tire question
 

It's time for me to buy tires for my '88 and I was considering going to a 50 series tire. What would be a nice size tire that would fit on the stock 7 inch turbine rims?

I'm not sure I understand your question 82GT in terms of a "50 series" tire, unless you are talking about something like going from 235/60/15 to 235/50/15. If so, 245/50/15 would be the widest I'd go. Also, why do you want to go to 50s?

Well, since I need new tires anyway, I was thinking about going from the stock 225/60/15 to something like 225/50/15.
It was just an idea I was entertaining

is 245 the widest u can fit on stock gt wheels?(16x7) I also need some new tires...

I thought stock GT (fox bodies) wheels where 15x7s. Anyway, to answer your question: No. You can put 275s on there but it's not a good thing (the bulge on the sides). I think the normal recommended size for those are 225s or 235s, but 245s will be better (than 275s) on the stock wheels.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fox Body
[B]
I thought stock GT (fox bodies) wheels where 15x7s.

They are, at least from 83-93 they were.

i thought the 87-90 turbine rims were 15"-7" and the 91-93 5 star pony rims were 16"-7". I was pretty sure about this cuz i have the pony rims and a friend has the turbine rims and my pony rims are bigger then the turbines. I could be wrong but just my 2 cents.

91pa is correct, 91-93 had the 16x7 ponys and also fenderwells where made a little bigger for the diff in tire size.

I stand corrected. That is true. I forgot about that. I was thinking that 94 was the year they went to 16 inch but you are right 91pa.

Be careful when sizing tires, load carrying ability is probably the most important thng to consider. next on the list would be the minimum and maximum rim widths the tire is desinged for. This data should be available at the tire dealer.

At the very least a tire with a low load rating will overheat and wear out quickly, at worst you and the guy who put the tires on will have a lawsuit and attendant collateral damage to deal with
and tire suits are pretty easy to win

Whoops!, my mistake. I totally forgot the change to the 5 stars.

I have both wheels, turbines and ponies. The turbines were on GT's from '87 to '90 and in '91 they switched to the Pony wheels as stated.

I have 245/50/15's right now on my GT (on the back) BFGoodrich Euro T/A's and they're good handling, OK traction tires. I wanted to get a wider tire with a larger contact patch and they work pretty well for that. On the Pony wheels (came with my GT) it had some Z speed rated 225/50R16 tires Bridgestone RE940 and those tires were unbearably stiff, the car wandered everywhere, caught every groove and had horrible bumpsteer as well as reduced ground clearance. You can really feel the flaws in the stock suspension with those tires.

If you get wider tires, you'll have to run slightly lower air pressure to maintain a good contact patch because as tires get wider on skinnier rims they tend to balloon out not only on the outsides, but also in the middle of the tread area. As a result the wheels can tend to shift on the tires a bit, but not very noticably.

the next time i get tires, i'm just going to get some quality stock size tires with a higher speed rating (higher speed rating tires have stiffer sidewalls and subsequently handle better) and relatively decent treadwear rating. You can get lower profile tires with an aspect ratio of like 50 or 55 but then they start riding rough and usually have a higher speed rating anyway because the shortness of the sidewall strengthens it.

I personally like to get tires with a lower treadwear rating because they leave more rubber on the road to stop/grab traction with. I also like have a margin of error in case i enter a corner too fast and have to rely on the tires.

As far as load rating of the tire goes with a 3000 lb car you're not likely to exceed the rating of a reasonable size tire and probably won't cause enough stress on the tire to cause it to fail unless it's underinflated at high speeds.
This is just my opinion though, so only you can decide what you want for your car.