tire size question

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The 255's won't actually put hardly any more rubber on the ground. Your putting them on a 7" wide wheel. Rim Width has alot to with the footprint. However, stuffing a fatter tire on a skinny wheel will make the car less stable. I put 265/50R15's on my turbine's for the rear and it was scary in the corners, took them right back.
 
90mustangGT said:
The 255's won't actually put hardly any more rubber on the ground. Your putting them on a 7" wide wheel. Rim Width has alot to with the footprint. However, stuffing a fatter tire on a skinny wheel will make the car less stable. I put 265/50R15's on my turbine's for the rear and it was scary in the corners, took them right back.

:D
 
Yes, stick to the stock width tire, 225/55/16, you will be better off. I have the 245/50 on mine and they dont look much wider at all, they only serve to make the car unstable in corners. The inside of my tires are about 3/8" from the quad shocks. Any wider, and you should prolly flip the quads for more clearance. If you want wider tires for looks, then get wider rims first. If you just want traction, then go with a drag radial in the correct width for the rim. wider is not better, softer rubber is better. I used to think that way too, go as wide as possible, but it wont net you better traction, especially on a rim that is too narrow. The tread wont sit flat on the road and they will wear funny too.
 
I've got a pair of 275/40 on a 9 1/2 wheel in the back. It rubs against the Quad shock a bit, but you can flip it so no problem.

I've got 245/45 up front on a 8" wheel up front. It rubs like crazy when you do sharp turns. You can cut the bummer a bit (GT only) but it still rubs a bit.

The wheels are 17" Cobra Rs
The tires a Kumho Esta 712s Yeah, there terrible...
Who can pass up on 4 new wheels and tires for $800
 
banditmwp said:
I think I may go to 17x9 cobra r's on the rear and 17x8 on the front...thanks for the help

My 17x9's don't rub at all with 255/40R17's in the front, they did a little with 245/45R17 in the front. If I find someone with silver 4 lug 17x8's on thier car, I'm going to try to get them to swap me 2 so we both can have 8" up front and 9" in the rear.
 
Simplistic explanation, but the "255" number approximates the number of millimeters from sidewall to sidewall (section width) when the tire is mounted on a proper width rim. A good rule of thumb is not to put a tire that's more than 2" wider in section width than the rim it's going on. 7" + 2" = 9" (higher math); 25.4 mm/in X 9" = 229mm. So a 225 is about as wide as you want to go on a 7" wheel if you want to keep the tread in good contact with the ground.

If you want to run a 255 section tire -- 255mm/25.4mm/in = 10.04; 10 - 2 = 8" rim minimum.