What tires will fit my stock 16" wheels? (need traction)
Hey everyone, i drive an 07 AUTO mustang v6 with stock tires (current tire size is 215/65R16) I'm having a lot of trouble off the line with tire spin. I was hoping someone could reccommend a good set of tires to help me get traction, BUT, also be used for a DAILY DRIVER.
Also, i have looked up a lot tires and very few of them match exactly the stock tire size. I have no idea what will fit on my stock rim so if anyone could also tell me what sizes will fit it would help alot.
Until you get your T-Lock no matter what you put on there will spin! Start there before even bothering with tires. My 2cents.....
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06 V6 Vert. Satin Silver. Pony Grille, Roush CAI, Hurst short throw, FRPP Dual exhaust, Roush Styling Bar, SCT with Doug's tunes, 8.8 with 3.73's, GT front and rear sways, Shaftmasters 4" aluminum driveshaft and the "Purple" treatment.
well its going to be installed by the end of march i have the gears and lsd i just need to wait for a week when i don't need to be on the highway to break in the gears properly.
i replaced my 16" last yr but wanted to stay with the bfg traction spec. the only other size available was the 235/60-16, which i put on the rear, its 1/10"taller, and maybe 1/2" wider. i stayed with the 215/65 on the frt. but i will say, having new tires was a huge difference in traction. you can check out all the brands and sizes on tirerack.com
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goina hundred in a 55, and i dont know why..
some things were just meant to be..
05 V6 auto, torch red, basic,:cool: a few mods
06 V6 stick, vista, premium (g/f`s car)
They should fit 245's no problem. The old 16's that I had on my car were only 6.5" wide and they fit 245's on them. The 245's for a V6's power output is usually enough for traction purposes. I never understand why 95% of the V6 owners think they need 275's or bigger when a GT doesn't even need that big of a tire half the time.
The thing is..... You just can't change the true treadpatch of a wheele very much.... what I mean by that is, if it is a 16/8 wheel, then the true contact patch won't change much even if you go crazy wider, because as you squeeze the wider tire in to the 8 in wheele, the sides of the new wide tire pull up and your contact patch is reduced considerably. If you are going for a look.... that is different, because the tire will still LOOK wider, but in the end, the difference between a wheel and tire tread patch is mostly determend by the width of the wheel, not the width of the tire. I have a set of 18 in GT takeoff fanblades with 275/45/18's on them, and the true treadpatch is nearly identical as the set of 235/50/17 gt takeoff wheels I just picked up. Granted the 18's look huge, but they are so bowed in at the sidewall, that the shoulders aren't making contact like the tire is designed to do with a 10 in wide wheel. (the fanblades are only 9 in wide) sooooo, if you are looking for a bigger footprint, my opinion is buy wider wheels. You can stick with 16's or go with the more prevalent 17's and 18's to make your selection easier. When I get my druthers, and have my way, I want the 18/10 GT500 wheels. Anyone want to buy my two sets of GT takeoff wheels? lol. just kiddin.
With that said, my advise is worry more about tire compound and design than width. A good nitto DR or BF goodrich DR in the STOCK profile will hook better than the WIDEST street tire you could squeeze on a 16/8 wheel. That is where you are gonna get your sticky, not from size. You can go with a little bit wider than stock DR and get away with it and have more traction, but with street tires, wider doesn't allways mean more traction.
I did mine in the huge profile for the look, and I bought the stock 17's to eventually buy some nitto 555's and race with em. I am sure that the nitto's 555's in a 235/50/17 will hook better than my Eagle F1 275/45/18's simply because of design.
Why do you need 18/10's? The reason that the larger wider wheels feel like they give more traction is that they are much heavier than a set of 17/8's.
I had 16's with off brand 245's on them and they gave me twice as good traction compared to the 225's that are on the car now that are twice the price of the off brand tires... Width does improve traction believe it or not. But you are right on the fact that it generally is the tire compound that improves the handling of the tire but the wider the tire is the better it grips as well.
Why do you need 18/10's? The reason that the larger wider wheels feel like they give more traction is that they are much heavier than a set of 17/8's.
I had 16's with off brand 245's on them and they gave me twice as good traction compared to the 225's that are on the car now that are twice the price of the off brand tires... Width does improve traction believe it or not. But you are right on the fact that it generally is the tire compound that improves the handling of the tire but the wider the tire is the better it grips as well.
There is nothing that would give me more pleasure than to agree with you since I have only 18/9's on my car, but I fear the guys at NHRA would tend to dissagree with you.... Have you ever seen how small in diameter and wide their wheels are? The width of the wheel generally dictates the amount of footprint you have. Not the profile of the tire. It is a geometricaly simple equation. You can't make the footprint exponentially wider than the waist. Doesn't work that way. I do agree with you, that a somewhat wider tire than stock will grab better, but there are very small tollerances before the maximum is achieved. If the stock tire is a 225, the yes a 245 will likely give you more grip. but what if the stock is 225 and you try to squeeze a 285 on? does the grip get any better than the 245? no..... not so much. in fact, it will suck. Bad. The only way to achieve the actual grip that a 285 can deliver, is to go with a 9.5 to 10 in wide wheel. You can't argue with geometry. Einstien wins in this case.
What tires will fit my stock 16" wheels? (need traction) 
But you are right on the fact that it generally is the tire compound that improves the handling of the tire but the wider the tire is the better it grips as well.
