cars and have no complaints about'em.
Two 928 owners I know have General G-Max RS tires installed, one is a supercharged GT. Both would buy them again.
I've run Khumo Ecsta PS31's on a few cars and really like them for a cheap performance tire.
A couple local Porsche owners (one 928) have the Firestorne Firehawk Indy 500 - that's a great tire. It's actually the Bridgestone RA series but they rebranded it under Firestone (The RE730 is one of the greatest all time tires, came out in the late 90's I think)
BFGoodrich G-Force Comp-2 A/S Plus mentioned above is probably the best tire on the list for rain and dry performance is better than a stock 928 can dish out.
I've never been a fan of Michelin Pilot tires due to cost. Test after test shows they are marginally better in an "all out" handling test, to the point such data is useless on the street anyway, so why spend the money?
My go-to tires these days are the Continental ExtremeContact Sport (whatever the current version is). I've found their handing ratings are a c-hair under the Pilots, way less money and excellent in the rain.
I never had any issues with Bridgestone Potenza tires either.
TLDR - if you are wanting to save money, I don't think it matters. My only concern with a cheaper tire on a stock 79 are looks and tire noise as they wear. So check the reviews for noise complaints.
If looks are important (I've bought one tire over the other because of how the tread pattern looked. I'm still pissed BFG discontinued the first generation KDW - one of the best looking tires in history). I would go with the vintage look P7's, which is what I'm going to put on my 78.
Thank you very much for the thorough review. I went with the original look for this one...the P7s. Hopefully, will get them mounted early next week. Again, appreciate the help.
06-04-2024, 08:15 PM
Is Tire Preference as Hotly Debated as Oil?
