Hankook/General/Toyo Tires?

tjm73

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My Mom told me that before my Dad passed he told her I was to be given his 1984 20th Anniversary Mustang GT convertible. It's a V8 5 speed car. Last I knew it had right around 22,000 miles on it. He bought it brand new in 1984 through his Ford dealership. It'd be hard to find a more original car. It is the first V8 stick shift I ever drove. I drove it whenever I could. Car means the world to me. It will never be modified from stock, but I will drive it occasionally.

I know for a fact that the tires currently on it are at least 30 years old. First order of business once it's transferred to me will be new tires. The OE tires are 14's. 205/70R14's to be exact. There are not a lot of options in this size these days.

Besides BF Goodrich, which are stupid expensive at over $160 each, I found three options from Hankook, General and Toyo that don't have a off road looking tread pattern. Are there any issues with any of these brands? I've never run any of them.

Keep in mind this car has a grand total of 175 hp and 240 ft-lbs, so it's not "fast". I also won't be racing around in this car. Cruise nights once and a while, ice cream runs with the wife and kids and such. I don't want to change to non-stock wheels just to get more tire options.
 

Rich

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I understand where you're coming from with keeping it stock. It has family history tied to it and deserves preservation.

I run General Gmax RS tires and I love them. It's a summer Tire and they have really good tread life. I've had all terrain and summer General tires for about 10 years and never had an issue with any of them. They are hard to beat on price with the quality you get. BFGoodrich are overrated and expensive. I don't know if they come in your size.
 
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MrAwesome987

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I purchased a new set of Toyo tires for my Miata when I first bought it, and I have been pleased with them. It was certainly a cheaper tire, but it's performed well.
 

Norm Peterson

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All I'm seeing at Tire Rack in your size is Generals in AltiMAX RT43 and Hankook on Kinergy ST. Either appears to be a decent choice for a lightly driven car, though the Generals only have a couple of reviews and no Tire Rack overall ratings.

The only concern I might have is with 600+ treadwear ratings - that much generally involves some sacrifice in grip to obtain. You should be OK as long as you respect that in conjunction with the longer stopping distances of 1980s cars in general. You're not going to be stopping as short as most of today's recent-year cars.


Norm
 

tjm73

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All the tires in this size seam to have 600+ tread ware ratings. Not any kind of "performance" tires in this size. It is what it is I guess. My Focus is probably as fast or maybe faster than this ol' foxbody. Focus would handle better, stop better and get better fuel economy too. But it'll never be as cool or sound as good or be anywhere near as collectable.
 

Rich

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I have always used Tirebuyer for my tires. They are almost always cheaper than TireRack and they they'll deliver directly to an installer in your area with a guaranteed mount and balance fee. They always seem to run local installer discounts as well. That's a decent price for a "softer" 400AB rated tire.
tires.JPG



If you want performance for that old Fox you're gonna have to pump out the coin for these Netherland wonders. They are soft, but $270 a piece?! That's too rich for my blood.
tires.JPG
 
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tjm73

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These guys have the BFG's for $132 and free shipping and $25 off teh order today/tomorrow. Still feels high to me. I kinda like the Generals as they are not too expensive and readily available. But I also like the BFG's as I have run them several times over the years and always been happy with them. $132 is a lot better than the nearly $160 I saw last night.

https://www.discounttiredirect.com/buy-tires/bfgoodrich-radial-t-a/p/38345

EDIT: the Toyo's seem out of stock everywhere.
 
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Rich

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I have used Discount Tire Direct once and only once. They sent a set of Firestone tires to my local installer and upon inspecting the date code I found out they were 10 years old. I called them up on the spot and informed them of this and told them I will not be installing these on my car. They took em back and issued a refund and I went back to Tirebuyer.

The reason I used them was because the tires were around $15 cheaper per tire than Tirebuyer. If you use them, make sure to check that date code on each tire before installation.
 

MrAwesome987

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I have a friend that works at a tire store. I'm not sure if this is the case for all tire stores, but where he works, he can order any tire from their distributor and have it within a day or two, and their price has always been comparable to the online stores. I've bought at least 5 sets of tires from them. I don't see the point of dealing with an extra entity to get tires...?
 

tjm73

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I've not had any problems with them. I bought a set of tires for my last F150. Mounted them and towed my camper to Cape Cod (8 hours one way). It was the worst towing experience of my life. The tires had a really high load rating and A/T tread pattern but damn with a trailer on them they squished and squirmed all over the road. Passing or being passed by a semi resulted in a full 3 foot lateral movement every time. I genuinely feared for mine and my families life the entire trip out and back. I called them as soon as I got home. I was outside the return window, but they took them back anyway, paid for return shipping and shipped replacements to me that very day. I can't complain about that customer service at all.
 

Juice

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I have run on all 3 brands, no complaints.

Tire size is the limiting factor here. I recall back in the 90s when I was still running the 16 pony wheels. (Before I had internet, and internet tire sales) So I would call tire places, give them the size, they would go: Oh, you have a mustang.... and laugh. I went to 17" wheels, problem solved.

So, back to you. How old are those tires on the car? If there is no dry rot visible and they have good meat, I'd run them.

Need a decent set of pony wheels? Not that would be of much help given the tire availability 20 years ago.
 

tjm73

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It's still tucked in the garage behind some other antique cars. I'll have to inspect it once it's out. If I were to go to a new wheel I'd go to the LMR 16" TRX replica. It would at least look right on the car since they had TRX wheels as an option.
 

007Stallion

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Have you considered the Cooper Cobra tires? I saw where they have a 215/70R14 size available which should be close enough (only 10mm wider). 440 tread wear rating, so won’t be the stickiest tire. However, if you’re not hot rodding it around they shouldn’t be too bad.

I had a set of them back in the late 90’s on a z24 Cavalier, they weren’t too bad.
 

justin73

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Wanna get cheap and buy some westlake tires. I did and they are good tires for the price. Get them on Amazon cheap.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

tjm73

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I don't want the cheapest thing I can buy and I don't want to pay more than makes sense for the expected use. Like all things I spend my money on, I try to buy right.
 

Juice

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Cheap off brand tires always scared me. Seen too many issues (wobbles and pulling complaints).
Now I have found Milestar tires to be of excellent qualit, at a good price for a daily. Dont know if they make tbe size you need, but if they do, its an option.
 

gbstang

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Besides BF Goodrich, which are stupid expensive at over $160 each, I found three options from Hankook, General and Toyo that don't have a off road looking tread pattern. Are there any issues with any of these brands? I've never run any of them.

"stupid expensive @$160" LOL, I pay $300 a piece for my tires!
 

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