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getting new tires

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PhillyD

Well-Known Member
Hi guys:

I plan on taking of my original tires when I get back next week and replacing them with new ones (I'm going to sell the originals with 9,000 easy miles on them ... perfect condition with no cracking.)

I've been told about Firestone Firehawk Wide Ovals as being the best. Michelin Pilots seem to get good reviews (the Plus' are real expensive though.)

I called Firestone and the Firehawks are $123 each total - then he tried to talk me into a house brand that Firestone sells called Primewell and he wants to sell those to me for $73 each total.

What about the Firehawks? Anyone know anything? I'm looking for a good riding tire on regular pavement during non-snowy months!

Thanks guys.
 
Had the Firestone Firehawk Wide Ovals on my 94 T/A and loved them. 18s on the rear and 17s on the front on Z-06 rims. Stuck to the road like I was on rails and good ride too. Was considering trying Goodyear F1s on my TT/A until I heard they are now made in China. Will be going with the Firehawks on my TT/A in the spring. Great tire for the price too.
 
nittos have alot of road noise after 3-4000 miles, i had 18's on my benz and i replaced them with continentals .
 
Why sell the original tires. I am taking mine off and storing them away. I think it is great to say I have the original rims and tires. This is just my opinion.
 
I just ordered the Firehawks today ... will be installed when I get back next week. All the reviews are outstanding and I couldn't beat the price for a W rated tire that is good both dry and wet.

Why sell the original tires? Money. :) If they weren't apt to dry out and such I would keep them ... but eventually they will no matter how well they are stored.

If the money isn't there then I'll keep them ...
 
PhillyD,
Please post an update to this thread after you use the new Firehawks for a bit. Would be interested to know how they feel and how you like them. A pic of a wheel would be cool too.
Thanks.
 
U got it. Please remember that I've only driven 2 of these cars and both have had the original tires so I'm not going to be an expert on how the tires compare. But I will hit it hard a few times (smile!) and let ya'll know.

Yesterday I took it out for the first time and it was so much fun (and believe me I need some smiles at this time) I went from 50 to 100 in a blink of an eye.

Still want to know why idle is high until warm and then it calms down. I'm wondering if after 20 years and only 9,000 miles that the injectors aren't dirty?? I'm going to add some Z-Max when I get back and take a nice ride to work it through the system.

I'll also take some pics of the wheels ... I personally think that there is no better tire to have on our cars than FIREHAWK based on the Trans Am connection.
 
89tta636 said:
Had the Firestone Firehawk Wide Ovals on my 94 T/A and loved them. 18s on the rear and 17s on the front on Z-06 rims. Stuck to the road like I was on rails and good ride too. Was considering trying Goodyear F1s on my TT/A until I heard they are now made in China. Will be going with the Firehawks on my TT/A in the spring. Great tire for the price too.
Click to expand...



I just purchased Goodyear F1's for the TTA and they are labeled MADE in USA. Handles great with a nice ride.
 
Are the original tires directional? Not sure sure if anyone realizes, but you can not rotate the tires front to back on these cars for proper wear & tire longevity. The rims are marked on the back "Front Only" & "Rear Only" even thow they look the same, the offsets are different. So, the only other option is side to side, BUT if directional tires are put on, you can't do that either & the wheel with tire will be stuck in its location. May not be a big deal, but 1 side may wear faster than the other or may cause a drift/pull,etc. Just thought I would mention it, in case anyone forgot or didn't know!!!!
 
Hmmmm ... is this the case with the Firehawks Wide Ovals? I would like to know if they cannot be rotated. Thanks.
 
If the Firestone Wide ovals are directional, then your stuck & they can not be rotated. If there non-directional, then you can atleast rotate side to side.
 
tripleblackta said:
I just purchased Goodyear F1's for the TTA and they are labeled MADE in USA. Handles great with a nice ride.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Just verified with a friend of the family that are the East Coast suppliers of Goodyear Tires and confirmed that all Goodyear tires are made in the USA. That however does not mean they are not importing cheap rubber from China though. Should have asked that.
 
Phil

Give me a call before you get the tires mounted. there are some real morons around here maskerading as tire mounters

Glenn
 
sure Glen ... I was going to Firestone shop in Wayne Road in Wayne (or is it Westland?)

BTW, do you know if the Firehawk Wide Ovals are able to be rotated?
 
Basically all tires can be rotated you just have to dismount and remount the tire from the rims and reballence the tires to do it. I run Goodyear GSC tires which are asymetrical and directional. the right side tire is a different part number than the left side tire. When I got the last car, I had to have three of the tires dismounted and remounted. they had the rear rims on the pass side and the front rims on the drivers side, plus one tire mounted with the "outside" tire marking on the inside of the rim. I don't think the tire store could have done a worse job if they were trying to, maybe they were...

Problems I've had include the fact that a TTA is too low to go on a conventional tire changing lift, Discount tire had to use floor jacks to lift the car, when I had the Nitto D.R.'s mounted. After they about tore the exhaust system off the car trying to put it on the lift.

Using clip on tire weights will corrode and ruin the rim, even the plastic coated ones.

Using a impact whench can damage the rims. I can show you a couple damaged rims from impact wrenches.

If you want to come over, we can take the rims and tires off your car here and just have the tires mounted and ballenced at the tire store, and put them back on the car here.

Unless you make a big point of the fact that the front rims and rear rims are different offsets and must be put on the correct axel. the tire changer will screw it up.

Let me know

Glenn
 
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Hey Glen ... just got back early this morning. R U free to go over this with me? My cell is 908-208-7778 .... let me know. Maybe we can just let Firestone do it with CLEAR and PRECISE instructions? Would save us alot of time I would think ... but maybe not???

Anyway ... I'll wait to hear from you.
 
Got new tires yesterday ... Firestone Firehawks ... look great and ride so much better than the great condition original 20 year old tires! I will be selling when I come up with a price.

Thanks to Glen for all his tips and advice. The Firestone people were great.

1) Only used hand wrench to take wheels off and put them back on.
2) Only used sticky weights and not the hammer on type.
3) Lifted one wheel at a time with a jack and didn't run over a ramp lift which may have damaged bottom because of low ride height. This also assured that the correct wheels would be put back on the correct corner.
4) Did a wheel alignment on a rack that was a very small angle for car to drive up on ... protecting the bottom of the car again.

Rather than be annoyned at the instructions they were grateful that I had the details of how to handle the car. Glen shared some mistakes that were made on his car and didn't want to see my car (and my heart!) go through that. Thanks again.

I'd recommend Firestone (at least the outlet that I used!) Now I have free liftetime rotating (all the tires will be removed and put on their correct wheel ... as you know can't just switch wheels like normal car) ... free lifetime wheel alignments ...
 
Just got a set of Firestone Firehawk WideOvals for my 1991 GTA. Very sticky tire. Too bad I could not get the BFG KDWs again. But the WideOvals handle great, are quiet and look almost as cool.
 
Just put new Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval Indy 500 tires on my TTA. Look real good. Felt good on the drive home. After I run them a bit, will post a follow up.
 
I put on a set of the Riken Raptor ZR's six weeks ago.
They were cheap and I like them so far.

mpbhz2.ang.jpg
 
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