favourite tires?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Going to ask my father for new rear tires for my birthday in a couple months, for a 1990 grand marquis wagon.

What do you recommend, and where would you purchase them?

I've got plenty of time for mail order.

I live in Maryland, if that affects your choices, in terms of weather.
The car already has a set of snow tires, and I'm wondering if it's worth buying a 2nd set of wheels so I don't have to remount the tires twice a year whenever I swap?

[91waggin]

Going to ask my father for new rear tires for my birthday in a couple months, for a 1990 grand marquis wagon.

What do you recommend, and where would you purchase them?

I've got plenty of time for mail order.

I live in Maryland, if that affects your choices, in terms of weather.
The car already has a set of snow tires, and I'm wondering if it's worth buying a 2nd set of wheels so I don't have to remount the tires twice a year whenever I swap?

Go to Costco, buy Michelin Hydroedges. 90k mile tire, excellent wet traction. The only thing you need to do is be really good about keeping them inflated, otherwise they wear out the water chutes really quickly and the tire is worthless.

Again, needs to be moved to suspension.

[Piece-it pete]

...
The car already has a set of snow tires, and I'm wondering if it's worth buying a 2nd set of wheels so I don't have to remount the tires twice a year whenever I swap?

I run studs in winter and yep it's worth it IMO, particularly as the 'yards are full of rims.

Pete

[grandpaslincoln]

Toyo all the way.

[Lincolnmania]

i like firestone and general

[roadwarriorP72]

BF Goodrich Radial T/As nuff said

[85crownHPP]

The only new tires Ive ridden on are some cooper cobras back in the day, and aside from looking neato they dont have the greatest traction. That could be becuase they were ballooney 70 series...
The V-rated eagle RSA's I got from Ray/Scott handle awesome on the 85, but i don't really have anything to compare them to, and they are pricey though. Other than that I only run used tires i scavenge from work

[GM_Guy]

Cooper Cobras went to crap about 15 years ago. (they listened to the whiners that complained about low tire life and upped the hardness of the tire and went with a very very bad diagonal thread pattern. They used to be my favorite tire-reasonable price for what used to be a sticky tire. Back then, a threadwear rating of 240! woo hoo!).

In the same group of tires, bfg radial T/A tires. also crap now. Same problem as the coopers, they made them harder so as to shut up the whiners who know nothing of the benifits of a grippy tire. Another gripe with the bfg's is that they are skinnier for the same size as the coopers or firestones. The rear bfgs on my nova are a full inch narrower contact patch than the same size cooper with less than steller stikiness (again, compared to old-skool radial t/a's that where passable).

Still in the same group of tires, Firestone Indy 500's are doing good. No goofy thread pattern, grip very well, and provide full thread width. Comparing the radial t/a and indy 500 for my truck (same size for both) side by side you'd think you where comparing two different thread widths. These will be going on my box when I finish off the Michelins. And eventually going on my Nova when the bfg's get cooked off.

Michelins make nice tires, but I don't do enough miles in a year to wear them out before they get rock hard and become slippery donuts in the rain.

Alex.

[sly]

cheapo Dominator tires from Discount Tire is what I have on the vic and I can't complain about them. They've been on the car for ~3 years (I think) and unknown miles (odometer didn't work part of the time). I know I got at least 50K miles out of them though and I have 2 tires at 3/32 or 4/32 and the other two are at 5/32 or 6/32 of thread left. I'll need to get at least 2 tires before long though.

The Pirelli P5s on the Escort are awesome so far. Rated at 85K miles and still stickey enough to hold the road while pushing it hard around a corner (well... for an Escort at least). The 88 MGM has some Runway tires on it that have been ok, but wear too fast. Car came with the tires on it.

I also like the Kuhmo tires when there's a deal on them.

[Baker]

I'm rocking the mastercrafts and never had an issue. Then again, I like it when I lose traction

[91grandmarquis]

BF Goodrich Radial T/As nuff said

+1 but they are discontinued now.... The towncar has some nice Michelin street tires on it with thin whitewalls, about $160 a piece though.. and that is out of my price range.

[Steve'87]

The car already has a set of snow tires, and I'm wondering if it's worth buying a 2nd set of wheels so I don't have to remount the tires twice a year whenever I swap?

It's a good idea IMO. A one time up front cost versus paying to have them changed over twice a year, and having to wait for it to be done. All my vehicles have 2 sets. For some reason all the people around here wait till the day it starts snowing then all pile up at the only tire store in town to get their tires changed over.

[sly]

if I lived in an area that required snow tires... I would have 2 sets as well. Since I'm in Texas though, I just have more fun sliding around on the 2-3 days a year we get any interesting weather (other than thunderstorms that border on hurricane strength).

[sxcpotatoes]

Consumer Reports, I think it was, did a performance tire comparison awhile ago.

Hands down winner for Grip/Low Cost/Durability were some HANKOOKs

[hemihotrod402]

Um for the record, if anyone wants the OLD style radial t/as, they are available at coker tire. BFG discontinued them, so Coker bought all of the molds.

Edit: At above post, that was the deciding factor for me, I got a set of Hankooks for my 17's I have coming