DrFix2Fly

You made an assumption about the wheels. I removed the originals which had the damage and replaced them with aftermarket ones that fit better. I did a better job wheel fitting than original. I would have reused the original rims if GM offered a disposition on what size tire to use on them or revised alignment specs. Anything would be better than nothing. I feel the 245/17 combination is the root of the problem and are not safe. This is the subject of the NHSTA investigation.

 

Wing_Nut

None of my OEM tires ever showed evidence of the dreaded strut rub in 25,000 miles. But the tires did suck.

I blew two of the OEM 245/17 tires on my GTO. Both were on the rear at the time of failure. And both failed at over 140MPH in separate incidents. Both were sidewall failures. Both were inflated to 34 PSI (before sidewall blowout). By the time I stopped the first time, the tire was dripping molten rubber and the entire outer sidewall was gone. The inner sidewall was fine. Sounded like a gunshot when that sucker let go. I've never had a sidewall failure on any other car. To be fair, I did beat the crap out of those tires. Hard launches in a 3,700 Lb car and spinning the tires is likely not endorsed by the manufacturer. Still, I'm done with BFG.

Amazingly, the GTO was easy to control and bring to a stop both times. Even more amazing, the wheels weren't damaged either time. Deceleration kept the weight off the rear end. Just took a while.

PEKO

The customer we have here now had the 18" Bridgestone's on it. But I called the tire place, and what they said was. Say your tires are supposed toi be 34lbs. If the tire is 10% less than what they want in there, which would mean 3.4lbs, means the tire is flat, according to the tire industry. So if its supposed to have 34lbs, and it was 30.6 and lower. Its flat. Thats what happened in this case.

Red Bearded Goat

Peko,
Good info about tire overheating due to low inflation pressure. My GTO door sill states 33 psi front and 39 psi rear for the 18" tires that came with the car from the factory. I believe the 17's are 34 psi F&R (short of confirming via the manual, don't quote me on that as fact). I use a digital gauge that reads in half psi increments and keep the tires on the mark by checking once a week or after radical ambient temperature changes in a short time period. Doing this I can get 150 ~ 200% of rated wear life from my other rides. Unfortunately not from the goat. I like lighting up the rear way too much!

Red