[First300COwner]

For the most part I know a lot about cars. As far as rims and tires are concerned my knowledge is marginal. On my old 2001 Honda Prelude I ran Bridgestone Pontenzas, and also ran some Falken's. Both I guess were
"wet/summer" tires. I guess that means enough tred for moderate rain, but mostly a dry weather tire. What I got from that is that it’s probably the best tire for better handling and performance but ride might suffer a bit. Also they were kind of low profile and I had 16"s on it. It was an odd size tire for 16"s but its all they had, and the tire guy told me it would be better handling because it had shorter side walls, "so less flex in the corners" I guess.

Anyway my next set of tires which, I will probably need in about 10k miles, I'm not worrired about ride very much and want to focus on better handling and performance tires. I'm assuming to go with a lower profile tire. I want to know what brand, and type of tire to buy to go with the stock 300C rims.

 

[Black Hemi]

Right now there is not that much out there for our stock 18's (in fact it is an unusual size tire for a car period) So most of the available options right now are truck tires. In a year or so there will (hopefully) be a lot more options for us to use. Problem with going smaller rolling diameter tire (less sidewall) means your guages will be off. There are inherent 0-60 gains though, but your speed limiter will shut you down earlier than it would with the stock size tire. The way the Chrysler is designed it is not meant to have a short sidewall (at least on 18's . . . 22's is a whole differnt ball of wax) But personally (and I am sure someone will back me up on this) I think the 300C would look a little silly with 18's and a shorter sidewall than it already has.

Just my $.02
-Chris

 

[First300COwner]

Hey thanks Blackhemi!

That sucks that most of our choices are truck tires because of it odd size. I don't know "jack" about rims and tires. I just wanted to know if there was anything that would be better for handling and performance. That sucks that the cars computer gets confused with the tire thing and "frocks" the gauges. I wonder if there is a real reason for the computer doing that or if its just some lame programing because of the 300C being a fat @$$ and all . Anyway thanks Blackhemi. Anyone else have some ideas?

 

[Northern Rider]

I've heard good things about the BF Goodrich GForce T/A 18" tire on the 300C.

Very reasonable in price and very good for handling and ultra high speeds, so I am told.

 

[DZeckhausen]

I've heard good things about the BF Goodrich GForce T/A 18" tire on the 300C.

Very reasonable in price and very good for handling and ultra high speeds, so I am told.

Specifically, you want to replace your Continental ContiTouringContact CH95 225/60-18 tires with BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDWS 245/55-18 tires. For some strange reason, they are on special in this size for only $88 each at Tire Rack. Every other size of this tire is more expensive, even down to the 205/55-16.

The stock tires are catagorized as Grand Touring All-Season and the BF Goodrich tires are Ultra High Performance All-Season. The difference between them is night and day. After I installed them, the turn in response was much better, high speed stability was improved, and braking distance was dramatically shortened. With the old tires, it was way too easy to get into ABS. The new tires really allow you to get some decent braking. Surprisingly, they are as quiet as stock and the ride quality is not compromised. I'm using them as my "summer" tires and currently have a set of 235/60-18 Pirelli Scorpion snow tires installed for the winter.

Kudos to Luke at Tire Rack (888-541-1777 x362) for pointing these tires out to me. They don't show up on the web site unless you know to pick the custom size of 245/55-18. It turns out these wider tires work fine on our stock wheels and have nearly the same outside diameter as the silly 225/60-18 tires that came with the car. According to Luke, the normal pricing will be more like $140 each once this batch of tires is sold. Given the likely price jump, you might want to order a set now and hang onto it.

Continental ContiTouringContact CH95 (original factory tires)

BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDWS

 

[Northern Rider]

Thanks Dave!

That's the exact info I had researched a while ago, but couldn't recall or find the details.

I am ordering a set right now.

 

[3SRT4ME]

Kdws

I second the KDWS endorsement, having had them on my C for months now. In fact, search the term "KDWS" and you will find additional user observations on this tire.

 

[th59718]

I ran across the KDWS tire at tirerack.com when I was scoping out snow tires. I had the same thought as Dave Z - at $88 ea. it might be worth it to get a set now. But my garage only holds a limited number of tires in sizes that fit the 300C if you can picture that.

Why are people replacing the Contis so soon? Are they that bad? Are some folks putting on 60000 miles per year? Or do you spend the weekend at the track?

 

[DZeckhausen]

I ran across the KDWS tire at tirerack.com when I was scoping out snow tires. I had the same thought as Dave Z - at $88 ea. it might be worth it to get a set now. But my garage only holds a limited number of tires in sizes that fit the 300C if you can picture that.

Why are people replacing the Contis so soon? Are they that bad? Are some folks putting on 60000 miles per year? Or do you spend the weekend at the track?

The limiting factor on the handling of the 300C was the tires. They had terrible grip and I had zero confidence when taking her through the S-turns. But the thing that concerned me most was the poor braking performance. With the Contis, the ABS engages very quickly. The g-Force T/A KDWS are much better and make the car a joy to drive on the turns.

By the way, I would NOT consider the BF Goodrich KDWS to be appropriate for the snow. Even the stock Conti tires are better. But I'm using Pirelli Scorpion tires and they work very well. I was in New Hampshire over Christmas and had a chance to test them out on fresh snow with no salt or sand. Not bad at all. Certainly not the same as Blizzak WS-50, but nearly as good as Blizzak LM-22.

 

[kidcoastal]

So if we dont want our gauges off, which tire would we use on a 20 inch rims to keep the diameter the same as it would be on the stock 18's?

Thanks,
kidcoastal

 

[th59718]

By the way, I would NOT consider the BF Goodrich KDWS to be appropriate for the snow.

Wasn't considering the KDWS as a snow/ice tire. Just happened to see them (especially because of the price) when looking at all tires that would fit the 300C stock wheels. I put Blizzak WS50's on mine for the winter and like them a lot.

 

[james jefferson]

when my contis wear out, i want to replace them with a little wider and a little lower profile tire, but really dont want an all season tire. prefer performance tire instead. had 3 sets of firestone firehawks zr (ep) on my old car and l love them. absolutely not a snow tire tho.

 

[DZeckhausen]

Wasn't considering the KDWS as a snow/ice tire. Just happened to see them (especially because of the price) when looking at all tires that would fit the 300C stock wheels. I put Blizzak WS50's on mine for the winter and like them a lot.

What size Blizzak were you able to find that fit the 300C? All I could find that would fit the stock wheels were the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow and the Dunlop Grandtrek WT M2. Did you drop down to 17" winter wheels? (Not an option for me, as I have a 4-wheel big brake kit.)

 

[DZeckhausen]

when my contis wear out, i want to replace them with a little wider and a little lower profile tire, but really dont want an all season tire. prefer performance tire instead. had 3 sets of firestone firehawks zr (ep) on my old car and l love them. absolutely not a snow tire tho.

I would have gone for a summer-only performance tire, if one were available in an appropriate size. I played with tire size caculations to come up with many alternative widths and aspect ratios and found nothing that came close to the stock circumference except for the 245/55-18 g-Force T/A KDWS.

This is the same issue we had when the Chevy Impala SS came out in 1994. It wasn't until at least 1997 that Bridgestone finally came out with a summer-only tire (the RE730) in the stock size of 255/50-17. Before that, all available tires were all season, including the OEM BF Goodrich tires.

I was at the SEMA trade show in Las Vegas last month and I spoke to a Goodyear representative about the lack of a performance tire for the 300C and Magnum RT. He said they were looking into it. While I don't expect a Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 to come out in the right size, perhaps we'll at least get a summer-only high performance tire that fits.

 

[arnoldw]

What size Blizzak were you able to find that fit the 300C? All I could find that would fit the stock wheels were the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow and the Dunlop Grandtrek WT M2. Did you drop down to 17" winter wheels? (Not an option for me, as I have a 4-wheel big brake kit.)

I believe tire rack has them, 235-55 QR-18 for $135.

 

[DZeckhausen]

I believe tire rack has them, 235-55 QR-18 for $135.

Right you are!

I went in the other direction with respect to diameter and bought my Pirelli Scorpions in 235/60-18. You went 1.6% below stock diameter and I went 1.7% above stock diameter. If we get a bad winter here in NJ and I have trouble making it up the hill to my house, I'll wish I made the same choice you did. Those WS-50 tires can allow you to climb trees. On the other hand, the dry handling goes to mush. These Pirelli Scorpions are more like the Blizzak LM-22s.

 

[th59718]

What size Blizzak were you able to find that fit the 300C? All I could find that would fit the stock wheels were the Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow and the Dunlop Grandtrek WT M2. Did you drop down to 17" winter wheels? (Not an option for me, as I have a 4-wheel big brake kit.)

Tire Rack says Blizzaks WS-50s are available up to 17 inch but when you look at sizes there is one, and only one, 18 inch size that just happens to be close enough to the stock 300C tire size that it will fit.