perplexed

[samborskij]

94 LT1 Coupe, Tire sizes, bought 6 months ago.

Original PRESENTLY

Front P255/45ZR-17 Width 10.03" Front P285/ 40 ZR17 Width 11.22"
Rear P285/40ZR-17 Width 11.22 Rear P275/40ZR17 Width 10.82"

The tires presently on the rear need replacing. Would you suggest that when I buy tires I buy something comparable to the original sized tires on the front(10.03") and remount the tires presently on the front(11.22") to the rear rims.

I have no idea what they were thinking when they set up like it is presently.

Tnx, Sam

 

[Mart]

I believe the original tires for that year would have been something like 245-255 fronts and 275 rears depending on maker.

I would not go with a smaller than 275 on the rears.

Mart

 

[Tuna]

Need to know which wheels you have and which tires are mounted on them!

What wheels do you have and what are their sizes?

Check the wheels and see if the 285's on the front are mounted on 9.5" wheels and if the 275's on the rear are mounted on the 8.5" wheels. If so, just move the 285's, wheels and all, to the back and get the 255's for the front/narrow wheels.

If the wheels are just the opposite - ie: 285 on 8.5 and 275 on 9.5, then you will want to consider removing the 285's and mounting them on the 9.5 wheels then putting new 255's on the 8.5 wheels.

 

[Mart]

Better yet what does the door sticker say?

 

[samborskij]

did anyone read what I wrote?


New the car came with:
Front P255/45ZR-17 Width 10.03"
Rear P285/40ZR-17 Width 11.22"

Now it has:
Front P285/ 40 ZR17 Width 11.22"
Rear P275/40ZR17 Width 10.82"

Don't worry about the rims they are in the correct location.

The tires on the rear need replacing.

Since some (expletive deleted) person put wider tires on the front than are on the rear, when I buy two new tires to replace the worn ones on the rear, should I have the wider tires remounted to the rear rims and buy the replacement tires to fit the front?

Or should I stick with wider tires on the front and why?

Cmon now guys it's not that hard to understand.

 

[Mart]

We did read what you wrote, it almost looks like someone rotated the front to back.

I would go with the original and get the wider rims to the back with the appropriate tires. Someone really did a number there.

Mart

 

[SG4206]

If you drive like me (balls-out) ; leave the fronts alone and put the same size on the rear.
The larger size on front will help decrease under steer.

 

[samborskij]

rofl, the rims are in the correct location, they just put the wider tires on the front rims, why I don't know.

So SG4206 thinks the wider tires will decrease understeer at higher speeds.

Mart still thinks the rims are in the wrong location, they are not for the 3rd time. It's only the wider tires that are mounted on the front rims.

Tuna, the proper rims are in the proper locations. It's all about the tires.

As short as possible:
I have wider tires on front rims than on back rims, the rims are in right location, should I unmount wider tires that are presently on the front rims and move them to the rear rims?
Or should I pull my remaining hair out?

 

[BRZMAN]

yes.......yes

 

[Aurora40]

If the 285's are in nice shape, I'd swap them to the rear and get new 255's for the front. The tires were mismatched sized for a reason. The fronts went from 275's to 255's primarily to increase understeer for more predictable handling. Some understeer is not a bad thing. It's also more desirable than oversteer (which you can always dial in with the throttle if you really need any). I'd try to get the car back to the original spec.

Edit: It's also quite possible the 285's are too wide for the front wheel. Tires can't just be mounted on any arbitrarily wide wheel. Didn't the fronts have 17x8.5" wheels or something around there? You can usually find the specs for the approved rim widths on a tire company's website.

 

[Mart]

If you have 285's on a 8.5 RIM ... Well that's just plain stupid... Not your fault, I'm not calling you stupid.

I would just go back to factdory tires.

 

[samborskij]

okay, it seems the general consensus at this point is get it as close to factory as possible.

Since the rear tires are worn and new ones need to be purchased, I will buy the recommended size tires for the front rims and have the tires presently mounted on the front rims removed and put on the rear rims and the new tires mounted on the front rims.

I was careful to use the words "tires" and "rims" properly I hope, I triple checked b4 posting.

Thank you all for your continued advice and patience.
Sam