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Will traction control activate with shorter tire??

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Old Mar 8, 2006 | 09:57 AM
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Default Will traction control activate with shorter tire??

I am considering the 295-35-18 tires in place of my stock 275-40-18 tires. the 295 series is just a hair shorter in diameter. Will my traction control want to come on? Will the PCM read this as spinning tires? I read a post on this a while back? Can I just put the larger tires on and forget about any problems?? Will I have to drive around with my traction control off?
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Old Mar 8, 2006 | 01:11 PM
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as far as I know it's not the SIZE of the tire you run, it's making sure that there is aprox 1" difference in the DIAMETER of the rear wheel vs the front. You don't say what, if anything, you intend to do for your front tires so I can't answer your question.

If you go to www.1010tires.com, look under the "technical" heading and click on "tire calculator" you can then put in the OEM size tire(s) and compare them to what size you intend to use.

Just remember you want the DIAMETER of the rear to be aprox 1" (that's the difference in 245/275 OEM tires). I'm running 265/40/18 fronts and 285/40/18 rears and my difference in diameters is slightly less than 1" - I've never had a TC problem. Some members here are running the SAME size tires all around and they report no problems with TC but others have had problems if the diameters get too close.

If you let the diameter of the fronts exceed that of the rears you WILL have problems.

Have fun playing with the tire calculator - you can now become a tire designer.
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Old Mar 8, 2006 | 02:00 PM
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traction control comes on when the rears are spinning faster then the fronts... that being said as long as they are not smaller in diameter than your fronts you are fine. Even if they are the same size, that is fine.
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Old Mar 8, 2006 | 02:21 PM
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I know there are different versions of the active handling in different years.

With that said - My 2000, with the same size rear and front tires (drag radials) my traction control will come on when drigin on the highway, and basically makes you come to a stop unless you turn traction control off.

Maybe this is different on new models, but that is my experience.
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Old Mar 8, 2006 | 04:54 PM
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Default 18in.rim

I am also looking at options for new tire's. My front rims are
18in./9.5, and rear 18in./10.5. Will 275/35/18's on front,and
295 or 305/35/18's on rear work with no TC's or rubbing?
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 02:13 AM
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Originally Posted by SmoothFRC
I know there are different versions of the active handling in different years.

With that said - My 2000, with the same size rear and front tires (drag radials) my traction control will come on when drigin on the highway, and basically makes you come to a stop unless you turn traction control off.

Maybe this is different on new models, but that is my experience.
Next time that happens and your TC, AH and ABS error messages start flashing and going crazy, don't stop to reset it. While you are driving, simply turn your ignition key to the start position for a second and release. It will reset all that jazz leaving just the error code that you can check/clear later. Don't worry, your starter won't engage because your car is smart enough to know the engine is running. Works for me everytime.
John
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 10:21 AM
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I dont stop, i just click the button, i usually just forget to do it sometimes when i put on the boots.

For kicks one time i left it on to see if it would disengage by itself below a certain speed, it took me down to about 20 and i just clicked the button as i did not want to stop.

I think you are talking about if the abs sensor is going or looses connection that it will go crazy, but even then you can still drive with no issues - those things will just not engage.
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 06:59 PM
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Default traction control comes on

hey there: I put 19' all the way around on my 2002 last week. I am having the same problem.
At certain speeds, it kicks in the traction control.
The chevy dealer said it " shows on the computer it is the left rear wheel senser. We changed it. Still does it. Now I read this. So, I got these awsome 19x8.5 and 19x11's Other than turning off the traction control, is there a waay to correct the problem? Can I go to a different tire size? They arn't giving these tire away.

Any help will be appricated, TRUST ME. I paid 3500 for the wheels and tires too. now I dumped in another 400 for the wheel senser. The wheel people said if " you drive em, you own em. Nice.
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 07:06 PM
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Default traction control comes on

Hey there; I got these awsome 19x8.5 and 19x11
wheels and tires. It kicks in the traction control . I went to the Chevy dealer..mistake. He spends hours and say "left rear wheel sensor" I say fix it. a few hundred later I still got a prob with traction control. Can I change to a different tire size and keep the wheels all the same. Trust me they are not giving these things away. any ideas will be welcome.

Jerry
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 07:08 PM
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What size tires do you have on the 19" rims. The easy fix would be to either go with a shorter front or larger rear.
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 07:45 PM
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Default tire size

Ive got 245 35zr 19 front and 27530zr 19 rear.
thanks for getting back so fast.

Last edited by nam-vette; Mar 9, 2006 at 07:47 PM.
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 07:55 PM
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245/35/19 is 25.8" Tall
275/30/19 is 25.5" Tall

That is your problem, your front is taller then your rear.

Maybe a 315 30 19? 26.6" tall
a 295 30 19 would be 26" tall, and i am not sure if that is enough difference from the fronts to make the problem go away.

I really dont know enough about the proper tire sizes and such, who put your package togethor? they may be able to help you.

There are also plenty of other people on the forum running 19's all around, you may be able to query them on their tire sizes, etc..
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 08:01 PM
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Originally Posted by nam-vette
Ive got 245 35zr 19 front and 27530zr 19 rear.
thanks for getting back so fast.
Move the 275/30/19 tires to the front wheels (I don't know how the heck they stretched those to fit an 11" wheel to begin with)...and get some 295/35/19 or 305/30/19 for the rear wheels. Your tires are way undersized for those wheel widths.

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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 10:08 PM
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I talked to the folks I got the tires and wheels from. the Vredestine tires do not come bigger than the 275's. He asked how about a 235/35/19 on the front? and leave the 275/30/19 on the rear?
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Old Mar 9, 2006 | 10:37 PM
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Originally Posted by C502
I am also looking at options for new tire's. My front rims are
18in./9.5, and rear 18in./10.5. Will 275/35/18's on front,and
295 or 305/35/18's on rear work with no TC's or rubbing?
I had the same size wheels I ran 285/30/18 and 315/30/18. No problems at all. The main reason I bought them is they were on close out at tirerack because they were discontinued. I don't think Pirelli makes this size anymore. You don't need to tub unless you go bigger than 335 on the rear, of course that does also depend on the offset of the wheel.

There is a member running 335's on an 18x10.5" wheel but most would tell you that is too wide a tire for the wheel to get maximum performance.

I have heard of people running 295/35/18's all around also. I also think some road racers run 315's all around on 17" wheels.
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Old Mar 10, 2006 | 12:44 AM
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Lots of info on this site regarding this issue. How it works is the wheel speed sensors report information to the EBTCM. If a spike of 9 mph or more is detected by the wheel speed sensors on any wheel at anytime the ABS, AH and TC become inoperable. The (ABS, AH & TC) lights on the dash light up and weird things start to happen. It can be from a couple of things that you guys already brought up. tires in the front being larger than the rear. Electrical shorts in the brake lines.

Seems the problems you guys are having are the tires. You should keep to the basic rule for the C5 that the rear tires are 1" taller diameter than the fronts. SOme cars can run close to the same size front and rear and not have problems, Some cant. NEVER have I seen ANY C5 run a larger OD tire on the front than the rear and NOT have any problems.

The only fix is to purchase new tires and wheels that follow these guidelines.

Sorry to hear from all of you who didnt know these things ahead of time and purchased expensive T&W setups.

VR
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Old Mar 10, 2006 | 01:05 AM
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If your tire diameter in the rear is equal to or larger than the front tire diameter you will not have a problem. I run 275/40/17 front and 315/35/17 rear competition tires. The diameter front and rear is 25.1 in. No problems with TC on my 97 or no problems with TC or AH on my 03Z.

As soon as you put a smaller diameter tire on the rear TC will activate. You can try this by swapping the OEM wheels and tires front to rear putting the car in nuetral and coasting down a hill (I live on a steep hill so I can coast as soon as I back out of my driveway). TC will apply the rear brakes to control what it perceives as rear wheel spin. If you try to drive the car then TC will apply the brakes followed by cutting the timing and throttle.

Bill
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Old Mar 10, 2006 | 04:20 AM
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Go to the discount tire homepage and find the calculator. Then you can compare what stock is to what you want, then you can see if the circ and diam and road speed etc. is all the same.....which it should be even though you are getting different size tires. Here is the link. http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireMath.dos
So if you put in stock dimensions for tire 1 and then pick a size that matches those criteria.
Just a thought.
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Old Mar 10, 2006 | 07:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Bill Dearborn
If your tire diameter in the rear is equal to or larger than the front tire diameter you will not have a problem. I run 275/40/17 front and 315/35/17 rear competition tires. The diameter front and rear is 25.1 in. No problems with TC on my 97 or no problems with TC or AH on my 03Z.
Maybe the newer vettes dont have the problem with the same sizes all around, but on my 2000 i cannot run the same size. I believe there are different versions of AH amongst some of the years. FYI.
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Old Mar 10, 2006 | 08:33 AM
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Originally Posted by SmoothFRC
Maybe the newer vettes dont have the problem with the same sizes all around, but on my 2000 i cannot run the same size. I believe there are different versions of AH amongst some of the years. FYI.
There are different versions of software. My 2000 made without AH, is happy with the same diameter tires front and rear. After the rears wore down to where they were 1/4" shorter than the fronts (maybe one or two burnouts contributed), I started getting the service TS/ABS, and reduced engine power. Replaced the rears, and fine again.
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