RalphE

Sorry to say, I don't own a Cobalt SS SC, but it sure seems like Chevy has built a fine car for the money. I'm wanting to get back into showroom stock auto crossing and only own a Jeep and a Chevy van at the moment. So, I need a new car. Thought I jump in here to get some thoughts from people who own of these before I put my money down.

Anyway, I love everything about the SS except the wheels. My understanding is that they're 18x7, which limits tire selection. There does not seem to be any 215/45x18 competition street radials. You can get 225/40x18, except they all want 7.5" rims. ANd they're all quite expensive.

BTW, Dodge did their homework here, and offers 16x7" wheels on the SRT4 with the ACR package. Opening up the possibility for anyone with an SRT4 to run 16x7's. This equals 225/50x16 tires which span the range from $60 Kumho's on up spendy competition street radials.

So, if someone from Chevy is reading this please add 18x7.5 and 16x7 to the factory option list to open up a huge world of tire choices for showroom stock usage.

Now for the question, what tires you guys use and what kind of life you get out of them?

jymontoya

Awesome post. However, 225/40/18 will fit just fine on the stock wheel.

conemark

My feeling is that the Cobalt SS/SC with the LSD would make a great D Stock car. Even with the slight dilemma of the 18 x 7 wheel on the Cobalt, I think that a 225/40 R 18 will easily fit on it. This gives you several choices as far as the "it" tire to have:

- Dunlop Super Sport Race R compounds can be had for as little as $115 each!
- Hankook Z212, a popular tire for those not wanting to go all the way for R's at $147 each.
- Kumho Ecsta V700's are around $195 each.
- Michelin Pilot Sport Cups are around $243.
- Hoosier A3S05's are $245.
- Yokohama A048's are $249.

If you're daring, you could try to fit a 245/35 R18 Kumho Ecsta V710 on that wheel for $240 a tire. The V710 is the preferred tire right now, and though it may seem a bit wide for the wheel, your results may not be that different from those of us who try to put a 265 on a 16 x 8 wheel in F Stock. To give you an idea of wear rates, on my F-Stock Camaro, I've put approximately 110 runs on my V710's. Though they now aren't "National Worthy" by any means, they certainly still grip quite well for local events.

Hope this helps.

RalphE

Thanks for the replies. I assumed that people were running 225's, since there's not much alternative.

The reason for the post was that when I was looking at the specs for different 225/40x18 tires, they specified a rim width between 7.5 and 9 inches, with an optimmum width of 8". So, even though they fit, you're not necessarily getting the most out of them.

Thanks also for the price info. It does seem there are some relative bargains to be had, but it's not the variety you'd find in the 225/45x17 or the 225/50x16 sizes.

So, another hint for Chevy, consider puting together a "club racer" option package, with 16x7 or 17x7.5 wheel choices, rear swaybar and the lsd. Then all thought of the SRT4 will leave my mind.

alleycat58

They moved it to G stock for next season.

At any rate, as far as tires go I did well with the PZeros but I'm looking to get KDWs for it if they make them next year. I'm also going to switch to 17 inch lightweight wheels. We can run 16x7, just not as a factory option. I have 16x7s on the car right now for winter and they fit just fine.