Firestone Firehawk Wideovals and Nitto 555R

[fergyflyer]

I bought a set of four Firestone Firehawk Wideovals in 245/50/16 stock size. I've now put just over 6,000 miles on them. They were hard to balance and one of them will not come into spec on a roadforce machine. So that disapointed me. They are great in wet weather. They seem to be wearing well. If the car sits for a couple of days or a week I get aweful flat spots till they warm up, which usually takes about 10-15 miles and drives me nuts. They are quiet. They have decent grip, better than stock RSA's for cornering, but worse than BFG Comp T/A KDW's. They are worse than both KDW's and RSA'a at the strip.

I got the tires for $123 a piece at Tirerack.com. If you're not going to push the car too hard and tire life, a quiet ride and good traction in the rain are high priorities these are great tires.

Nitto 555R's, the drag radial version. I've put about 500 miles on them. They are acceptable for everyday driving on the street and with near new tread will go ok in the rain if you don't push it. At the strip, the first couple of attempts they were able to drop my 60's on a poorly prepped track from 2.2's to 2.0's and high 1.9's. I've since figured out the trick to the tire. They like heat. I did a long burnout, too the point that I thought it was excessive, and they hooked up real well. I cut a 1.84 60'. I'm sure heating them like I did will cut their life considerably, but if you want numbers and don't mind frying the tires and blowing money to get it, they will hook.

[Firebirdjones]

I just bought a set of Firestone Wideovals for my wifes car. It was only one of very few brands that sold the size I wanted (285/40-17's) so it's the brand I went with since the other choices weren't that great in my opinion.

Haven't gotten around to mounting them yet, just too busy with other stuff, but I'm anxious to see how they look.

As far as the nitto drag radials, I've never had good luck with those. They wear harder than others so tread life was okay but they never did hook that well for me, even on a prepped track and well prepared car.

I can see with your 60 foot times they aren't that great for you either. I ran a 1.93 60 foot with my car on stock BFG KDWS's (the snow tire version of the KDW ) On a sucky track surface. Thats nearly on par with your nitto drag radial 60 foot time.

[fergyflyer]

I was afraid of breaking the stock 10 bolt with the BFG's or something stickier. 1.8 60's were what I was hoping for so I'm happy with them.

With my 1.84 60' I now have an 02 Z28 with a lid, F.R.A.M., predator tune, magnflow catback and DR's that ran a 12.796 at 108.4. That was pretty much my goal with just light bolt ons. I'm thinking headers and a gear change to 3.42's and I should be able to see a sub 12.5 1/4 mile.