Azraely

Hey Everyone,

Based on good reviews from the end of last year I decided I wanted to try out the Firehawk Indy 500 tires for my 1999 C2. This is my daily so ultimate performance is secondary to tread life and cost.

I went to order them this morning and it appears that the 225/4018 are unavailable in Canada for at least 2 months. So my question is can I step up to 235/40/18 without rubbing on the front? I'm putting them on 7.5" 18 turbo twists, my C2 is 100% stock suspension wise.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Byprodriver

Yes you can & you will like it

rolex11

Had these on my 2008 Audi A4. I believe they also have "wide oval" in the name. I hated them!! And I'm not a tire snob. Never could get them balanced. And yes I had them road forced balanced. 3 sets, back to back to back.

Switched to Michelin PSS and wow, what a difference.

I assume you are curious due to the very low price on these. Beware, sometime cheap $$'s is cheap performance. YMMV

Azraely

The wide oval is a different older design. The Indy 500 appears to be a rebranded Bridgestone RE003 that was never sold in North America.

rolex11

Never mind...

AWDGuy

putting those tires on my subaru tonight!

longrowe

I have been running them about 3 months on my C2. Definitely better than my 8 year old PZero's the PO left on. Much more grip turning and stopping even thought the Pirellis were about 50% tread.

Nickshu

Hard to beat RE-71r's.

Esfoad

Michelin and Continental make great AS tires with long life. I have DWS-06 on our Vette and they are awesome. Unfortunately I could not get them for the 996 since mine came with 285-35-18's in the rear, and Michelin PSS were not in stock last September when I bought tires (my bad, when I purchased my 996 it had Conti DWS tires and I was thrilled, but I never checked closely and one had a crack from the tread to the rim, could not trust it) so I went with the Continental DW tire instead. Works great, just have to be careful until it warms up. Reviews on that Firestone are not bad so it may be worth a try.

AnthonyGS

My father was in the auto testing industry most of his working life. The major part of that business is tires. In my somewhat experienced opinion the best tires are Michelin, Conti, Bridgestone, and then Goodyear although I've always had treadlife issues with Goodyear. After them I actually like BFG, Yokohama, Hankook, Kumho and Falken when looking for value. Firestones have always been "meh" to me like General, Dunlop and some others. I just don't see the value / performance being on par with them.


My favorite road tires for the value right now is probably the Bridgestone S04. If you need more performance than that, nothing will be a Michelin Super Sport. Of course most all of this is based on my own unique experience with tires over the years.


I just put Hankook's on my Corvette since I'm buying a 996 soon, this kept Michelin's out of that budget. I also have a 944 turbo to restore. I need to unload one of my Corvette's soon to increase my 944 turbo resto budget.


Have fun and keep the shiny side up.

texcwa

I will be putting on a new (new to me) set of Kinesis F110 wheels on my 2004 C2. I am NOT a tire expert at all so did a month worth of research on tires taking all in as a "grain of salt". After looking at all my options, the type of driving I do, my location and weather environment I elected to go with the Bridgestone S04. I have had PS2's on prior. Will let others know how these tires work out. Living in the Sierra foothills of No CA I get rain, heat and fog but am gifted in having allot of twisty mountain roads to drive on (biggest concern are the deer).

Barn996

As mentioned the 235s will fit . I have them on my C2 with a different tire brand and I've experienced no rubbing issues.

Mike Mullins

Not a Fan of anything Firestone, but its your choice. Tire Rack has last years model of Pilot Sport AS/3 for discounted price. Great tire for everything except track duty, but I bet better than Firestalks at that.

Azraely

Unfortunately Tirerack isn't really an option for Canadians based on crazy shipping and brokerage fees. I ordered the Firestones yesterday so we will see how they work out. The firestones are 160$ for the front and 210 for the rears. Compare with Michelins of any kind at 300 front, and 400 rear. Worth a shot at half price to find out if they are any good.

rymerc

One of my buds in our local autox club just switched from the htrz3 to the indy500. So far the word is softer sidewalls, less lateral grip, but better straightline grip. HPDE coming up in a few days if you want me to get feedback on how they held up out on a road course.