Best gearing in relation to wheel size?

Danny2v

Member
Jun 24, 2019
57
2
8
California
Hi everyone, it's my first post here so bare with me. I have a 02 gt with basic bolt ons like Cai, exhaust, custom tune, ect. I really wanna push more with my car and I've been looking into gears. I really want 4.10 but I'm a little worried as it is a daily driver. 3.73 sounds a little more daily friendly as I do highway driving but here's where my post differs from the many others about 4.10 vs 3.73, I have 275/35r/19 wheels and tires. Given that my tires are bigger, would 4.10 be more similar to 3.73 with the stock 17 wheels? Meaning 4.10 would be a better option?
 
  • Sponsors (?)


There wouldn't be much of a difference just because you have taller tires. Stick with the 3.73s especially since you drive highway miles. Your wallet will love you and so will your engine. If you hardly drive highway and drive city then 4.10s.
 
There wouldn't be much of a difference just because you have taller tires. Stick with the 3.73s especially since you drive highway miles. Your wallet will love you and so will your engine. If you hardly drive highway and drive city then 4.10s.
If I did go with 4.10s do you think my tires would have traction in 1st? There pretty beefy and with 19s there's a lot of mass to overcome it seems
 
This post does not mention if your car is manual or automatic. I personally would never use 4.10's on an automatic.

From the research I did 275/35r/19 are 759 revs per mile whereas 245/45/R17 are 786 Revs per mile. That is only 3.5 percent difference. As mentioned above, not much difference from the tire diameter point of view.

I also agree about not using 4.10's on a car that does a lot of highway miles. Your inner child won't mind the extra noise. But your Wife/GF will on those long road trips.

Signed
Ward Cleaver
 
This post does not mention if your car is manual or automatic. I personally would never use 4.10's on an automatic.

From the research I did 275/35r/19 are 759 revs per mile whereas 245/45/R17 are 786 Revs per mile. That is only 3.5 percent difference. As mentioned above, not much difference from the tire diameter point of view.

I also agree about not using 4.10's on a car that does a lot of highway miles. Your inner child won't mind the extra noise. But your Wife/GF will on those long road trips.

Signed
Ward Cleaver
It is a 5 speed I don't know how I forgot to mention that. Thankfully there's no wife or GF in the picture as I'm only 18 and living the free life I went ahead and got the 4.10s due to my plans for college have changed so highway usage will be much less now as I will be going to a local college. I don't know how accurate the calculators are but the only worry I have is if it's correct, I will top out in 4th gear at only 115. The issue isn't too speed because I have my speed limiter removed with the tune, but rather upset that after 4th gear, overdrive in 5th will be a dog to accelerate. Anyone have any inputs?
 
I had 4.10s in my 01. Highway driving at 70-75 will have her singing around 3,000RPM. 1st gear is useless and starting in 2nd gear will be more practical. You can use this gear calculator to determine RPMs and speed. http://www.mustangtek.com/calculator/calculator.html

Unless you plan on going to the drag strip often, the 4.10s aren't all that practical. 3.55s are a little low and 3.73s are just right. I currently run 3.73s and they do well on the street, highway, autocross and the track.
 
"overdrive in 5th will be a dog to accelerate" - This definitely improves as your gearing gets lower. I have a truck that comes in around the same overall gearing (3.55 rear with a .79 overdrive for 2.8:1 vs 4.10 with .68 over drive at 2.79:1) in overdrive, and it will certainly accelerate in that gear. I think you'll find 5th more useful after a gear swap than it is stock.