New Owner from Kansas City

[Sixties]

Hello from Kansas City.

 

This is a belated "Arrival" post. I bought the car on January 14th but didn't pick it up until February 25th;

had a few things done. The car was tuned on March 11th. It's been frustrating trying to find 10" wide

wheels that will fit the GT500. Would like to be competitive with the Corvette Z06 but the factory rubber

just doesn't cut it. Trying to match good wheels with good tires has proven to be a maze exercise.

 

Oh and by the way, like a few others, I did consider Corvette and Camaro. But, adding any additional HP,

to those vehicles, is very expensive. The Shelby is the best bang for the buck.

[tony356]

Hello from Kansas City.

 

This is a belated "Arrival" post. I bought the car on January 14th but didn't pick it up until February 25th;

had a few things done. The car was tuned on March 11th. It's been frustrating trying to find 10" wide

wheels that will fit the GT500. Would like to be competitive with the Corvette Z06 but the factory rubber

just doesn't cut it. Trying to match good wheels with good tires has proven to be a maze exercise.

 

Oh and by the way, like a few others, I did consider Corvette and Camaro. But, adding any additional HP,

to those vehicles, is very expensive. The Shelby is the best bang for the buck.

 

congrats and welcome. someone around here might have some wheel/tire info for you - good luck.

[cms777]

Hello from Kansas City.

 

This is a belated "Arrival" post. I bought the car on January 14th but didn't pick it up until February 25th;

had a few things done. The car was tuned on March 11th. It's been frustrating trying to find 10" wide

wheels that will fit the GT500. Would like to be competitive with the Corvette Z06 but the factory rubber

just doesn't cut it. Trying to match good wheels with good tires has proven to be a maze exercise.

 

Oh and by the way, like a few others, I did consider Corvette and Camaro. But, adding any additional HP,

to those vehicles, is very expensive. The Shelby is the best bang for the buck.

[cms777]

That's hot... congratulations.

I purchased a beautiful white 2007 SGT in February 2010.

These cars get more attention than anything I've ever owned. And I've owned some cool cars.

[MY500SS]

Congrats and welcome to the club.

[09 Red GT500]

Congratulations on the new car!!!

[SGT0128]

Welcome to Team Shelby,

[SVT NAJA]

Sixties,

 

Welcome and congratulations on the acquisition of your GT500. You do know that stripe deletes are the fastest.

[Alexandros]

Congrats and welcome to the family...this is the site to be, if you are a Shelby fan.....Enjoy and stay safe.....

Do not forget to register your Shelby and we will be glad to answer any of your questions.........

Alexandros

SAI Registrar GT 500

[Torch40]

You do know that stripe deletes are the fastest.

 

 

Maybe a Torch Red one

[SVT NAJA]

Maybe a Torch Red one

 

 

Of course, any red Shelby is faster!

 

BTW, great new plate you have! Congratulations.

[Dennis70Mach]

Hello from Kansas City.

 

This is a belated "Arrival" post. I bought the car on January 14th but didn't pick it up until February 25th;

had a few things done. The car was tuned on March 11th. It's been frustrating trying to find 10" wide

wheels that will fit the GT500. Would like to be competitive with the Corvette Z06 but the factory rubber

just doesn't cut it. Trying to match good wheels with good tires has proven to be a maze exercise.

 

Oh and by the way, like a few others, I did consider Corvette and Camaro. But, adding any additional HP,

to those vehicles, is very expensive. The Shelby is the best bang for the buck.

 

 

 

Congrats Sixties, what part of the city are you in? We've got an 08 red with black stripes in Lees Summit. As most people on here know, I bought this car as a Christmas present for my then 16 year old son. He's now 18, about to graduate high school and head off to Mizzou. He loves the car, seemingly more than life lol, at any rate his license plate reads "SNK VNM". He has begged me to let him take the car to Columbia, but I have told him the car will stay home, tucked in the garage and that he can come back and see her on the weekends. We've done some mods to it, TVS, FRPP handling pack, 3.73 KR rear end, high flow cats, SLP loud mouth, etc. and drag radials. He wants to take the car out to KCIR this spring. I'm a little hesitant, but I probably will have to let him go!

[Sixties]

Congrats Sixties, what part of the city are you in? We've got an 08 red with black stripes in Lees Summit. As most people on here know, I bought this car as a Christmas present for my then 16 year old son. He's now 18, about to graduate high school and head off to Mizzou. He loves the car, seemingly more than life lol, at any rate his license plate reads "SNK VNM". He has begged me to let him take the car to Columbia, but I have told him the car will stay home, tucked in the garage and that he can come back and see her on the weekends. We've done some mods to it, TVS, FRPP handling pack, 3.73 KR rear end, high flow cats, SLP loud mouth, etc. and drag radials. He wants to take the car out to KCIR this spring. I'm a little hesitant, but I probably will have to let him go!

 

 

 

I'm in South Kansas City. I'm still have a little trouble wrapping my brain around a 16 year old driving a GT500. When I was 17, I drove a 57' Chevy 283.

It took me about 3 years to graduate to high performance vehicles. Be that as it may, I plan to go to KCIR this spring also. Maybe will compete.

I still haven't decided on wheels and tires. Do you have any suggestions?

 

I support your view that your GT500 should stay in Lee's Summit. The point of going away to college is to remove all distractions.

[Sixties]

Congrats and welcome to the family...this is the site to be, if you are a Shelby fan.....Enjoy and stay safe.....

Do not forget to register your Shelby and we will be glad to answer any of your questions.........

Alexandros

SAI Registrar GT 500

 

 

Thank you.

I've registered the GT500. But, how do I view my registration data to ensure it is correct?

[Dennis70Mach]

I'm in South Kansas City. I'm still have a little trouble wrapping my brain around a 16 year old driving a GT500. When I was 17, I drove a 57' Chevy 283.

It took me about 3 years to graduate to high performance vehicles. Be that as it may, I plan to go to KCIR this spring also. Maybe will compete.

I still haven't decided on wheels and tires. Do you have any suggestions?

 

I support your view that your GT500 should stay in Lee's Summit. The point of going away to college is to remove all distractions.

 

 

 

Yes, it was a difficult decision to give him that car, but I am a muscle car collector and he has grown up around my old muscle cars since he was about 5, going for drives in them, car shows, etc. To this point, he has done great with the car, no issues. His girlfriend told him that she feels safe riding in his car with him, because she knows how much he cares about the car and therefore, he wouldn't do anything stupid in it. So far, that has been the case and it has been a great learning experience for him.

 

On the wheels and tires, that has been a very tough question. First, you have to decide how you want to use the car. You can buy a set of drag radials that you keep on the car all the time, street and strip. Doing this creates a compromise, you can't buy the stickiest set of drag radials which would be best for launch at the strip, they will wear out too fast. But buying ones that last longer means they won't hook as well on launch at the strip. The other option is to buy a set of tires (and seperate wheels if you want) that you use just for the strip. At first, we decided to buy a set of drag radials that we would keep on the car all the time, street and strip. He and I never liked the look of the stock wheels, so before he was even given the car, I had purchased Steeda Pentar wheels, they are identical in size to the stock wheels. As for tires, soon after he got the car, we put on a set of Nitto 555R 305/40/18 drag radials. The size of these tires is fairly close to the stock Goodyears, but they are a little bit taller, he likes the taller look of the tires. He has driven with them on the car all the time. Being drag radials with a softer compound than the stock Goodyears, the tire life has been ok, but not great. I had taken him to the old Bannister Mall parking lot and practiced launches with him on the Nitto 555R 305/40/18 drag radials and unfortunately, they just didn't hook that well at all. I have been told that you really have to heat up the NItto 555R drag radials to get them to work well, being in the old mall parking lot, we didn't do that, we just practiced launches.

 

 

Because of the Nitto 555R's not hooking up that well, I jumped on here in the Modifications section and started researching what other guys were using for dedicated strip use drag radials. I decided instead of going the compromise route, to just go ahead and buy another set of the Steeda Pentar wheels and get a dedicated set of tires for the strip. The most common brands seem to be MT, M&H & Nitto. The main issue you will run into is tire size. If you want to keep your stock wheels or stock wheel size, then you are a little bit limited in tire size. If you are planning on buying a set of wheels for drag strip use and don't care if they're not stock, then tire size won't be as much of an issue. After much researching on here, I purchased a set of MT 305/35/18 ET Street II drag radials. There are alot of guys on here who are running extremely good 1/4 mile times with these tires. These tires are about a 1/2 inch shorter than the stock Goodyears. My son didn't like the look of them, so I looked at the next size up for MT ET Street II drag radials and they are the 305/45/18. These tires are almost 2 inches taller than the stock Goodyears. So I started a thread in the Modifications section on here and some guys seem to have a rubbing problem with these tires and other guys don't. I may just keep the MT 305/35/18 ET Street II's and tell my son that they're only for strip use anyway, so the fact that he doesn't like the slightly shorter look of the tires is almost irrelevant.

 

For the street, we will probably just keep the Nitto 555R 305/40/18 on the car, they are a decent compromise drag radial. They are about 3/4 of an inch taller than stock and he likes that look. Again, my advice to you would be to decide what is important to you. If you really don't want to mess with changing out wheels and/or tires for the strip, then you will have to pick a compromise drag radial tire like the Nitto 555R, ok tire wear and ok for strip use. But if you really want to get the best times you can at the track, then you will probably have to get a dedicated set of drag radials like the MT ET Street II, Nitto NT05R or M&H. Just remember to take into account tire size and what type of look you would prefer. Some tires are going to be taller than the stock Goodyears and some tires are going to be shorter, it just becomes a matter of personal preference.