Monkeyleg

I'm trying to make my 2007 GT look retro, and I think the staggered look helps. I was going to put 255/45/18 tires on 18x9 deep dish chrome rims, and 285/40/18 tires on 18x10 DD chrome rims.

Then I got to thinking that raising the rear a bit and having a taller tire would make it look more retro, like the muscle cars I remember when I was in my late teens in '69 and '70.

So, I got to looking at a 295/45/18 tire for the rear, which would be about 1.4" taller and have a 1"+ wider sidewall.

My question is: will this interfere with the wheel wells and/or fenders, and how would it affect handling?

Replies much appreciated.

BleedinBlue

I plan on 295/45's, there are many members that run them here with no problems. It looks awesome. With some searching you can find some good pictures of the setup.

Sleeper_08

It all depends on whether you are going for a Funny Car retro look or an SCCA/Trans Am racer retro look.

belial07

I run 295/45's with no problems and love the way they look.

Poco

I ran these deep dish with 18x10's on the rear w/295/45/18's and had absolutely no clearance issues. There is nothing like coming up on an old muscle car or new one for that matter with a pair of phatties on the rear.
My summer set will be staggered Foose Nitrous with 295/45 18's on the rear.

Monkeyleg

Thanks for the replies. Poco, your photo is what I was looking for as an example of how the setup would look. It doesn't look over the top (and I remember some pretty wild Funny Cars from 40 years ago).

I'm still curious about how handling would be affected. I still have the factory wheels and tires, and can use those if the staggered setup won't handle curves well enough when I want. I'd rather have the setup handle well all the time, though.

Is the extra 1.4" enough to affect the suspension geometry? Does the additional tread width make tight cornering more difficult? (My experience with handling issues comes from British sports cars, and I kept the tires stock on those).

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Sleeper_08

By increasing the diameter of the rear tires you are negatively affecting handling as you are raising the center of gravity of the car which is the exact opposite of what you should do.

Most people looking to improve handling lower the car by using shorter springs, about an inch lower is the range you are looking for, as this lowers the center of gravity from stock. For track use some then add tires with a smaller diameter than the stock 27 inch tires.

Norm Peterson

Expect it to understeer up near the limit a little more from a couple of causes that individually probably aren't all that much.

Bigger/wider rear tires = generally less rear slip angle once you're cornering hard enough that slip angles even amount to much.

Reduced front wheel caster (about 0.4° less). As you steer, caster rolls over into negative camber on the outside front tire, so you'll be gaining a tiny bit less negative camber.


However, since the rear roll center moves up, you may get a tiny bit more responsive turn-in. Very briefly.


I would not expect it to be more difficult to make turns as the limited slip will . . . slip. It's not like you're trying to put them up front, too.


Norm

Monkeyleg

Thanks for the input. I don't anticipate push it to the limit with my car, but would like to take corners and turns at a decent speed without winding up on the shoulder.

I'll still have the factory wheels and tires if I want to be "normal."

I said I like retro, and the setup that Poco is showing doesn't look radical, but some of the others I'm seeing on the forum look very unbalanced. I need to find out what size tires those folks are running.

Menace

Sidebar, but.. what tires are you guys running in the size of 295/45/18?