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front/rear different tire width driving characteristics ?

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Old Dec 14, 2006 | 03:27 PM
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Default front/rear different tire width driving characteristics ?

Hi

I am thinking of installing new tires onto my 68 BB.
Looking at the Goodyear Eagle GT+4 OWL
front: 225/70 R15
back: 275/60 R15

This tires are OK till 210 KM/Hrs

What would be the driving characteristics of the car be with this width difference front to back ? Will the car have strange steering characteristics or will I just not realy feel this.

I can't install 255 in the front due too much rubbing on a 68 + no PS.
235 width are not availbale in this format.

Installing 225 in front and 255 back will have a bigger diamter wheel front than back, so not good.
But with the 225 front and 275 back, the back wheel is slightly bigger which is OK.

Günther
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Old Dec 14, 2006 | 03:32 PM
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Originally Posted by WESCH
Hi

I am thinking of installing new tires onto my 68 BB.
Looking at the Goodyear Eagle GT+4 OWL
front: 225/70 R15
back: 275/60 R15

This tires are OK till 210 KM/Hrs

What would be the driving characteristics of the car be with this width difference front to back ? Will the car have strange steering characteristics or will I just not realy feel this.

I can't install 255 in the front due too much rubbing on a 68 + no PS.
235 width are not availbale in this format.

Installing 225 in front and 255 back will have a bigger diamter wheel front than back, so not good.
But with the 225 front and 275 back, the back wheel is slightly bigger which is OK.

Günther
i have 275/60 rear and 255/60 front, that seems to me the best rear/front relation...225/70 front is too narrow, too high and mainly higher then rear...usually for best stance rear should be equal or higher then front and not vicervesa.

on my personal opinion
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Old Dec 15, 2006 | 05:00 AM
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Hi

I am presently driving 235/70-15 all around and the front tires are rubbing on the frame. OK, this is not a problem, I could weld up the stop to stop this.
I tried 255/60 in the front and those are rubbing hard on the frame and the sidewalls are very tight against the steering arms. I don't know how to compensate for this clearance issue.
Also 255 wide tires are not easy to steer with no BS option.

The 275/60 tires are slighlty taller than the 225/70.

225/70 = 27.4 " diameter
235/70 = 28 "
255/60 = 27 "
275/60 = 28 "

The original tire size for a 68 Vette was about 215 only wide and I have a set of those on the original 7 " ralley rims , does not look so bad .
The front tires are not too narrow, actually not realy visible. It's the back tires who are visible from the back and those need to be large.

Driving/steering characteristics having such difference in width front to rear , I heard are a bit strange, aren't they ?

Günther
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Old Dec 15, 2006 | 07:44 AM
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I have 255 45 17s on the front and 275 40 18s on the rear. They are slightly different diameters and it drives fine. All the newer Vettes have different sizes front to rear and they have no problems. I ran 245 60 15s at one time with no rubbing on the front.
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Old Dec 15, 2006 | 08:08 AM
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245-60-15's front....255-60-15's rear


No steering issues..
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Old Dec 15, 2006 | 01:22 PM
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Originally Posted by WESCH
...I am presently driving 235/70-15 all around and the front tires are rubbing on the frame....

I used to run 235-70R-15s with no rubbing. My advice would be to take a look underneath and determine exactly where the rub is occurring.
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Old Dec 15, 2006 | 02:53 PM
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I don't think the width is all that critical, more important is the diameter of the mounted tire. Like said above, larger in rear. Used to drive a vette with 255 fronts and 295 rears and just fine.

steve
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Old Dec 15, 2006 | 06:37 PM
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Originally Posted by rihwoods
245-60-15's front....255-60-15's rear


No steering issues..
I have the same setup. I did have 255/60's up front but they would rub on hard turning lock to lock when parking. Also I noticed that the 245/60's up front handle a little better on the hwy.
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Old Dec 15, 2006 | 07:54 PM
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I have 255/45-17s front and 345/35-18s on the rear , dont really notice it, unless the rears are cold, then they are pretty easy to break loose :-)
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