S197steve

Hi guys, I've tried doing a search online and on here and haven't found much helpful info so I decided to start a new thread. Please forgive me if this has been touched on recently.

I'm getting some new tires here shortly and was wondering if it's a bad thing to stagger tire sizes with shorter sidewall tires (say 40 or 45) in the front and then running a taller tire (50) in the rear?

I'd like to get the muscle car look, but don't want to throw off the balance any or cause any unexpected (ie negative) handling changes.

Black_N_Blown

I dont think your gonna hurt anything at all. That only really hurts an all wheel drive car.
My back tires are slightly bigger then my fronts because there so much wider the ratio is differnt, I like it

MTAS

I've been running 295/45/18 in the rear and 255/45/18 in the front ever since 12/2005, no problems of any kind:

BadSteed

I too run different size tires 275/40/17 rears and 245/40/17 fronts 1 inch with no real issues, My speedometer is off but can be adjusted with a programmer. Here is a website that might help you decide what you want http://www.rims-n-tires.com/rt_specs.jsp Just type in your tire size you have now and type in the size you are going to on the right. It gives you a good comparison on tire heights, rim sizes and etc. Good luck!

Norm Peterson

You'll probably end up with a little more understeer, which doesn't mean that you'll necessarily lose cornering speed capability in normal driving on public roads. Just that the car might feel a little less eager (or maybe even a bit clumsier) when forced to do that sort of thing. Lots of people wouldn't ever notice.

As the difference between the two diameters gets larger (let's say more than 3% different without putting an upper limit on it), there is some chance that in an extremely hard stop the ABS might activate a little sooner than it would with all tires the same diameter. Again, in most any normal street driving this won't be a commonplace situation. Shouldn't be, anyway.


Norm

BadSteed

Norm the problems you mention I have read about. I drive my car very aggressivly from time to time. I dont race it, But do drive very hard. I really dont notice any the problems you talked about. Im sure if you pushed it to the limit they would show. I had a Porsche that I would SCCA and some problems but you were talking very high speed turns before you noticed.

S197steve

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm really a bit of a novice when it comes to performance car tires. All my knowledge was in sportbike tires. :-)

So I'm not actually looking to go wider in the rear than in the front, but taller in the rear than in the front. So will a wider tire in the rear also make it taller assuming the width is the same?

I'm considering different sizes right now, but am pretty sure I'm going to get Nitto NT555s (not the DRs). I want to fill the wheel wells, but also want to have the slightly staggered look if possible. I am leaning towards the 255/45ZR18s, but if I got the 245/45ZR18s for the front, the overall diameter would be less right?

I swear, getting new tires has been the most confusing thing I've done with this car yet! And I've done all the work/installations on my car! :-)

Norm Peterson

A wider tire (same wheel diameter) will be taller if the profile is the same or larger.

It MAY be taller even if the wider tire has a slightly lower profile, but only if it's a LOT wider. You'd have to research this for the specific sizes involved.

Yes. A 245/45-18 will have a slightly smaller diameter than the 255/45-18. But only a little (maybe 3/8", which you may or may not notice).

FWIW, 255/45-18 is the GT500 front tire at least through the 2008 MY, so it won't be much different diameter than the 235/55-17 or 235/50-18 tires that were OE or optional on the 'regular' GT's.

I think there's another thread floating around here or on the main 2005-2011 forum lately where 275/45-18 rear tires were being considered. I think that would work better if the visual tire size stagger is what you're after. Then, you could even consider 255/45's up front.


Found it.
While I'm personally not very comfortable suggesting that a 275/45 should be mounted on 8.5" wide wheels, that is still considered acceptable by most tire mfrs.


Norm

6+6 Stang

Norm you seem most knowledgable on this, I have all the calculators, 1010 wesite and so on, talked to roush and others, that said, on a daily driver, steppin on it in straight line sometimes, taking off ramp at 70 when says 55 , I want to go from 245/45/19's all way around, to 18 x 9" rims and 275/40/18 all way around all 4, 1010 throws up the warning that it exceeds the 3%, everyone say that size works all way round and cruizin concepts suggests that on their 18x 9 rims, suggestions? any rubbing clearence issues anti lock brake issue? liking that nitto neo gen tire.

alkemist

I'm going with a staggered setup too, with the Nitto 555's (not DR). I'm going with 285/40/18 R and 255/45/18 F.

I'm just a little concerned about the weight. People say you can feel a slight difference, but I'm not sure if I will notice it much myself and or if I like the slow down. I won't be adding much in performance mods, if anymore. I kinda enjoy the light airy feeling yet I like the looks of a staggered setup. I don't even try to corner with my GT lol, as long as it can handle normal turning and cornering conditions, I have no problems with it.

I am a little shocked that the Nitto website doesn't provide approx weight of the tire..
The FR500 deep dish rears are about 31lbs.