Deciding on tire width/compound

[PowerDemon]

Hello all,

My car is a hybrid on pump gas so I’m getting somewhere around 400-415whp. I’m still getting some wheel spin in 2nd with my 235/35/19 Firehawk Indy 500s and first gear is pretty much unuseable. I am looking to dead hook in 2nd and have 1st hook up a bit better. This is just a street car and I have no intentions of tracking it in the foreseeable future.

I have decided on the Apex SM10 18x8.5 but I am uncertain on my tire choice. I want to stay as close to OE tire diameters (25.1”) as possible. So that leaves me with only two sizes as I see it. I can go with a 235/40/R18 (25.4”) or 255/35/R18 (25.0”).

If I go with the 235 I’m thinking I need a much stickier compound to get the grip I want. I’m primarily thinking the Toyo R888R. The concern there is rain performance and wear rate. I don’t THINK it will be a problem, but who knows.

If I went 255 I would get a MPS4S because I’m sure with the extra width they would be fine. My only concern with that choice is some potential fitment issues even though I am on stock suspension.

Another stipulation regarding tire choice is that I want to be able to warm up the tire just by driving it on a nice sunny day. I don’t want to have to swerve, spin the tires, or brake to get enough heat in them to perform.

Let me know what you think! What would you do?

 

[toothofwar]

I am running a 255/35r18 On an 18x9 et45 Wheel. Eqt stage 2 and can launch hard with minimal spin. On my gti I had 245/35r18 and would spin bad in 1st and 2nd. I know that is apple's to oranges, but maybe it will help you out.

 

[PowerDemon]

I am running a 255/35r18 On an 18x9 et45 Wheel. Eqt stage 2 and can launch hard with minimal spin. On my gti I had 245/35r18 and would spin bad in 1st and 2nd. I know that is apple's to oranges, but maybe it will help you out.

What tire are you running? How does it fit on the 9” wheel?

 

[toothofwar]

Indy 500s. They are not as square as I like, but on an 8.5 wheel I bet they would square up real nice.

 

[JerseyDrew77]

You know my vote as we talked offline about it. Since you are on stock suspension, you can try going 245 with the R888R's but from my personal experience with them, 235 works great! For our winters, the PSAS4's are a great all-season tire and will give you minimal tire spin on dry roads.

 

[odessa.filez]

Tire Rack does.a.pretty good job of showing actual tire width, in addition to nominal sizes, ie '245'. Might help you converge given you can use current tires as.a reference.

Sounds like you're mostly concerned with straight line performance? If you care cornering and are experiencing outside tire wear, a directional.tire will allow you to flip the tire.

 

[TheProfessional]

255s. I have 255 on a 8.5 on both my GTIs. I've also run 235 and 245 width on other MK7s I've had. 235 with a UHP all season was the most comfortable for daily driving. 245 with RE-71R was better max dry performance. The 255 with a UHP all season is a great compromise.