Mickey Thompson ST streets

[403Olds]

Hi,
I recently bought some Mickey Thompson ST street tires to replace my well aged BFG Radial TA's. I bought the same size (235/60/15) but put them on different 15X7 Rims. I noticed that the Mickey Thompson's look narrower than the BFG. Anyone else running the Mickey's notice this?

 

[DoubleV]

They are definitely more narrow.

What's the traction like?

 

[403Olds]

That's that problem. I just put them on last weekend, so I've not put many miles on yet, but so far, my car now seems to be not as responsive in the turns. Just driving it around so far, I've not had a chance to test the straight line traction..yet

 

[axisg]

I run the Sportsman ST's on my car that's driven fairly hard but not raced. Probably year 3 now. The handling is fine ( 235/60's all way round ) with it being no better or worse that the BFG's. However once they got to be a a couple years old I always found the BFG's too hard and the car would tend to slide around corners esp if the road was a little wet. The ST's on my car are half worn on the rear and they still ride well and I don't fear driving in the rain like I did with BFG's.

 

[403Olds]

The one change I did was went from running 235's all the way around to running 235's in the front 255/60's in the rear. Seems like pretty common, but has really changed the handling. I'm not sure what to attribute it to. I'm going to tighten up the rear sway bar one hole and see what happens.

 

[403Olds]

So I tightened up the rear roll bar, that seemed to help, but still didn't make it the same as it was before the tire swap. I thought that with the rear being raised slightly, that I had lost some caster. I moved a 1/16" shim from the front upper control arm bolt to the rear bolt, to give it some more caster. It fixed the issue. No idea on any readings, but I was able to move the sway bar back to the middle hole like I had it before. So bottom line, if you have mismatched tires, a realignment could be necessary.

Sorry for the book, but figured somebody could learn from my problems.....

 

[1Bad4558]

Hi 403olds I have a question. You said you run 255/60 on your car, what size rim was that on? I have some olds rallys I was wanting to use with 255s but worried they won't fit. I don't mean to hijack your thread but I just seen the tire size and figured I would ask you.

 

[403Olds]

I'm running 15 X 8 with 4 1/2" backspacing with aluminum drums. The clearances are pretty equal at 3/8"" to the rail, and 1/2" to the fender. The ST tires are the same section width as the BFG's, but about 1" narrower on the tread width. The traction seems good, the aesthetics aren't as good as the BFG's, but time will tell how well they hold up. They get many good reviews.

Front's are 15X7 with 4 1/2" also, but i'm using 1/4" spacer to clear the blazer calipers on Weld Draglites. My previous rims were 15X7 with 3 1/2" backspacing, and the tires like to hit the inner fender on some bumps.

 

[1Bad4558]

My rims have 4.25 bs. What do you believe I could get by with on tires size on back? What's the difference between the aluminum drum and steel besides the obvious?

 

[403Olds]

I think the aluminum drums are about 1/4" think, where the steel drums are about 1/8", so the Aluminum drums push the wheels out slightly. With the 4.25", you should be able to fit 255's with steel drums, as long as your not lowered alot. I've got poly suspension bushings, so the axle doesn't move around much.