Hi guys,

Not sure if this is the right forum, sorry if I should have posted elsewhere...

I have 15x7 with some generic crappy 215/60/15 P-rated tires.

I acquired 16x8 rims and I'm planning to put 245/45/16 W-rated Kumho's on these.

For a while I have been tempted to put 255s in the back.

What I am worried about is whether I will get understeer having larger tires in the back? How much of a difference does 1 cm make anyway?

I reckon Camaros naturally significantly oversteer (might be ), so maybe putting slighltly wider tires in the back is going to compensate for that..BTW, I have no rear spoiler.

How much of an improvement are 255 over 245 in the back with respect to drag racing/straight line performance?

What will the end result of putting 245 in front and 255 in the back be? Understeer? If so, by how much..

What pressures do you guys keep your tires on?

Any clues, personal experiences or war stories are helpful..

Thanks!

 

245/45's are going to be pretty short. I have a set of 4, but mine is lowered. On a stock height car, they will look too small IMO. If you run mismatched tires you can compensate with different springs, shocks/struts, weight, sway bars, and sway bar bushings. I prefer the same front and back. 3rd gens, like most all stock cars, have a natural understeer. It's considered safer. 1 cm in width won't make a huge difference, but it is a difference. I went from 225/50's on front and 245/50's on the rear(came with the used wheels) to 245/45's all the way around. It then went from pushing(understeer) to neutral.

 

Hm, cool, thanks! Very insightful!

OK, suppose I had different height, would that affect traction and center of mass? What happens when rear end is slightly higher than the front end? More mass ends up in front and then more traction on the front tires = oversteer?

What do you think about 245/45s in front and 245/55s in back?

 

I don't own a camaro but I have 3 friends that do. 245/50/16 is stock on a camaro with 16 inch rims. You can run 255/50/16 all the way around with out much trouble. You might experience slight rubing under full lock in a parking lot but thats no big deal. I would not go with the 45 series tires because it will increase the fenderwell gap which these cars have considerably too much of anyway.

 

In the end, I'm pretty sure I'll go for 245/45/16 on all 4. My car was beat up in so many places and so many things got changed around that I have no idea what it came with stock and I'm not sure if it matters anymore

As far as fenderwall gap, aside from looks what are the cons of having a bigger gap?

I calculated my total diameter right now (215/60s on a 15x7s)

(215*0.60*2)+(15*25.4) = 639 mm = 25.16"

The total diameter for 245/45 on 16x8s:

(245*0.45*2)+(16*25.4) = 627 mm = 24.69"

My total diameter is reduced by cca. half an inch.. not too horrible, you'll agree

Crossposting is sometimes useful, click here to find out why I'm going to 245/45s, the autocross guys really know their tires:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=101831

 

The only disadvantage of a larger wheel well gap is 'the look'. Some don't like it. As far as weight goes, in the other post: Yes your Camaro is front heavy, but that can be cured by having stiffer front springs and a thicker sway bar--which your Camaro has. Your car will still have some understeer, but not as bad you might think with the unequal weight. Add weight in the rear can help the cornering, but hurt accelleration coming out of the corner.