Was looking over the specs on the new Red Bull Drift machine and saw the wheel and tire size:
Quote:
Wheel size and type: 18 inch x 8 inch polished aluminum Racing Hart 18 inch x 9 inch front, 18 inch x 9.5 inch aluminum rear
Tires: Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R, P265/35R18-93W rear, P225/40R18-88W front
I plan on eventually replacing the wheels and tires on my car when the tread has started to go. I wanted to go for the lightest possible street wheel. I had seriously considered switching to 17" diameter. But now I'm wondering.....
1.What is preventing me from going with different sized tires and wheels front and back?? Either width or diameter. It's not like I have to match the size of the spare. A flat tire, either front or rear, will require a "limp home" using the mounted tire, sealer and compressor.
2. Is there any day to day hassles I don't know about other than they can't be rotated. I've never had a car that had even different sized tires, much less wheels. When radials first came out, standard practice advised against rotating right to left. But lately, I've seen this is often ignored. What's the right thing to do?
3. Is there an additional problem with different diameter wheels vs just different width wheels?
4. I realize that this will radically alter the handling of my car. Do you think it can be counteracted fully by switching to adjustable shocks I hope will available by then?
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VIN 2103 Loaded Sly with tan & grey, picked up on Winter Solstice (12-21-05)
Ive used a wider tire in the rear before but usually in high horsepower applications since typically a tire that will fit in the front fenderwell is usally too narrow for adequete traction in the rear, plus it looks good. You can still do side to side rotations but theres really no point in doing it. The only problem w/ mixing wheel diameters front to rear is if the tires are different diameters it could confuse the ABS/stability control systems if equipped. You can play around w/ aspect ratios of the tires to keep the same rolling diameter even though the rims are differnent diameter.
The car as it sits right now is designed for equal sized tires for optimum handling, you use different sized tires you will upset the balance of the car and cause problems... Stick with the same size on the front and back you and the car will be happier...
__________________ Red Sky At Night, Skyman's Delight
Now Driving! Nitesky II
DELIVERED 9/24/07
Location: Yuba City, California .... The BIG Cowpie!
I asked this question LONG ago, when I was considering what new wheels and tires to get for the Solstice. No-one seems to know or be able to describe the rhyme or reason for it, outside of preference and impiracal testing, unless I misunderstood the answers.
I will never understand the difference. The Solstice and S2000 weigh almost exactly the same, yet the Solstice has the same tires front and rear, while the S2000 has larger tires on the rear than the front. The Viper and Vette do as well. I began thinking maybe the high-performance cars always have larger rear tires, but when you start checking specs you find that simply is not the case.
I'm really starting to wonder if it is not just 100% preference and style. It's almost as if for any car you can select rear springs and sways suitable for rear tires the same as the fronts, or you can just arbitrarily increase the rear tire size and then revise the springs and sways to get rid of the extra understeer you just added.
Any Ph.D's in the tire and wheel sciences who can give us their published papers to read?
Cause I don't get it. Unless I'm missing the obvious? Could it be that for the Solstice, Pontiac just wanted to make sure the spare tire fit both the front and the rears?
__________________ Solstice GXP Coupe You still don't need a trunk to haul ass...
even at Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas!
Cause I don't get it. Unless I'm missing the obvious? Could it be that for the Solstice, Pontiac just wanted to make sure the spare tire fit both the front and the rears?
The total package needs to be designed for the tire combination, changing to larger wider rear tires will effect the handling and balance of the car and you will not have the same abilities, that is why when you upgrade your suspension you need to do both front and rear because they are designed to work together.
I assume the last statement about the spare tire was a joke....
__________________ Red Sky At Night, Skyman's Delight
Now Driving! Nitesky II
DELIVERED 9/24/07
Location: Yuba City, California .... The BIG Cowpie!
The last statement was very much a joke, hence the jester...
You statement confuses me though. If I take it as face value, that means the choice of Honda's tires for the S2000 requires P245 rears and P225 fronts, while the choice of Pontiac's tires requires P245's front and rear?
I don't get it.
It seems to me, you can choose either way and simpy tune the suspension to accomodate the loss of traction up front due to the narrow rubber. S-man taught me that the contact patch will be the same whether the front tires have 225s or 245s, since it is based almost exclusively on the load and not on tire width.
I am having a hard time believing the Honda S2000 could not have been sold with 245s front and rear. Also having a hard time believing the Solstice could not have been sold with 225's on the front wheels.
It really seems like a question of style to me. You tried to make me understand, but I sure don't. Discussions about tires always leave me feeling like it is black magic.
__________________ Solstice GXP Coupe You still don't need a trunk to haul ass...
even at Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas!
Is it possible to still stay with the stock wheels but go with wider tires like 255 or, dare I ask, 265?
I don't know if there will be any handling issues but perhaps the wider tire on a not so wide wheel will bulge out more like a donut and not look as good. BTW, anyone know what the width of the stock wheel is? Looks like a 7.5" than an 8" to me.
It really seems like a question of style to me. You tried to make me understand, but I sure don't. Discussions about tires always leave me feeling like it is black magic.
Some car do it just for style(Nissan Z) others need it to correct handling (Elise) and others because of power (Z06).
One mag article on the Nissan Z found that the handling greatly improved when all 4 tire were the same size and they speculated that Nissan had done the mismatch just for looks.
Cars with BIG HP numbers are going to need all the tire they can get in the rear to get the power to the ground. But using a tire that wide in the front would shift the traction balance to the front causing a tail happy car.
Intentionally screwing up the balance of a car with different sized tires and then trying to correct it with suspension modifications, is the epitome of style over function (Rice)
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Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe. -- Frank Zappa
S-man taught me that the contact patch will be the same whether the front tires have 225s or 245s, since it is based almost exclusively on the load and not on tire width.
While the total area of the contact patch can remain close, the shape of the contact patch can change under load (cornering). The construction of the tire can allow a larger contact patch.
See the Car & Drive test to see how the contact patch shape can be different tire to tire even under a static load.
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Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe. -- Frank Zappa
I had a porsche 944na with stock wheels that were I think 15" 7" wide on all 4's and then put Boxster S wheels on it 17" with 7.5 in the front and 9" in the rear. It greatly improved the handling on that car and I loved it
I later got a 944 turbo and it came with stock wheels 16" with 7" in wide front and 8" in the rear and that car handled great and was tuned for those wheels. Many put larger an wider wheels and tires and said handling improved.
I know my friend has an MR2 sypder and they changed the stock wheels from the factory from 16" on all 4's to 16" front and 17" rears on a later year model and he swapped to that.
I like the look of the same size front and rear as I am used to it on Subaru WRX awd's....I think if I did a turbo or LS2 swap I would put larger rears on the car...
The car as it sits right now is designed for equal sized tires for optimum handling, you use different sized tires you will upset the balance of the car and cause problems... Stick with the same size on the front and back you and the car will be happier...
they manufactured the car with equal sized tires all around to make ROTATING them easier and to cut costs. using staggered wheels might create understeer but thats why God created throttle on oversteer and mods to increase power.
once you start adding power you're upsetting "the balance" anyhow so you guys are gonna have to tinker for optimum settings. this is the fun part, try to enjoy it.
IME, based on the G35 coupe, I would not recommend different sized front/rear wheels and tires. On all cars, the front tires tend to wear faster than the rears (starting with the edges and eventually every where else). You end up having to replace the front tires almost twice as frequently as the rears and not replacing all four at once causes other handling issues. This is just the econonical reason. There are technical pros and cons that are chasis to chasis dependent.
IME, based on the G35 coupe, I would not recommend different sized front/rear wheels and tires. On all cars, the front tires tend to wear faster than the rears (starting with the edges and eventually every where else). You end up having to replace the front tires almost twice as frequently as the rears and not replacing all four at once causes other handling issues. This is just the econonical reason. There are technical pros and cons that are chasis to chasis dependent.
having a sports car isn't an economical decision, neither should be how it wears the tires. the backs should wear fastest if you're driving right since those are the drive wheels. the fronts take a lot of abuse so they should soon follow. just get nice wheels and cross the i need new tires bridge when ya get there.
having a sports car isn't an economical decision, neither should be how it wears the tires. the backs should wear fastest if you're driving right since those are the drive wheels. the fronts take a lot of abuse so they should soon follow. just get nice wheels and cross the i need new tires bridge when ya get there.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make'm drink
