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Shelby GT gets beaten by Subaru


SVT_MAN

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it's lame how Ford let's the Mustang get ripped for it's handling when it's due to the ice skates they put on it..

I dunno, they could be thinking of the end consumer. If the assumption is that the first thing a serious owner is going to do is swap out the factory rubber (because it's -never- the best rubber you can get), then the people leaving it on are going to be people that are not performance oriented, and just want to show off how foolish they can be with their money....

 

And these people are going to be like a friend of mine who bought a used A6 and didn't know that the previous owner had put on some performance tires until it snowed and his quattro equipped car still slid all over the place. In other words, they're not going to pay much attention to tires.

 

Also, Ford may have downgraded the rubber for fuel economy reasons as well.

Edited by RichardJensen
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People don't buy sports cars to drive them through rain and snow. I have tires people mostly use for autocrossing and road racing on my Focus, it hardly ever rains in L.A. Never snows, and they are much better in the rain than the stock all season tires due to their tread design.

They do suck, calling them high performance tires is nothing but marketing, a true hi-po tire can't be an all season tire, and I've driven both tires in GT's and on a Shelby GT, both on the street and the track, they give up grip way too quick, period. And compared to a Mustang that's running good tires there's no comparison, most of the people who think the new Stangs can't handle because of the rear axle don't realize that it's the tires, not the suspension design. I've been in an 06 GT around corners on mountain roads that would scare most people and leave many sports cars costing much much more in the dust, with the only change to the car being tires.

Again, most high performance tires these days that aren't strict race tires will do better in the rain than your factory all seasons, the BFG KDW's have superior grip in wet and dry than their cheaper all season tires found on the Mustang. You can have better grip in wet and dry conditions, and of course it doesn't help that Ford downgraded the tires on the S197 from the SN95 cars, a 235/55 just doesn't cut it, try driving a new Mustang with some 265-275/40's all the way around and you'll discover just what the S197 can do.

 

Nobody does comparison tests to see which sports car handles the rain and snow better than one another, so it's lame how Ford let's the Mustang get ripped for it's handling when it's due to the ice skates they put on it..

 

Ford compromised on the tires because most drivers don't feel like shelling out $1000+ every time they want new tires. Those of us who want more performance from our tires buy more expensive tires. It's really as simple as that. To complain about OE tires, especially when they really aren't that bad, is ridiculous. If you want 265/40's all the way around, go buy 265/40's all the way around. Don't fault Ford for making the Mustang somewhat affordable to maintain, including the OE tire selection.

 

Why the hell should Ford select tires based on what a magazine is going to do with the car anyway? They are more concerned with what the average BUYER is going to do with their car. And that includes driving in all sorts of bad weather.

 

The factory tires on my Cobra were pretty cruddy 245/45/17 BFG Comp T/A's. They really did nothing GREAT, but they did nothing POORLY, including an occasional jaunt in the SNOW. I've since gotten a second car (a luxury a LOT of Mustang owners do NOT have, by the way), so I've gone to some MUCH more aggressive 295/35/18 and 255/40/18 Bridgestone Potenza SO2's on new wheels. At this point, the cost of the tires doesn't matter so much, as the car is only getting a few thousand miles a year on it. If that was still my daily driver I'd be buying new tires every 8 months -- a proposition that would turn off a LOT of Mustang buyers.

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Holy crap how much driving do you do in a year?

????????????? I got 45000 out of my Comp T/A's on my Mustang no problem...Nick your numbers equate to 5625 miles a month = 187 a day!!!!!!!!!! using a mustang to substitute for a semi hauling produce cross country is not what the Stang is designed for....

Edited by Deanh
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????????????? I got 45000 out of my Comp T/A's on my Mustang no problem...that equates to 5625 miles a month = 187 a day!!!!!!!!!! using a mustang to substitute for a semi hauling produce cross country is not what the Stang is designed for....

 

 

What year Mustang? I have just over 33K on my Mustang and the back tires are bit worn down, but I never rotated them and I've had fun spinning them to see how the car handles in the wet weather with the TC...and you can see how they wore kinda funny because of that :P

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What year Mustang? I have just over 33K on my Mustang and the back tires are bit worn down, but I never rotated them and I've had fun spinning them to see how the car handles in the wet weather with the TC...and you can see how they wore kinda funny because of that :P

88 5.0 LX sedan...300 hp at the rear wheels...but I left the burnouts to the beany capped low slung jean wearing wonders that loved revving their engines like crazy trying to coax racing when next to me at a stoplight, rotated tires every 5k.....

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????????????? I got 45000 out of my Comp T/A's on my Mustang no problem...Nick your numbers equate to 5625 miles a month = 187 a day!!!!!!!!!! using a mustang to substitute for a semi hauling produce cross country is not what the Stang is designed for....

 

I wasn't talking about replacing the Comp T/A's every 8 months...those were usually good for about 25,000-30,000 miles or so. The Potenza SO2's on the other hand.....they have about 6000 miles on them and are already showing quite a bit of wear on them. They MIGHT last 12,000 miles if I REALLY baby them, but they are some of the softest (although stickiest) tires I've ever seen. I usually do about 18,000-24,000 total miles a year between both my cars, so they wouldn't even last the duration of 12 months if I drove it every day. That's what I was getting at with saying there's a reason Mustangs aren't fitted with ultra-super-duper-stickier-than-fly-paper tires from the factory -- they don't last for shit and they cost more to replace.

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I wasn't talking about replacing the Comp T/A's every 8 months...those were usually good for about 25,000-30,000 miles or so. The Potenza SO2's on the other hand.....they have about 6000 miles on them and are already showing quite a bit of wear on them. They MIGHT last 12,000 miles if I REALLY baby them, but they are some of the softest (although stickiest) tires I've ever seen. I usually do about 18,000-24,000 total miles a year between both my cars, so they wouldn't even last the duration of 12 months if I drove it every day. That's what I was getting at with saying there's a reason Mustangs aren't fitted with ultra-super-duper-stickier-than-fly-paper tires from the factory -- they don't last for shit and they cost more to replace.

I recall at one stage the Mustang came with sticky Goodyears....people were bitching like crazy at having to replace them every 15k or so....

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What year Mustang? I have just over 33K on my Mustang and the back tires are bit worn down, but I never rotated them and I've had fun spinning them to see how the car handles in the wet weather with the TC...and you can see how they wore kinda funny because of that :P

 

The stock rubber does seems to wear like iron. I get a kick of how far I can push the TC in snow before it over rides me. :)

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The stock rubber does seems to wear like iron. I get a kick of how far I can push the TC in snow before it over rides me. :)

 

 

Um I'd say that 25-30K is hardly wearing like iron...my 98 GT and the 02 SVT both wore out their tires in about 25-30K. The replacement non-OEM tires last at least 40K In my experience.

 

And its not like I'm roasting them at every stop light either :P

 

 

I recall at one stage the Mustang came with sticky Goodyears....people were bitching like crazy at having to replace them every 15k or so....

 

OMG the Goodyears I had on my 98 GT where total CRAP! I remember going into work one day when it was about 20 degrees outside...and nearly biting it pulling out on to the highway...the car got all squirly on me.

 

One of these days I'll have a "real and practical" car...not! LOL

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