Mustang Tires for your Wagon???

I'd had 245/50/17 Michelin's on the Impala wheels that seemed to be made of playdoh. When I got the Impala wheels I found these four new Michelins and was thrilled, I mean, all I ever heard was Michelin's are the best, right? Well I kept getting flats for no good reason. Googled those tires and everyone HATES them. Terrible ratings and lots of issues! Whoops! So much for trusting a name!

The sidewalls of the Michelins curve out sharply and all my flats were where the tread meets the sidewall. It's a terrible design. Of the four originals, I'd replaced two that we un-fixable, and one had a plug in it still when I took them off. Also they were too low profile and my speedometer ran faster than it should have on the highway.

Here's a pic of the Michelins. These were too low prifile...also notice the sidewall curve and thin tread. This pic was right when I got them on. No Roadmaster center caps yet and this was before I re-finished all the woodgrain outline metal trim:



SO I had 245/50/17, and the correct size for the Impala wheels is 255/50/17, BUT those 255's are even more expensive, hard to find in stock since it's a rare size now, and are still huge wide tires.

Someone on this forum suggested I try 235/55/17. These are not as wide, a little taller, but still much wider than the original Roadmaster wagon tires. Was told these end up being the same height as the 255/50's so the speedo would read right, and with the taller sidewall the car will ride smoother. I was concerned they'd look funny, but was sent a pic of them on a Caprice wagon. They looked fine in the pic.

Now the good part, the new standard 2010 Mustang GT tire is the Pirelli P-Zero Nero size 235/55/17. What's the first thing many new Mustang owners do? Get bigger wheels and tires! SO there are a ton of new Pirelli take-off's out there at the used tire places. These list new for $159 each at Discount Tire. I got a full-set of new take-off's from a Mustang for $60 each, and it cost $40 to have them mounted and balanced. Woo-Hoo!

These ride SO much better, and don't tramline in the highway like those wide Michelin's did. They look just fine, and if I do have a flat on a trip these are stocked by most tire stores since they are OE Mustang.

Pretty cool!

-Mike

Michelin does make great "passenger car" tires. They ride well, quietly and last a LONG time. My experience with their performance tires though has been a bit less good. Poor wet traction short life and such.

Nice find on almost new tires too!

Here's the Pirelli pics! 235/55/17 -Mike

Wow nice! How wide are those Impala wheels?

Impala wheels are 8.5" wide.

I have the same size tire (Michelin Pilot Sports) on my 94:

Yep thanks to you Jay. Your previous post is what got me looking at this size tire.

I owe you one!

-Mike

Ok I posted about mounting these Pirelli/Mustang tires back in July, and 20K miles later I had to put new front tires on yesterday after work.

I can't blame the Pirelli's, I blame myself, and Firestone.

When I put those tires on last July I never got the car aligned. In March I noticed the inside treads on both front tires were getting pretty worn, so I moved the fronts to the back and put the evenly worn rear tires up front, and then went to Firestone and had the car aligned.

Since March I've put about 3000 miles on the car. My Dad took it on two trips, I've gone to Dallas in it twice and then to John's Salvage in Seguin and on to San Antonio for yarding.

After getting the car aligned, it seemed to pull to the right on the highway. When I let go of the wheel the car would drift slowly right. It never did that before. I kept meaning to call Firestone about re-checking the alignment, but never made the time.

So last night I left work and went to pick my son up at daycare. I went in, got him, and walking out the car was facing me and the front wheels were turned all the way to the right, so I could see all the tire tread on the passnger side front wheel. In the light, I saw silver....say what?

I leaned down and the inside treads were gone, the tire smooth, and the metal threads were showing through!!! Dammit! I walked over and looked at the drivers-side front wheel and tire, and it was also worn on the inside tread. Not smooth, but worn badly. The center and outer treads still had a lot of meat on them.

What's wrong now???

I got home, handed the baby off to my wife, and jumped on Craigslist. Amazingly, about five blocks from my house someone was selling a set of my exact tires. More new take-off's from a new Mustang. I called and asked if he would break up the set, and he was nice about it. He sold me two tires at $50 each. They look new. He said they had around 600 miles on them before he upgraded the wheels and tires on his new Mustang.

I threw them in the back of the wagon and headed for Firestone. They were about to close, but I pitched a small fit and got the manager to come out and look at my front tires. He was ok about it, and they pulled the car in.

He comes out a bit later and says the right front side was indeed not aligned. He said I must have hit something to knock it out....grrrr.. But he said they would re-align it for no charge. He also said they checked the front end and it seemed tight. The idler arm is just starting to get some play in it, but was not bad enough to replace. No other issues found.

He charged me $25 to mount and balance the two tires I brought with me. I almost argued, but was tired of messing with it and paid the money. The car drives smooth and straight again. I drove from Round Rock to Georgetown and back on the highway, about 20 miles total, and I can take my hands off the wheel at 75 and the car tracks straight like a freight train.

Such fun. Never a dull moment.

-Mike

See what happens when you spend all your free time on the computer.Pay attention when
your wagon is talking to you or else bad things will happen.Glad you found the tires you
needed close to home.
Take Care
Jim Gordon

I'd a bought all 4 tires at that price, then I would have have relisted them on craigslist or ebay you'd be amazed how many people only look for 2 tires.

I didn't have $200 to invest in tires....plus I was afraid there was something wrong with the front end.

Dad and I went to the used tire store out in Cedar Park this afternoon and they had a huge pile of those Pirelli P-Zero Nero Mustang take-off tires. I replaced the two rear tires on the wagon so now it has basically four brand new tires. $50 each, including mount and balance. Such a deal!

We're planning to us the Roady to take our summer vacation down at Padre Island and I wanted to make sure all the tires were really good. Between San Antonio and Corpus Christi there is a lot of nothing for miles and miles, and it's usually well into the low 100's out there. Better safe than sorry.

If you guys need 17-inch tires, I still say these Mustang take-off's are the best deal going, and there are a ton out there.

-Mike

I'm on my second set of tires on this size. The old ones wore perfectly, and the new ones are Goodyear Eagle RSAs.

A lot of people complain about those RSA's but I have always had good luck with them.If you
are going to the track there are better choices but for our wagons I feel they are fine.And they
seem to be quite a bit wider than other tires in the same size.Mike there is 1/2 inch difference
between the 245/50s and the 235/55s in height so you have a good eye or are just full of
it!
245/50/17=26.7 average
235/55/17-27.2 "
225/75/15=28.3 "
But who's counting !

I can't complain about the RSAs. I got them for 40 bucks. For four

jayoldschool wrote:

I can't complain about the RSAs. I got them for 40 bucks. For four

cheapskate,....

No, cheap would have been offering 30 when the guy asked for 40.

jayoldschool wrote:

No, cheap would have been offering 30 when the guy asked for 40.

and then letting him load them for you,.

81X11 wrote:

Dad and I went to the used tire store out in Cedar Park this afternoon and they had a huge pile of those Pirelli P-Zero Nero Mustang take-off tires. I replaced the two rear tires on the wagon so now it has basically four brand new tires. $50 each, including mount and balance. Such a deal!

We're planning to us the Roady to take our summer vacation down at Padre Island and I wanted to make sure all the tires were really good. Between San Antonio and Corpus Christi there is a lot of nothing for miles and miles, and it's usually well into the low 100's out there. Better safe than sorry.

If you guys need 17-inch tires, I still say these Mustang take-off's are the best deal going, and there are a ton out there.

-Mike

I should have put the Impala rims on my wifes car and had her get new ones when she's out by you in a couple days.
they are actually sorta hard to come by around here at those prices.....