High Performance Pontiac 2012 Tire Guide

Whether your goal is to give your vintage Pontiac a modern ride with a retro look, go 100-percent retro for a stock appearance, or take advantage of the latest in tire technology for touring comfort or race results with your classic or late-model Pontiac, you’ll find plenty of tires here to choose from.

Coker Tire Company

Description: These tires give your musclecar the classic look, but provide improved handling capabilities and a smoother ride. According to the company, “You won’t find a more authentic redline radial tire on the market.”

Features: The redline is built into the tire’s original mold, making it a true redline tire from day one of manufacturing; an all-season tread design is great for wet or dry performance.

Fitments: Sizes range from 205/70R14 to 215/65R16

Prices: $209 to $290 (each)

Description: The Firestone Wide Oval is built in refurbished, original molds. It’s designed to grip better, corner easier, run cooler, and stop quicker than competing bias-ply tires of its era. According to the company, “This is the most authentic musclecar tire on the market.”

Features: Bias-ply construction with poly/fiberglass-ply cord; Sup-R-Belt tread pattern; available with pinstripe whitewall, raised white letters, or redline.

Fitments: Sizes range from D70-14 to G70-15

Prices: $205 to $325 (each) (Note: Bias-ply tires are exempt from Uniform Tire Quality Guide ratings.)

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

Description: The Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 with ActiveBraking Technology incorporates race-derived advancements for precise handling on both dry and wet roads.

Features: A new tread compound with motorsport resins provides superior grip levels, leading to enhanced dry handling and dry braking performance; a lightweight, racing-derived construction reduces the vehicle’s unsprung mass to enhance steering precision and handling; and a crossed-plies carcass structure contributes to torsional stiffness for steering precision, handling, and braking on dry road surfaces.

Fitments: Sizes range from 225/45R17 to 285/35ZR19

Prices: Approximately $144 to $283 (each)

TBC Wholesale Group

Description: The Grand Prix Performance G/T is designed for value-oriented hobbyists who desire a stylized white-letter appearance combined with good all-season performance capabilities

Features: Stylized outline white letters; long even treadwear; all-season traction capability, M&S rated; smooth quiet ride; responsive handling

Fitments: Sizes range from 215/70R14 to 295/50R15

Prices: Approximately $99 to $170 (each)

Description: The HTRZ III is designed for late-model musclecars and offers performance across a range of conditions.

Features: Excellent summer performance with outstanding dry grip and handling; responsive cornering and straight-line stability; high-speed handling ability with traction on dry and wet roads; covered by Sumitomo’s “Life of the Original Tread” warranty.

Note: According to the manufacturer, the HTRZIII should not be driven through snow or ice, or when temperatures are below freezing.

Fitments: Sizes range from 235/55R17 to 295/25ZR22

Prices: Approximately $100 to $250 (each)

Description: An all-season tire that delivers superior handling on wet or dry pavement with the look and feel of a high-performance tire.

Features: Contemporary raised-white letters with stylized black lettering on the reverse side; performance all-season tread design; bold tread elements for improved cornering and handling.

Fitments: Sizes range from 215/70R14 to 295/50R15

Prices: Approximately $90 to $150 (each)

Toyo Tires

Description: This Proxes R888 is designed for road racing, track days, high-performance driving schools, and Pro-Touring cars.

Features: A semi-slick shoulder area increases cornering force; a unidirectional tread pattern with v-shaped grooves enhances wet traction and control; a rounded outer shoulder helps to maintain tire contact, even during changes in suspension geometry; and a continuous center contact delivers precise directional control during hard braking.

Fitments: Sizes range from 185/60R13 to 315/30ZR20

Prices: Approximately $140 to $380 (each)

Continental Tire

Description: The Extreme- Contact DWS is a newly introduced ultra-high-performance, all-season tire tuned for drivers seeking grip in dry, wet, and snow conditions, with comfort.

Features: Solid outer shoulder and chamfered tread blocks maximize road contact; high void-to-tread ratio with enhanced groove curvature aids water evacuation for resistance to hydroplaning; Temperature Distribution technology reduces distortion in the tread to improve wear and rolling resistance; Tuned Performance Indicators alert drivers to tires’ performance level.

Fitments: Sizes range from 205/55ZR16 to 295/25ZR22

Prices: Approximately $123 to $350 (each)

Uniform Tire Quality Grading System

HPP asked John Rastetter, director of Tire Information Services at Tire Rack (www.tirerack.com), to explain the Uniform Tire Quality Grading System. Here’s what he had to say.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Uniform Tire Quality Grading System (often referred to simply as UTQG) was originated in the mid-’70s to provide consumers with useful information to help them purchase tires based on their relative treadwear, traction, and temperature resistance.

Treadwear Grade: A grade of 100 would indicate that the tire tread would last as long as the standard Course Monitoring tire, 200 would indicate the tread would last twice as long, 300 would indicate three times as long, and so on. While the Treadwear Grade was originally intended to be assigned purely scientifically, it has also become a marketing tool used by manufacturers to help position and promote their tires.

Traction Grade: It’s based on the tire’s straight-line wet traction as the tire skids across the specified test surfaces. It does not evaluate dry braking, dry cornering, wet cornering, or high-speed hydroplaning resistance. Starting with the tires that offer the best wet traction, they are rated AA, A, B or C.

Temperature (Resistance) Grade: It indicates the extent to which heat is generated or dissipated by a tire. If the tire is unable to dissipate the heat effectively or if the tire is unable to resist the destructive effects of heat buildup, its ability to run at high speeds is reduced. Current grades are A, B, or C.

The Future

While treadwear (durability) and wet traction (safety) will continue to be rated, the tire’s temperature resistance will be dropped (this has essentially already been replaced by speed ratings already common on tires). The third grade will be based on the tire’s rolling resistance (fuel-efficiency) as an indicator of the tire’s contribution to vehicle fuel consumption.

The exact details of how they will be rated and presented are being worked out and expected to be implemented in the next couple of years.

SPEED RATINGS

Beginning in 1991, the speed symbol denoting a fixed maximum speed capability of new tires must be shown only in the speed rating portion of the tire’s service description, such as 225/50R16 89S. The most common tire speed rating symbols, maximum speeds and typical applications pertaining to Pontiac passenger cars are shown below:

When Z-speed-rated tires were first introduced, they were thought to reflect the highest tire speed rating that would ever be required, in excess of 240 km/h or 149 mph. While Z-speed rated tires are capable of speeds in excess of 149 mph, how far above 149 mph was not identified. That ultimately caused the automotive industry to add W- and Y-speed ratings to identify the tires that meet the needs of new vehicles that have extremely high top-speed capabilities.

While a Z-speed rating still often appears in the tire size designation of these tires, such as 225/50ZR16 91W, the Z in the size signifies a maximum speed capability in excess of 149 mph, 240 km/h; the W in the service description indicates the tire’s 168 mph, 270 km/h maximum speed.

Most recently, when the Y-speed rating indicated in a service description is enclosed in parentheses, such as 285/35ZR19 (99Y), the top speed of the tire has been tested in excess of 186 mph, 300 km/h indicated by the service description as shown below: