275/40/17 KDWs Verdict.....Great

[Yellowm6GTO]

Just put a set of BFG's 275/40's KDW on teh rear of the Goat. It hooks up great and There is no rubbing, once so ever. At least not that I have found yet. Have launched hard and did not notice any. Even dumped it at around 3000 and They spun for a short period and then chirped and I was off. Great purchase. All on a stock wheel. Handles great, although being wider sometimes "feels" the road a little bit more. Definately recommend these tires. Do not know how the wear is yet only had them for 20 hours so far, but can not complain once so ever.

[b4z]

I have the KDW2s in 245/40-18 order, how is the ride quality?

[TrakDay]

I can tell you that upgrading my stock tires was the best thing I ever did for this car! more performance from the tires than the intake and exhaust and lord knows I need the tires for the procharger.

[JayStew]

It's funny you should post this. I was just considering getting a set of these instead of DR's.

How much better do you feel that they hook compared to the stockers?

[silvergoat05]

Just put a set of BFG's 275/40's KDW on teh rear of the Goat.

Isn't that a little wide for a 8" wheel? Does it pull the outer edges in due to the narrow rim width?

[bellwilliam]

Just put a set of BFG's 275/40's KDW on teh rear of the Goat. It hooks up great and There is no rubbing, once so ever. At least not that I have found yet. Have launched hard and did not notice any. Even dumped it at around 3000 and They spun for a short period and then chirped and I was off. Great purchase. All on a stock wheel. Handles great, although being wider sometimes "feels" the road a little bit more. Definately recommend these tires. Do not know how the wear is yet only had them for 20 hours so far, but can not complain once so ever.

did you check the rubbing by cornering hard? agressive launch usually wont' do it. thanks !!

[Yellowm6GTO]

Many questions.....Ride quality is better than stock. But pretty close. The only thing that seems different is the tendancy to follow road ruts. But this is expected. At least it feels good while the back end tends to follow them. Living in michigan I get alot of these. I would imagine that in most other states this is not as much of an issue. I did not notice any more road noise. They definately seem stickier though. The hook from these is much greater than stock. I would say 2 or 3 times better. But that is hard to measure. Much less spin and much more go, if that helps. I am pretty much at the max for tire to rim width. It pulls slightly inward. But not enough to consider it a problem. I did go through a hard corner last night and still did not notice any rubbing. I will continue to test and report as needed. I would give them a 9.8 out of 10 for benefit, losing .2 points because nothing is perfect. I am very pleased to say the least. I have never used drag radials, but these get enough hook that I would be worried about breaking something if there was much more, without replacing things like the driveshaft...ect.......

[wrp]

Just put a set of BFG's 275/40's KDW on teh rear of the Goat. It hooks up great and There is no rubbing, once so ever. At least not that I have found yet. Have launched hard and did not notice any. Even dumped it at around 3000 and They spun for a short period and then chirped and I was off. Great purchase. All on a stock wheel. Handles great, although being wider sometimes "feels" the road a little bit more. Definately recommend these tires. Do not know how the wear is yet only had them for 20 hours so far, but can not complain once so ever.
NT or TT?

[Yellowm6GTO]

I am sorry WRP I am not following. I think you are refering tot he tread, and if you are it is the old style tread, not the curved almost tear drop looking ones.

[alextaylor29]

Nice...275 is a great width. Didn't know they could fit on the stock 17's. You mention it's only for the rear, do you think they'd fit on the front as well?

[04IBM GTO]

pictures please

[why2kmax]

assuming you are using stock size fronts yes?

[wrp]

I am sorry WRP I am not following. I think you are refering tot he tread, and if you are it is the old style tread, not the curved almost tear drop looking ones.
That wouldd be traditional tread I think, not an expert here I have G-Force NT (New Tread) and totally agree with you tires are the best first mod.

[unsigned]

I have KDW's on my Maxima. Great tires. These were the #3 best performance thing I've ever done to that car. I will put some on some wheels for the GTO soon. Maybe KDW2's, but I'll have to do some reading 1st. :D

[Grubrunner]

I've been contimplating this for a while now but two things don't sit well with me.

1) The idea of a 275 instead of the factory 245 seems odd on a 8" wheel. I dunno . . . something doesn't seem right. Maybe it's me . . .

2) How they'd look. Wouldn't the tire's wall "bubble" out a little too much? That'd kinda look strage, would it not?

I'd love to see some pics too!

[stl_ls1gto]

people have been putting 275 drags on the stock wheel for a long time now...no problems

[wyd_trkr]

Just put a set of BFG's 275/40's KDW on teh rear of the Goat. It hooks up great and There is no rubbing, once so ever. At least not that I have found yet. Have launched hard and did not notice any. Even dumped it at around 3000 and They spun for a short period and then chirped and I was off. Great purchase. All on a stock wheel. Handles great, although being wider sometimes "feels" the road a little bit more. Definately recommend these tires. Do not know how the wear is yet only had them for 20 hours so far, but can not complain once so ever.
Yellowm6GTO, would it be to much trouble for you to take some pictures, as so some of us could see how they fit. I for one am thinking about doing this the end of this week. But would like to see for myself what they look like on stock 17" wheels. Thanks.

[Tails]

I have 275's on the rear also. I agree that it is the best think ever. They hook up way better. The bulge that some people seem to worry about with that width of tires on the stock rims is not noticeable in the least.

:drink::drink:

[wyd_trkr]

I have 275's on the rear also. I agree that it is the best think ever. They hook up way better. The bulge that some people seem to worry about with that width of tires on the stock rims is not noticeable in the least.

:drink::drink:

But, with the stock 04/05 GTO 17" X 8" wheel, the 275/40/17 tire will wear differently on the GTO, verses the WS6 Wheels being 17" X 9". Meaning, the stock GTO wheel is 1" narrower, than recommended by the BFG Manufacturer for the tire to wear properly. The center of the tire will indeed, wear more overtime in the middle of the tire, verses being installed on the recommended 17" X 9" wheel!!

[Tails]

But, with the stock 04/05 GTO 17" X 8" wheel, the 275/40/17 tire will wear differently on the GTO, verses the WS6 Wheels being 17" X 9". Meaning, the stock GTO wheel is 1" narrower, than recommended by the BFG Manufacturer for the tire to wear properly. The center of the tire will indeed, wear more overtime in the middle of the tire, verses being installed on the recommended 17" X 9" wheel!!
The wear from the 1 inch different in the width of the rim would not even be on the radar in comparison to the wear due to burnouts and racing at the track. On a tire good for 15,000 miles what would the 1 inch of difference in the width of the rim be worth?


:drink::drink:

[JudgeThis]

FYI - The stock wheels on the '04's are actually 17 x 8.5 according to my window sticker

[miscreant]

FYI - The stock wheels on the '04's are actually 17 x 8.5 according to my window sticker
Window sticker's wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. My CTS had 17"x75" wheels and XM-Navigation Radio (Read as XM-Satelite Radio on the next newest stickers) according to the window sticker.

[jpoole]

FYI - The stock wheels on the '04's are actually 17 x 8.5 according to my window sticker

I saw this in another post . Look close and it says 17 x 8 5 wheels, meaning 5 wheels including the spair.

Thanks, Jeff

[Skip Fix]

Older GTO and Firebird guys have been running 275 section width tires on 8" and even 7" wheels for years. Lot's of 10" drag slicks with 12"+ section widths(305 for you metrics) on 8" wheels. I think NASCAR has an 8" limit also. It will pull in the section width slightly using a narrower wheel and possibly crown it slightly. The main recommendation has always been to try and run a wheel as wide as the tread width.

My spare sure doesn't look 8" wide for the 17x8 5 wheels.

[jpoole]

Yea, I found the old link and it said the window sticker said 17x8 5 spoke aluminum wheels. Kinda looks like they say 8.5 wide, but it is saying 5 spoke.

They are 8" wide for sure as I had my rears widen to 8.75 and the guy measured everything before and after.

Here is the old link. it is down at post 19. Click Here. (http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395 3&highlight=window+sticker+17x8+spoke+alloy+wheels)