Tire size and brand
 

I'm sure this has been posted before, but my search-fu is lacking today.

I'm looking to get tires for my 19x9.5" wheels.

What size tires (front and back) and what brand would you guys get?

Brand is going to be subjective. but it helps us to give suggestions if we know what types of tires you are looking at (summer tire, all season tire, drag radial, etc)

As far as sizes go, I would say for a 9.5" wheel to stick around 275 to 285 width, and 35-40 sidewall ratio.

Sorry, Looking for a summer performance tire. I was thinking something like the michelin pilot super sport. 275/40

that's a good tire, go for it.

I would do 285/35 on a 9.5 in rim I like the super sport tires. Do it!

I've got 9.5s in the back with 305/30r19 and 8.0s in the front with I think 255s. I have 305/35 drag radials for the rear for the track though.

racing a manual on DRs at the track? How hard do you launch?

I'll let you know as soon as I take it down there - I got them(the tires) about 6 months ago with the intention of going to Ennis on fast fridays and what-not with my wife and my daughter, I guess I kind of underestimated how much my life would change when she was born heh.

Ditto - car hobby kind of went on hold for more than a decade with kids...

I wouldn't launch it above 2500 RPM. DRs aren't the easiest tires on a manual, and they will put a lot more stress on the driveline than if you were auto. And being a 19" DR just takes away that much more flex of the sidewall.

Worst case scenario?? I don't mind breaking things, as I enjoy upgrading stock components, but I don't want to blow up my trans. or something stupid expensive.

305 isn't going to do anything extra for you on a 9.5 rim. Probably even hurt traction. I'd go 285 max. Michelin SS are a great DD tire. I'm running 20x10 20x11 and have 275 Invo's on the front and 305 555Rs on the rear and they do decent enough on the street/track. NT05 and NT05R are a much better DR but they wear significantly faster. SS's don't hook well on the drag strip but do great for handling, wetter conditions and wear well.

Psshh I would have gone 325 if I could have(though you're right, 305s arent much different on that size wheel than a 285, I would go 285 next time unless I had a wider wheel). You can't drive fast on the shitty streets around here anyways, traction doesn't mean anything. As far as traction at the track goes, I'd just be guessing how good my NT05Rs are, we shall see eventually.

I'm running 275/35/19 Nitto 555's. On the stock wheel, I think if you go much bigger than a 275 they start to bludge a bit. Remember when you go wider, go lower on how tall the tire is, the difference is mostly made up overall.

I went with 275/50/19 pilot a/v s? I believe was the model.