Going with a tip from Tracy (RaceRat) to try the new Goodyear F1 Eagle GS-D3 tire, I ordered a pair. They are one mean looking tire. They got to last longer than my current "Butter" tires NITTOs and BFG DRs. Plus better in the rain. Here are a couple of PICs if you have not seen the tire pattern yet. John
They are the tire of choice for many daily driven cobras. I plan on picking some up soon. The prices start around $180 for the 275/40-17 at tirerack. The get over $200 for the 315/35-17 sizes. Their stats are great on tire rack. They even kick the more expensive stock Eagle F1s arse that come on the 03 Cobra. -Jason
When I was on deployment my wife bought me some bfgs........What a mistake.I got an annoying thumping noise everywhere i go.I smoke them every chance i get so i can wear them out and buy the f1s. :canflag:
Don't mean to dig up an old thread but what is the widest you can go on a 17x9 rim with the GS-D3? I know the Nitto DR's you can get 315 on.
Are these equivalent to a nitto or bfg drag radial for launching? I'm already interested in tires...stock F1's not all that great. I'm also curious how big you can go on a 17x9.
I had F1's on my car, they work very well on the fronts, but suck on the backs for lauches compared to my new rear yokahama A032. the yokohamas are like almost slick they bite so much betters than my old f1's. they have a unique tread pattern and look rally cool.
The tread pattern on the new F1's look very similar to the Toyo's...anyone like the Toyo's? Is it true that Toyo makes the Nittos?
Just the other night a friend was over with his 03 and both cars had the tires and rims off. He has 17x9s with Nitto 315's and I have 17x10.5s with GSD3 285s. Next to each other, they were the same width. The GSd3 is a pretty wide tire so I'd say 285 on a 17x9 rim would be as wide as you'd want to go.
i got those puppies i got those on my 01, they are very perty, ive gotten more compliments on the tires than on the cobra...
That seems to be the thing in tread patterns these days. Every manufacturer puts out a similar tire. I burned the rear tires off of my '03 after fifteen thousand miles, but the fronts were in excellent shape. I had to go out East, so I bought a pair of Cooper Xeons (I think that is the spelling.). They have a similar tread pattern but include a dual center groove, or channel and cost me $140 a piece mounted and balanced. They are very nice tires and I will probably replace the fronts with them this summer. I would like to wait for the replacement for the Firestone SZ50, the Fusion, which should be out later this year. The SZ50 had better ratings than the new F1. I went to buy them, but they have been discontinued pending their replacement hitting the market. If I like what I see, I am going to order a set and also get the Steeda Ultra Lite II rims at the same time. Either way, if you want a real good tire at a great price, check out the Coopers. They are very good.
Impossible to find two more GS-D3s any size, this time I want 275/40/17s for the front. None in the inventory pipeline (search by discount) nor do they say that Goodyear has a production run of them going. Can not find any...I need front tires now. Why is this tire so hard to find? Seems like demand is solid. Last time I order the two 285s , each tire was found somewhere across the US. Was a pain back then too.
Update. I found a set of 315s (GS-D3s), so i took them and had to go with 255s (GS-D3s) on the front. I got AFS 17x10.5 wheels being mounted as we speak at discount. I got 7/32 hub centric spaces and plan to shave the IRS bolt. So I should be set. Now, I got a set of 285 GS-D3s with 750 miles for sale. I will keep the 17x9 wheels as backups. Prefer a local buyer. These 285s or for that matter 275s are impossible to find. But I got 315s so my 285s are available. I called tire rack, discount , discount called all around and they all LOL... PM me and we can work something out. John
I had a friend grind down the IRS bolt down some last night, not a ton, in preparation for discount tire to mount the tires this AM. Had Discount tire just try to install my 17x10.5 AFS 2003 wheels with 315 Goodyear GS-D3s, even with 7/32 spacer can not even get the wheel/tire to firmly mount without hitting the IRS Bolt. It is close, but no cigar, while car was lifted..Don't know about clearance on the ground. How aggressive a grind is needed?? Any pics? Or how to get the buttun head bolt. AFS does not have them. I did a search and found Jason's thread with 1 inch spacers, but I don;t want to go that route or mod the subframe yet. Still want to try the grind. Will this work?
Be careful with the button head bolts...there have been a few failures. A friend used .5" MM (I think) hubcentric spacers to mount wide 315's/10.5" wheel on his 03 Cobra. Looks great, tire is even with the fender well and no clearance problems.
Thanks for the news on the button head. Did your friend grind the IRS bolt or just go with 3/8 spacer?
