Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires What do you think?

Time to replace my 99 CSVT stock tires. My choice is the Firestone Firehawk SZ50 EP in the 225/50/16 size. It seems that these tires offer a good balance between performance, comfort and noise.

Is this a good choice?

I bought the toyo proxies FZ4's in the summer and I must say what a diferance between the factory G-Force tires. Not to mention how they handle in the snow, there no snow tire but this year we had lots of snow comparred to last year and I never got stuck once. Dry weather performance, handling and noise exceptional all this is in comparisson to the factory g-force tires. Paid $780.00 installed, alligned and taxes in (Canadian).

I enjoyed SZ-50s when I had the car. The tread pattern is very cool along with performance and a really good tread life. However the road noise was way worse than our SVT's KDWs.

Kris

The SZ 50 EP's are awesome tires on dry and in the wet. I don't have an SVT so I can't comment on any comparisons to the OEM KDW's. They were a definite improvement on the SE Sport OEM Firehawk GTA's in handling, noise, and comfort. At the CEG Nationals last year, the auto-cross event was held in the rain. I didn't drive but Tony, aka BOFH, did in his SVT and was complaining that he couldn't make the rear end break loose at all in the wet conditions. It was a hard, steady rain in the second half of the cross with standing water in many portions of the track, these tires stick as well in the wet as they do in the dry. I have been on a few road trips with spirited driving in the twisties and have not had them break loose once. The difference between these and the GTA's were like night and day, without any suspension changes. I got a bit over 19k miles on that first set and look to be getting about the same on the second. Fun tires! HTH!