I have 94 SE 5spd. needs new shows. How important is it to stay with the mfg's suggestion on the rating.. S vs H The hi performance rating puts you into another price bracket and little to choose from. Has anyone have any ideas or comments as to whether one needs to abide by the rating.
thanks for your feedback.

 

http://www.tirerack.com

It's good to keep the minimum speed rating unless you don't plan to drive at high speeds. Just stay within the stock rating to be safe

 

The number 1 reason tire retailers keep saying to go with tires speed rated the same (or close) to OE is that they're worried about emergency handling response. Usually higher speed rated tires (H, V, etc) are sharper handling, so they usually don't approve when we plan on going from H or V down to something like S.

I'd go with a decent H or V rated tire too, because I eventually learned that there's more to tire handling than just tread pattern. It depends a bit on your driving style though. There should be quite a few choices in either H or V I believe...