All Terrain tires
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9,507
From: Okemos, MI
Re: All Terrain tires
I assume you mean all-season tires. All-terrain would be for off-road use.
In the stock size, 245/50R16, there are not a lot of options these days. Looking at TireRack.com, I don't see anything that I would recommend for year-round use, assuming you live in an area that gets snow. I also checked 235 and 255 widths; same story there.
If you're willing to buy wheels too, some more options appear. For example, if you were to get a set of 17x9" wheels and look for 275/40R17 tires (that's the stock SS/WS6 size, so it'll be easy to find wheels and they'll fit perfectly), you could get the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4, which is an excellent all-season tire. However, if you live somewhere with any significant snow, I would put a couple bags of sand in the back and still plan on being extremely careful and driving as little as possible with these tires.
If you live somewhere with snow, what I'd really want for you is something like the Michelin CrossClimate2, but that's not available in any size you'd want to run on your car. The closest reasonable size is a 225/5017, which is within 1% of the stock tire diameter, but almost an inch narrower and requiring a 17" wheel. You'd need to find a 17x7 or 17x7.5 wheel with the correct bolt pattern and offset, and you'd be sacrificing a fair bit of traction. (On the other hand, that combination would be appreciably lighter than stock, so you might see an improvement in acceleration!)
In the stock size, 245/50R16, there are not a lot of options these days. Looking at TireRack.com, I don't see anything that I would recommend for year-round use, assuming you live in an area that gets snow. I also checked 235 and 255 widths; same story there.
If you're willing to buy wheels too, some more options appear. For example, if you were to get a set of 17x9" wheels and look for 275/40R17 tires (that's the stock SS/WS6 size, so it'll be easy to find wheels and they'll fit perfectly), you could get the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4, which is an excellent all-season tire. However, if you live somewhere with any significant snow, I would put a couple bags of sand in the back and still plan on being extremely careful and driving as little as possible with these tires.
If you live somewhere with snow, what I'd really want for you is something like the Michelin CrossClimate2, but that's not available in any size you'd want to run on your car. The closest reasonable size is a 225/5017, which is within 1% of the stock tire diameter, but almost an inch narrower and requiring a 17" wheel. You'd need to find a 17x7 or 17x7.5 wheel with the correct bolt pattern and offset, and you'd be sacrificing a fair bit of traction. (On the other hand, that combination would be appreciably lighter than stock, so you might see an improvement in acceleration!)
Last edited by JakeRobb; Dec 14, 2020 at 09:52 AM.
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From: Hell was full so they sent me to NJ
Re: All Terrain tires
Stock tires were either 235/55-16 (base Z28) or 245/50-16 with the Z-rated tire option (RPO "QLC")
When I tried driving my Formula in northeast US snow (after moving from southern California), I ran a complete set (4) of Bridgestone Blizzaks, on takeoff Z28 salad shooters. They made it almost drivable in snow, but had limited traction on dry roads. Typically Tire Rack recommends a narrower snow/ice tire for deep snow, in this case 225/55-16 (OK on a stock 8" wheel).. Seems a bit small in diameter, but the next recommendation is a 215/60-16.
When I tried driving my Formula in northeast US snow (after moving from southern California), I ran a complete set (4) of Bridgestone Blizzaks, on takeoff Z28 salad shooters. They made it almost drivable in snow, but had limited traction on dry roads. Typically Tire Rack recommends a narrower snow/ice tire for deep snow, in this case 225/55-16 (OK on a stock 8" wheel).. Seems a bit small in diameter, but the next recommendation is a 215/60-16.
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Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 2
Re: All Terrain tires
I assume you mean all-season tires. All-terrain would be for off-road use.
In the stock size, 245/50R16, there are not a lot of options these days. Looking at TireRack.com, I don't see anything that I would recommend for year-round use, assuming you live in an area that gets snow. I also checked 235 and 255 widths; same story there.
If you're willing to buy wheels too, some more options appear. For example, if you were to get a set of 17x9" wheels and look for 275/40R17 tires (that's the stock SS/WS6 size, so it'll be easy to find wheels and they'll fit perfectly), you could get the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4, which is an excellent all-season tire. However, if you live somewhere with any significant snow, I would put a couple bags of sand in the back and still plan on being extremely careful and driving as little as possible with these tires.
If you live somewhere with snow, what I'd really want for you is something like the Michelin CrossClimate2, but that's not available in any size you'd want to run on your car. The closest reasonable size is a 225/5017, which is within 1% of the stock tire diameter, but almost an inch narrower and requiring a 17" wheel. You'd need to find a 17x7 or 17x7.5 wheel with the correct bolt pattern and offset, and you'd be sacrificing a fair bit of traction. (On the other hand, that combination would be appreciably lighter than stock, so you might see an improvement in acceleration!)
In the stock size, 245/50R16, there are not a lot of options these days. Looking at TireRack.com, I don't see anything that I would recommend for year-round use, assuming you live in an area that gets snow. I also checked 235 and 255 widths; same story there.
If you're willing to buy wheels too, some more options appear. For example, if you were to get a set of 17x9" wheels and look for 275/40R17 tires (that's the stock SS/WS6 size, so it'll be easy to find wheels and they'll fit perfectly), you could get the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4, which is an excellent all-season tire. However, if you live somewhere with any significant snow, I would put a couple bags of sand in the back and still plan on being extremely careful and driving as little as possible with these tires.
If you live somewhere with snow, what I'd really want for you is something like the Michelin CrossClimate2, but that's not available in any size you'd want to run on your car. The closest reasonable size is a 225/5017, which is within 1% of the stock tire diameter, but almost an inch narrower and requiring a 17" wheel. You'd need to find a 17x7 or 17x7.5 wheel with the correct bolt pattern and offset, and you'd be sacrificing a fair bit of traction. (On the other hand, that combination would be appreciably lighter than stock, so you might see an improvement in acceleration!)
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 424
From: Euclid,Ohio
Re: All Terrain tires
I have BFG G-Force Super Sport AS on my 98Z, when my daily driver (99 Cavalier) got totaled, the other driver's fault, I had to,for a while, use the Z here in the snowbelt of NE Ohio. They were incredible, excellent steering and traction, even surprised how good they were on ice. They're no longer made so this doesn't help you, just passing it on.
For non-winter conditions I run Nitto 555 on all 4.
For non-winter conditions I run Nitto 555 on all 4.
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