tires revisited

[samborskij]

1994 Coupe

I bought my car used a few months back. It looks as though I need to buy tires for the rear. I looked at what was on the car presently and went online to see what was available and how much. First I decided to look in the Owners Manuals to see what sizes were recommended. Hah, they don't recommend a particular size, that I could find.

I found a website that allowed me to enter vehicle make, model and looked at what they had to offer. In short they had 275's and 255's. Assuming the wider would go to the rear.

My problem is that presently I have Firestone P275 40ZR17 on the rear and Bridgestone P285 40R17 on the front.

What are the proper sizes, or should I say what did it come wit?
We will get to what to buy later, provided I survive the differing opinions I get.:L

Thanks, Sam

 

[JRMaroon]

Sam,

My '94 left the factory with 255/45-17s on the front, 285/40-17s on the rear. There may have been a high performance suspension that came with 275s all the way around. Take a look to see if your rims are two different widths. That should also help you out.

When you are ready, we will have plenty of opinions to offer on which tires to go with.

Good Luck,

Jeff

 

[Tuna]

Unless your 94 is a ZO7 option car, it should have 8.5" wheels on the front and 9.5" wheels on the rear. The front tires would be 255/45-17s and the rear would be 285/40-17s.

The ZO7 cars had 9.5" wheels all around and 275/40-17s all around.

If you find you have two narrow 8.5" wheels, I would recommend going back to the 255/45 tires on those wheels as the minimum recommended wheels width for the 275 or 285 is 9".

I've seen lots of late C4s with mismatched tires and wheels recently. Usually because a previous owner want to 'rotate' tires but doesn't want to buy a pair of wider wheels. There is a C4 out in the parking lot at work that has 285's all around mounted on 2 8.5" wheel and 2 9.5" wheels. One narrow wheel is on the rear and one on the front. I mentioned it to the owner but he said he didn't notice any problems with it and is in no hurry to change them.

 

[samborskij]

?

are the rims supposed to be the same size?

 

[Edmond]

are the rims supposed to be the same size?

If you look on the inside of the rim; the location of where that wheel should be mounted is stamped on the metal.

 

[Tuna]

If you look on the inside of the rim; the location of where that wheel should be mounted is stamped on the metal.

In 1994, the turbine wheels (sawblades) are left and right specific and different sizes front and rear for the base or FX3 suspension cars. That means each wheel is supposed to be on a specific corner of the car. The back side of each wheel is labeled with it's size and offset as well as which position it is intended to be mounted.

 

[samborskij]

??

If I understand you correctly the hubs are marked as to the placement of the Tire/Hub combination. Before i go to the trouble to pull a tire, can you be more specific as to the exact location of the markings and can you see it with tire on?

Would you believe I finally took a look at my spare, it was almost flat, (never used) but more interesting was that I removed 4+ pounds of dirt from the tire and spare cover. Yes, I weighed the dirt. I understand a lot of people don't even carry their spare. Is that so and why?

 

[RedRagTop]

What you have now is the opposite of what I run. I like the 285's out back and the 275/ZR/40's in front...

 

[Edmond]

If I understand you correctly the hubs are marked as to the placement of the Tire/Hub combination. Before i go to the trouble to pull a tire, can you be more specific as to the exact location of the markings and can you see it with tire on?

Would you believe I finally took a look at my spare, it was almost flat, (never used) but more interesting was that I removed 4+ pounds of dirt from the tire and spare cover. Yes, I weighed the dirt. I understand a lot of people don't even carry their spare. Is that so and why?

Yep, the inside of the actual wheel is marked. It may be covered up with road crap and brake dust. Now is a good time to clean them! Could you see it with the tire on? I don't think so; I'm a small guy (5'5", 130lbs.) and it's just about impossible for me to get access to anything that's not on the outside of the car. Just a simple jack up and an impact will have those wheels off in no time!

You actually weighed the dirt? :L Some people don't run the spare to save weight. However, the spare does have a purpose, other than being for a flat tire. It was engineered with the purpose of absorbed impact in the worst case that you are hit in the rear. I personally don't run with the spare because I dropped my mufflers to work on bushings earlier this year and just never got around to putting it back on.