Hi guys and gals,

I have searched all over the board, and even called a few tire places. I can not find answers to my questions. I am about to buy some new tires for the front of my IROC. I know that stock is 245/50-16. I have Kumho 712's 255/50-16 on the rear, and I am kinda going for the 'Vette look (big in back, small in front).

Should I go with 225/50-16 or 225/55-16? Maybe even 235/50-16? Would there be any drawbacks to using this skinny of a tire? I do not do autocross, but I like the fact that my car handles really well.

What do you guys recommend? I am staying with my IROC rims for the next year of so, maybe longer.

Thanks in advance. Thomas

 

Why would you want a 55 up front? The only reason I could see is if you have a gap in the fender well up front. If you really want that vette look go with the 225s. You'll never run into any kind of clearance problem, you'll get the look you want, and you'll still be able to handle well assuming you go with a decent brand. I have 225/60/16 Goodyear Eagle GA tires all the way around. Yeah I know the profile is way too high and the tires are crap, but they came with the wheels. Anyways, I can take turns going pretty fast without any kind of squealing. This could be because of the fact that I have subframe connectors, but if you get a decent brand tire and/or suspension mods, 225s will work great for you, since you don't Autocross. Also as a rule of thumb, go with the same tire brand/tread design in the front as you do in the back. It will look MUCH better. I know this wouldn't affect our cars, but running different types of tires on the same car can create a big problem for ABS systems. Well, hope this helps. Let us know what you do and post some pics if you can.

 

Stay with the 245/50!

I have 245/45/16 in front,just a small difference on paper,but there's a huge fender gap,wich I don't like at all!
When going to 255/50/16 at the back,there's already a noticable difference between front and rear.

 

going from a 255/50-16 to a 225/50-16 will lower the car up front and move the center of gravity forward. will have a better response in the steering wheel. but, will have more oversteer (rear sliding out).

 

Just get some 22s and let it be over with...

J/K the 225/55 would look okay and still is plenty wide enough for decent traction.

 

mrr23, how would going from a 255/50-16 to a 225/50-16 lower the front of the car, if they have the same profile?? Is there something I'm not understanding about tire sizes?? I thought the first number was width, the second was profile height, and the last was rim size.

 

You don't understand tire sizes....
245/50R16
245 mm wide
245 x 50% (245 x .5)= 122.5 mm of tire height. A 50 series tire means 50 percent of the width is the sidewall height.

122.5 / 25.4 = 4.8 inches(conversion to inches)
4.8 x 2 = 9.6(top and bottom sidewall)
9.6 + 16 = 25.6 inches of total height

225/50R16 is 24.8 inches high

 

I went with the 255/50 ECSTA 712's in the front and back and I just ran at an AutoX event and I didn't have any problems with oversteer or clearance with my tires. I wouldn't go any wider then 255's though on the front.

Go with the 255's all around man.

 

Thanks for the replies, guys. I guess what I am really trying to find out is: Shoud I go with 225/50-16's or 245/50/16's in the front? I already have the 255/50's in the rear.

 

Here is a picture of mine with 225/50R16's on the front and 245/50R16's on the rear. I really hated the look and it scraped a lot more than it does now with 245/45R16's which are close the same height. Why? When you drop the front wheels an inch lower, the nose moves down way more than an inch.
If you should or not? That's up to you.

 

My car is not lowered at all. It is stock at all four corners, althought I do plan on lowering it just a little (about 1/2 inch). So if 225/50 would lower the front a little, what would 245/50's do?

 

Regardless of if your car is lowered or not, 225/50's will lower the front(at the wheel) about an inch and the nose will be lowered more. 245/50's will lower the front just a little bit, and a little bit more at the nose--probably more reasonable. It's difficult to have the big and little combo without sacrificing some stuff. Plus even with a 225 wide tire on my Iroc wheels, it looked about as wide as the 245's on the back because the 8 inch wide wheel "stretched" the tire. My advise, if you want the big-n-little tire combo wait until you get the wheels to do it.

 

Dutch-Bird when I bought my GTA there were 245/45/ZR16's on the front and the stock size (245/50/16) at the rear. On speaking to different people the benefits seem to be that:-

1. The lower profile curiously makes it less expensive (presumably being a more commonly used size).

2. Some guys I know who participate in amateur auto-cross racing say that you benefit from the stiffer sidewall of the lower profile tyre and you may feel a slight benefit in 'turn-in'. I know that mine turns in instantly and feels glued to the road.... though that's probably due to my suspension set-up.

As you mentioned a major drawback is the empty look that befalls the arches. It makes you want to lower the suspension more to compensate for it.

Thomas:- In reply to your querie - I would recommend the 245/50/16's, or that you give 245/45/16's a try. Let us know if you feel that the handling changes at all with whatever size you change to.

Gordon

 

I'm with 82camaro. The 225's technically aren't going to be wide enough for your 8" rims. This will result in the sidewalls being "stretched" outward and IMHO you won't be happy with the way it looks.

If you really want the "Corvette look" you should get new rims that are sized accordingly – i.e. smaller rims in front with larger rims in the back. THEN get the properly sized tires for the rims.

Just my $.02

 

Bret,
I understand what you are saying. I am not going to buy new rims, yet. I like my two-stripes, so they will stay for now.
Right now, I have 234/50-16's on the front, so if I go with 245/50-16's, will there be a difference in ride height?
Thanks for all the help.
Thomas

 

Thomas:-
Punch the numbers into this tyre size calculator and it'll give you any difference exactly in mm.

Tyresave Tyre Size Calculator
http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyresize.html

I did it earlier for you and it came up with a 1.56% change in diameter which equates to 10mm higher. The overall tyre diameter changes from 25.25in/641mm to 25.65in/651mm. So yes there will be a difference in ride height.

Gordon

 

I run 245's on the front and 255's on the rear of my stock IROC rims. Good combo for fitment and performance. But I'm not into the dragracing look, so if you wanna run skinny tires in the front its up to you. I would recommend you run the same sidewall front and rear.

 

Dr.G.

Stock size is 245/50-16 front and rear!

 

Or 235/55-16...

 

Dutch-Bird:- I know! It was a type error. The post has since been edited.

 

What you really need is Cooper Cobra GTZ 225/55/ZR16 They have a great tread pattern. The tread width is 8.64" They are much better than the crappy KUMHOs I had on the front
I'll never buy BUM_HOs again!

Check them out

http://www.coopertire.com/tire_coope...nger.asp?id=13

or Same company different brand Mastercraft

http://www.mastercrafttires.com/passenger.asp?id=177