Will i notice a traction difference i switch from 17x9's to 17x10's

MustangLife

Active Member
Jan 5, 2003
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Chattanooga, TN
Right now I'm running 17x9 's with a 275 tire. Lets say i step up to a 17x10/17x 10.5 in the rear with some bigger meats 315 probaly. Will I notice a difference in traction with lets say the same kind of tire? My fr500's look good so not really looking for appearance with the bigger wheel.

Thanks
Josh
 
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Yea you could fit a 315 if you step to a bigger rim. You could probably buy fr500 deep dish wheels so they all still match and you should see improvement in traction because thats a HUGE!!! tire
 
You would also have to take into consideration that the wheel is going to be heavier than what you come from, so even though you may gain traction (which I doubt), you'll be adding rotating mass to the car which means all else being equal you might run a bit slower (depending on how much difference there is in the wheel weight) and the ride will be a bit rougher. Should look good though. I recently went from 17x10's in the rear to BBS RX all around and can't believe how much difference in the ride and overall acceleration from the bullitt set I had on before (17x9 front, 17x10 rear).
 
yes you will get more traction, and you will notice the difference.

i went from a bridgestone fuzion 245/40/17 on a 17x9" to a 315/35/17 on 17x10.5" and the traction was definitely noticeable.

just remember on a 99-04 depending on what springs you have, your tires might rub and slice/shred on your rear fender well lips. I had that problem on mine as I am running Eibach sportlines, with a 315/35/17 BFGoodrich T/A KD.

if you are running pro's you should be fine. if you are running sportline's you may want to think about going to an 18x10.5" with a 305/35/18, and you wont have any rub issues at all.
 
Kind hard to make a fair comparison traction-wise between Fusion which is a 320 tread rating to a considerably wider KD with a 200 tread rating. For sure you should have noticed a difference, but he is talking about staying with the same type of tire he had in the 275 size.... prob not going to notice too much difference in that case.
 
Traction will depend on the tire more so than that small increase in width.

You can get a 245-45-17 (stock size) tire to hook better than a 315-35-17 if the compound is better.

For example, my stock sized Federal Super Steele's hooked up better than my 315 Sumitumo HTR-Z's do.

Handling is where you will notice more improvment.