angryBits

I would like to reduce the gap between the tires and the fenders, but I don't want to lower (I like not hitting curbs when I park).

I had an idea but I don't know if it would work or if its a good idea.

If I switch from a 27" diameter tire (255/40 R19) to a 28" diameter tire (285/40 R19), I am effectively raising the car by 1/2" and reducing the gap by 1/2". Then say I get 1/2" lowering springs (if such a thing exists) which lowers the car back to its original ride height and reduces another 1/2" of gap.

Total gap reduction would be 1" but my ride would be the same height.

Drawbacks I see are a taller tire could mean sloppier handling?
Maybe use a 20" wheel instead of a 19" wheel...

Any other problems with this?

Thanks

parchisi

The thicker tire will help, and I don't think that the effect on handling will be that noticeable. 285's seem kinda wide for the front, but I guess they should work fine. The Vogtland leveling springs lower .8" in front and 1.2" in the rear, I don't know of any other springs that will get you a 1/2" drop, unless you want to go all out and get fully adjustable coilovers.

But at that point, you just might as well just bite the bullet, lower it fully, and adjust your parking habits...its not really that hard to stop before the curb once you get a feel for how far your bumper extends.

Norm Peterson

One way of getting your half inch lower would be to somehow adjust the spring seat heights with custom shims of some sort. One inch lowering springs with a half inch shim to get half of the drop back kind of stuff. You would absolutely have to include some means of ensuring that the springs would stay positively located. As far as I know, you'd be on your own here even though I don't offhand see any major problems.

A bigger tire on the same rims doesn't have to handle "sloppier", although you should expect its cornering response to be somewhat "softer". A bigger tire on wider rims might not even give up anything there - if you could fit them. That means that it's compromise time, and all about where an individual's preferences lie on the spectrum between pure performance and pure appearance.


Norm

angryBits

Thanks guys, I may just bite the bullet and lower the car. At the moment its hard to gauge how far the front bumper is from the car, but the car is new, I'll adjust.

blkside

Ok I am in search of similar info but for max width of tires and I believe your numbers are flawed.

You went from a 255/40 to a 285/40 which doesnt increase wall height but width. To increase height you would go from a 40 to 45+ tire.

angryBits

255/40 means the wall height is 40% of 255.

.4 * 255 = 102mm
.4 * 285 = 114mm (an increase in 1/2 inch)

Rubrignitz

Those 285's will yank your front end all over the road. Tramlining will be bad. My 275's tramline. Some tires are worse than others. The sticky NT05's I run up front don't help matters.

You're on the right track with the 20'' wheels if you don't want to lower the car.

GT Premi

Having not read all the comments, get some big wheels with rubber band tires. (I so hate that ghetto look on Mustangs! ) As for the 1/2" lowering springs, yes they exist, but you'll have to get them from a dealer or OEM supplier. The SVT Performance Package springs lower the car ~1/2" up front and ~1/4" out back.

astentine

The thing with big wheels are though most of the time, the tires sizes shrink keeping the overall diameter of the wheel and tire set approximately the same. Otherwise, the odometer and speedometer would both need recalibrated to the different circumference of the new setup

angryBits

Right, but the SCT tuner will let you specify # of rotations per mile which is exactly (5148x12) / (diameter * PI).