I'm not driving my car anymore, but when I did the car seemed to wander everywhere. I was told that its because my tires were so wide in the front. I had never heard this before, but since then I've asked around and heard the same from several others. Why would a wide tire follow ruts in the road and such? Maybe someone can educate me on this. BTW I'm running the 275's on firehawk rims. And I don't need an alignment or anything, even after an alignment it still did it. My steering is tight, no problems there. The only thing I don't have is a bump steer kit.

Anyone else with 275's in the front notice this? Any way to fix this problem or do I just deal with it?

 

I don't have 275s up front, I've got 245s but I think I might be able to explain a bit. The wider a tire is the more contact it has with the road, duh! Ao when this happens the tire has the tendancy to get pulled around more by ruts, bumps and such. I run winter tires on my car for the snowy months and they are only 225 wide and there is a noticable difference with the way the tires respond to crappy roads.

The low down is wider tires are great for handling on good quality roads, but when they get bumpy they aren't an asset. This only holds true for the front tires, the rears can be as wide as can fit in there.

 

My Firehawks pull bad when there are grooves on all the crappy roads around here. Most grooves are worn into the road by narrower tires, so when a wide tire is in the groove, it wants to climb out, but since the groove is narrower then the tire, it goes all directions.

You may be able to fit a 245 for the front and it might not be as bad. Or drive offcenter in the lane

 

Tire brand/type can make a difference. I went from 225/50R16 BFG Comp T/A on the front to 245/45R16 Goodyear Eagle GS-C's. Only the really deep groves make it wander--the ones that the air-dam hit. Look at it this way, if a tire starts to run up on a groove the surface it 'see's' isn't level. That has the same effect has a really bad camber alignment problem on flat ground. The wider the tire, the more ground it's grabbing, the more effect uneven ground has. If half the tire is on top the groove and the rest is down in the groove, it's going to pull pretty hard. What makes it even worse, is if your car/truck doesn't fit in both grooves at the same time--245/60's on my narrow 1991 GMC Jimmy for example.

 

Ahh...Its all clear now. Thanks for explaining that to me guys. So I guess there really isn't any way to deal with it besides getting some good tires then? As I don't really want to go any smaller, I'd rather keep the 275 at all corners. I guess I just need to find some better highways to travel on

 

now i know if i have any problems i will blame the roads and not the car

 

Well, I understand what you guys are saying about the width of the tire. I am about to buy some new shoes for the front of my car. I have new Kuhmo Ecsta 712's (255/50-16) on the rear. I am going with the Kuhmos on the front also.

What size should I use? I know that 245/50's are stock on the IROC, but I kinda wanted to go with a skinnier tire up front.

Any pros or cons with using 225/55-16 or 255/50-16's? Maybe a 235/50-16? The price difference is minimal, so that is not a factor. Any help would be great, as I want to order tires today.

Thanks, Thomas

 

Skinnier tires will not handle as good as wider on a smooth surface.

 

Same here - 275 KDWs on Firehawk Rims -wanders a bit but you get used to it.

You guys that the same wheels did you get any rubbing at the front.

Even with 5/16 spacers I have a slight amount of rubbing and I'm wondering if there's a rubber stop or something that I could change maybe.

My car's an 83 so it came with 215/65/15s while later models had wider tyres and maybe had some modifications to the suspension.

 

My 86 had the same size stock tires as you. It has been lower 1.5". With the spacer I had to grind my tie rod so it wouldn't rub on the rim. The tire rubs when turned left or right on the plastic well liner. It also rubs on the frame at full turn. I think there is 5 seperate places where it rubs on each side. Maybe the gforce tires are wider then the Firestone Firehawk tires?

 

I have Firehawk wheels with 275/40 BFG KDW's on my 84 Z. It is lowered about 2 inches, I don't have a problem with tires rubbing while turning. I have put on a steering box from a newer WS6 car, that may have helped some. I have noticed the car pulling more since I put on these tires.

 

I didn't have any problems with rubbing at all on the inner fenders or anything. I did have to buy spacers though and grind a little on the tie rod for clearance.