Robert - tire sizes

[Mark Worthington]

Robert, I got your voice message about tire sizes. I believe you said you were unable to obtain 16-inch tires wider thaan 255, and that I should inquire about BF Goodrich R1 tires in suitable widths to fill up the Gulf flares. Here's the email response I got from BF Goodrich:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Thank you for visiting our Web site and sending us your e-mail.

The largest tire, street legal, we manufacture is the P295/50R16 Radial T/A.
This is a cosmetic performance tire and we would not recommend for the track.

If you have additional questions, please respond to this email
or you may call us at 1-877-788-8899 (toll-free) between
8:30AM and 6:00PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday to allow
one of our Consumer Relations Representatives to assist you.

BFGoodrich Tires
Consumer Relations Department
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I also contacted Nitto. I've heard wonderful things about their 555RII tires on the street and on the road course. Supposed to be a similar compound as their very sticky drag radials, only with stiff sidewalls. I could swear I saw wide 16-inch 555RIIs listed on their web site a while ago but no mention of them now. Here's the response I got from Nitto:


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Thank you for taking the time to email us!
Well, we definately considering releasing new and unique sizes in the
NT-555RII but still trying to observe the market and request to see what
sizes seem to be in the most demand. Thank you for your comments and
suggestions.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

So, taking this stuff at face value, along with the research I've done, it doesn't appear that any suitably wide 16-inch tires exist to go along with Gulf flares.

Robert, you indicated in another post that you were building another car with Gulf flares. What size tires and wheels are you using? Are the wheels Halibrands or BRM replicas? I guess I can go with 17-inch wheels, as there's a good selection of 17-inch tires, but I think the GT40 looks a little out of place with the bigger wheels. Funny how I care a lot more about "authenticity" than I used to.

Please let me know what size tires and wheels are available, either in this thread or by email, and we'll proceed with our transaction.

Thanks Robert. here's wishing you and all the crew at Roaring Forties a Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

[ December 20, 2002: Message edited by: Mark Worthington ]

[Iron Sheik]

Mark,

I have gulf flares on my GTD and I ran 17" wheels (Compumotive). My rear wheels are 17X13 and I have MXX P335X35X17 in the rear (26.23" Dia).

There is still room for for 1 1/4" of rubber!! [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

No such thing as too wide of tires [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Ron Earp]

Mark,

There are some 265-16s available but these are only marginally larger than 255s, not nearly large enough for Gulf flares.

Ron

[ACINVA]

Hey Faili,

I also want to go with Gulf flares, but it looks like 17" wheels are the only way to find tires that will fit. Like Mark, I'm afraid of how 17" wheels will look on a 40. Do you have any pictures you can post? Thanks, Max.

[Robert Logan]

Mark,

As the manufacturer of the wheels we use we can off set the wheel rims as we choose. This means that we can fill the arch with 16" wheels and put a good sized tyre under.

Maybe Gordon Levy can sort out a few tyre sizes and manufacturers for us as he has a wealth of experience in this area and with high speed applications.

Merry Christmas to all,

Robert

[Gary Gibbs]

I have several pictures on my website of a CAV with gulf flares and 17" wheels. Wheels are 17x12.5 rear and 17x8 front. Current tires are 245/17 front and 335/17 rear.

[pstockley]

How about Hoosier R3S03, they do 275/45ZR16 in their road race R-Compound. Very sticky tires and great on the track.