How do 18" front wheels affect handling?
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 24,129
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From: The Beautiful Pacific Northwest
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09, '14-'15-'16-'17-'18
How do 18" front wheels affect handling?
Anybody out there put 18" wheels in the front? What does that do to handling? I think the look would enhance the overall appearance of the car.
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 4,411
Likes: 1
From: Wilmington NC
Originally Posted by Red_Racer
Anybody out there put 18" wheels in the front? What does that do to handling? I think the look would enhance the overall appearance of the car.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 7,393
Likes: 7
From: Los Angeles CA
If you select tires with the right overall (exterior) diameters to maintain around a 3/4" diameter difference between front and back (back being larger) you should be OK. The guys at TireRack know some 18" combinations that work without messing up the AH, TC or ABS.
Racer
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389
Likes: 1
From: Denver co
Originally Posted by Red_Racer
Anybody out there put 18" wheels in the front? What does that do to handling? I think the look would enhance the overall appearance of the car.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 811
Likes: 0
From: RPV CA
i have mn6, and did not have to worry about re-calibration..i feel a little numb feeling when steering takes place, and it also feels a bit harder to make turns..did not have any traction or abs problems here though..
good luck..
good luck..
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Racer
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 305
Likes: 0
From: Louisiana
Originally Posted by beebs52778
265/35 on 9.5" Front & 295/35 on 10.5" rears 18s all around - no problems.
The rear tires have more sidewall compaired to the front tires. The overall height differences between the fronts to rear is just right to not affect the handling controls.
The wide tires up front tend to find road ruts more often, but I never re-aligned my setup after lowering.
The 18 up front with smaller side walls looks much better that the 17 did.
Last edited by out2run; Aug 26, 2004 at 10:06 AM.
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 4,411
Likes: 1
From: Wilmington NC
Originally Posted by Goody
Got 18fr 19rr HRE's and have no issues either. So long as tire diameter is pretty close or the same you will be fine.
The stock fronts have a diameter of 25.6" and the rears have a diameter of 26.7 inches. That means the rears are about 4% larger. This means the computer expects to see the speed sensors in the rear turning about 4% slower. As long as you maintain a ratio close to that you won't have problems. Stray too far away you will have intermittent to full time ABS/AH shutdown with error codes. I believe the rear to front variation can be reprogrammed.
