OK so my little ole 911 is in need of new rear tires. It currently has a set of very old Dunlop 245/50-15. The tread is good but there are a lot of cracks and I am a little worried about having a blowout.
The car has a 2.7 with Webers, SSI mild cams and a 901 gear box with a 4.42 (7:31) ring and pinion. All in she weighs 2250.
The transmission gearing is:
1st A = 3.09 (11:34)
2nd F = 1.889 (18:34)
3rd M = 1.318 (22:29)
4th S = 1.04 (25:26)
5th Z = .79 (29:23)
In 5th gear now the car turns 2,800 RPM at 60.
I have 225/55-15 Kumho's in the front and the Dunlop 245/50-15 on the rear with 15x8 Fuchs at all 4 corners. The front tires were new last year.
Since this is a throwback car I would like to stay with the Fuchs.
So my choices are:
Option 1:
Move the 225's to the rear and go with 205/55-15 on the front. I can stay with the same Kumho tire but the shorter tire in the rear will really impact top speed / economy. The car will be spinning over 3,000 RPM at 60. I also think the car would look funny with the smaller tires.
Option 2:
Purchase BF Goodrich Radial T/A's in either 245/60-15 or 295/50-15. Both of these tires are roughly the same height and would result in about 2,600 RPM at 60.
I am not a fan of the Radial T/A's but if I had them shaved I would think they would grip enough. If I ran the Radial T/A's with full tread I am afraid the handling on the car would suffer. This is predominately a street car and the driver is probably not as capable as the car.
So now that you have the background what are your thoughts?
Should I go with a shorter tire but the same Kumo's on all 4?
Do you think the Radial T/A's would work OK if they were shaved some?
Given the face I have enough room would it make sense to go with the 295/50 vs the 245/60?
Option 3:
Or should I bite the bullet and get either 16" or 17" Fuchs? I was thinking about finding a set of 16x8 rims for the rear and just going that route.
One last comment, some time ago I had Turbo Twists on the car with 285/35-18 in the rear and 245/40-18 in the front. I did not like how rough the car rode and personally I felt I could drive the car better with the 50 series tire. With the taller side wall I could feel the car start to slip where the 35 series tire would stick like mad but when it let go there was little warning.
Here is a picture of the car to give you an idea of what it is. It does have the wide flares on the front and rear.
Thanks, I am open to ideas!
