luke87gt

It's truly baffled me for years.

With the amount of Mustangs, Camaros, Vettes, Classic Muscle-cars, etc running around with 18x10, 18x10.5, 18x11, 18x11.5, and 18x12 rims, why hasn't any tire manufacturer ever come out with a 305/35/18 or 315/35/18 tires?

The 295/35/18 is a great size and fits the 18x10 and 18x10.5 rims squarely, but it starts to look pretty narrow on anything above 18x10.5.

Then we have the 315/30/18 which is absolutely not an option because it is too short at only 25.4". Some guys run it but I've always thought it looks unacceptable on the rear of our cars, especially given that the OEM 295-35-18 measures 26.1"

And then your only option is to jump over to a bloated 335/30/18 which is too wide for most applications. Typically requires you to lose the brake cooling plastic on the inside and creates horrendous rubbing on the inside of the wheel-well when going up driveways (when using typical c5 offsets).

Why hasn't there been a brand to come forth and capture this market? If someone offered a 305/35/18 or a 315/35/18 I would buy today.

Rant over.

GTJim

I feel your pain

If they made them they would be on my car already.

luke87gt

Ya, they would be on my car and a lot of other people's cars already. Damn shame. Not a single brand out there offers these two sizes.

chris308

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....num=035ZR8R888

http://www.americanmuscle.com/nitto-...305-35-18.html

luke87gt

I'm looking for a regular street radial.

Those Toyos autocross tires won't last long

QCVette

There are getting to be a lot of sizes not made anymore and a lot with very few choices. Not just this size, but a lot of the 15, 16, and 17 sizes for older Corvettes are just not around any more. Choices for even the stock sizes for C5's especially Z06's are getting limited.

It would seem like when there are no choices on these sizes it would become profitable for a manufacturer to make some limited runs occasionally. I suspect that there could be a market. I think that is what some of the reproduction makers like Coker have found out.

troyguitar

Yep. 18" selection is poor. 17" selection is pretty much zero. You have to buy 19" wheels now to run wide tires. All it takes is $$

4XLR8N

Just been through this painful experience myself.

Wanted some really high peformance street tires for a car that is not a DD, rarely if ever sees rain and is not a track car. Just love to carve corners when I can.

Wound up with Nitto NT-05's on OEM Z-06 wheels. 275/40ZR17 and 295/35ZR18. http://www.nittotire.com/Tire/Street/nt05

Would have loved a 305 in the back with the same aspect ratio, but just doesn't exist in a street tire.

ajrothm

Toyo Makes a 315/35/18 TQ Drag radial, but it is a stiff sidewall radial like a regular street tire. It has full tread and drives pretty good in the rain.. Damn sure handles 10x better then a Nitto 555R in the curves..

About as close as you're gonna get to a regular street tire in a 315/35/18... These are my DD tires.. Cheap too at $260 each

USAZR1

19" tires were once the most expensive sizing but that's no longer the case. Nitto offers 19" rear tires in 295,305,315,325,335,and 345's.
Just have to pick the right size for your application.

Poor selection in 17"s is the main reason I switched to 19"s. 18" sizing isn't too bad,,yet.

CactusCat

Not exactly 100% accurate. If you'll notice, in the Nitto NT-05 sizes, the 245/45/17 and the 275/40/17 both are at 25.67" diameter. The 245/45 is the stock size and your 275/40 matches it exactly. Very good. Now to the rear. The stock 275/40/18 diameter is 26.61". Your 295/35/18 is 26.18" and is about 1/2" shorter than stock (not necessarily a bad thing ). I have Nitto 555s on my Vette but removed the rears and replaced with the Toyo Proxes TQ drag radials in the 315/35/18 size, which are 26.6" (direct info from toyotires.com). So that puts you at exactly the same aspect ratio as your stock setup but with both front and rear having wider than normal tires. I needed the wider rears to help hook with my engine mods. And those TQs do the job very nicely! (Please note this one thing: you like to carve corners and I like to do straight line acceleration, so these TQs might not work for you) One more caveat... Toyo makes/own Nitto. As for them looking "different", not even hardly noticeable in everyday use. From the side, since both brands are blackwalls, nothing to really see unless you look really close. From the rear, the "big meat" look is very nice and the Toyo's really hook great. I put mine on stock C5 Z06 offset 10.5" rims (repro's) and I have about 5/8" inner clearance and they protrude ever so slightly (not at all ugly). Hope this helps. But as the OP states, sure wish there were more choices in the sizes he stated. Here's a pic of the 315s from the rear.

PRE-Z06

What kind of pressure did you run in the TQ, at 25psi they weren't as stable as Nitto 305/35R18 RII from my experience and the only other tire I'd run on the street besides the R888. Both of which last longer than 0 treadwear TQ drag radial though neither will last as long as a true 180+ treadwear rating street tire.