im getting ready to buy a 67 mustang. i want to put wheels and tires on it with a staggered look. what would you prefer? i want a wider tire in the back and a smaller wheel with more narrow tire up front. i need suggestions. thanks

 

suggestion

Same size tires all the way around, Corner better, and able to rotate your tires.
It's your car, Put fat tires in the back and skinnies up front if you want to.

 

Fatn skinny, fatn skinny

 

Depends on suspension and power as well. A modified Mustang is likely going to need and perform better with larger rear tires. RWD cars have a tendency to oversteer under power coming out of turns(even when set up to understeer), so if you know how to drive you'll need larger rear tires to help counter the effect. And they're needed for acceleration traction.

The real reason that most performance cars run larger rear tires though, is more a factor of limitation....front wheels have to turn, and have limited space to do it in. That limits the total width you can run because you're space limited due to turning requirements. Rear tires don't...so you just stuff a wide tire in the back. Generally though, the larger the front tire you can go with the better off you are, but you'll always end up with larger rear tires just because of the practical limitations of fitment.

But again, it depends on the suspension balance and power of the vehicle as well. Something with a suspension balance that gives more rear traction combined with less power means less need to run a larger rear tire. With more front suspension traction, more power and more oeversteer, you need a much larger rear tire. Some Porsche 911's are a prime example of that.....60% rear weight bias, tons of power, they run 235 wide fronts but as much as 315 wide rears.

The more weight you have biased up front tends to alleviate the need for a larger rear as well.

But you can't make some blanket statement like "The same size all the way around makes you corner better." It really depends on the setup.

 

you coud check out the official wheels and ride height post in the general section people have their tire sizes posted up with pictures, alot of them run staggered.

 

I run staggered tires on my car. I run a 195/65/15 front and 235/60/15 Drag Radial in the rear. That's how I wanted it it. It's all up to you. If it's a road curver you can run the same size tire all around. If it's a straight line car (Drag) then you should go staggered.
It's like the previos posters said, depends on how the car is set up.

 

well i want to make the car street and strip. drive it around occassionally and take it to the track once in a while. so what would be a good staggered setup. the car is setup for staight lines right now. its FAT in the rear and SKINNY as hell in the front. but i dont want it for that. i want to drive for pleasure mostly. and what size wheels too. this is my worst subject in cars. im sketchy with wheels and tires. and i hate guessing. sorry for all the ?'s im not very experianced at this kinda of stuff. im used to just getting in and driving hard.

 

Well, the problem is most of the weight is in the front. Take a turn a bit too fast, and it'll plow straight ahead, into the weeds, corn field, telephone pole…

Unless it rains. Then when you hit a curve, the rear tires will hydroplane, and the rear bumper will become the front bumper.

Ya see, I was into Mustangs big time in the 70's, when funny cars spawned the whole mis-match tire thing. Skinny tires front, L60-15's rear. Really cool. fun at the track. Lousy on the street. Basically, with street or strip, you have to pick one. You can't do both very well.

 

That's why I didn't go smaller than a 195 in the front. I still wanted the car streetable as that's where I drive it most often. As for wheels, I run 15x6 in the front and a 15x7 in the rear.

 

That's a pretty big split, but with care, knowing the odd handling, driveable.