tx77015ls1

I have a 2000 Z28. I can not afford z rated tires now. Should i get the cheeper non z rated tires? Will it be safe?

Also, how are the non z rated tires for a trip to the drag strip?

thanks, jason

JakeRobb

The rating only tells you what speed the tires are approved for. Z means the tires are capable of 149+ mph. Your car, assuming it's running properly, is capable of 155-160, but I'm guessing that you rarely get it up that high.

H-rated tires are good for 130, and V-rated tires are good for 149. Those would be fine as well.

Speed rating has pretty much no bearing on traction, if that's what you mean. If your car is stock, you can expect trap speeds around 107mph, so pretty much any speed rating you can find on a tire that will fit your car will be fine.

Zack

the speed rating determines how the tires will perform on the vehicle. sure, a 235/55/16 will fit the car, but do you really wanna put a T rated tire on the car?! harder rubber compound, terrible for performance

JakeRobb

Sorry Zack, but that's not true. The only specification on a tire that will tell you anything about the rubber hardness is the treadwear rating, and unfortunately, there isn't a good standard, so the ratings are inconsistent from one tire manufacturer to another.

Lower treadwear ratings indicate a tire which will not last as long, which generally means it is a softer tire. With a set of tires from a given manufacturer, you can compare the ratings and guess fairly reliably which tire is the softest (i.e. stickiest).

I guess my point is that there are some extremely sticky T-rated tires out there, and you shouldn't assume that they won't be sticky.

Now, T-rated means the tire is good for 118mph, and I would never put a tire with a speed rating that low on my Z28, no matter how broke I was.