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large wheels/tires in the rear of a 2g

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turbo addict

15+ Year Contributor
482
1
Apr 17, 2005
Omaha, Nebraska
would their be a disadvantage to putting larger tires in the rear of a 2g awd? Yes I know that the tires Must be the same diameter front and rear. But if you get the same diameter would there be a down side to handling??? please explain.
 
The AWD version of the DSM tends to under steer when cornering at the limits. Why would you add traction to the rear end of a car that breaks loose on the front end first?
 
Can the original question be asked an entirely different way? I don't follow.
 
The AWD version of the DSM tends to under steer when cornering at the limits. Why would you add traction to the rear end of a car that breaks loose on the front end first?

here again I dont know, but would changing the sway bars help with this, then still have more traction for acceleration with the bigger rear tires?? thanks
 
So, for example. you want to put a 255/40 on the rear and a 225/45 on the front, both on 17x9 wheels? The tire diameters for those would be 636mm and 634mm respectively.

Is that what you'd want to do?

First of all, what's your thought process on why you want to do this? What problem are you trying to correct? Or do you want to do it simply for looks?
 
I'm currently running both front and rear RMDSM sway bars and when I was up at RRE last time they gave me they're .02 cents on my handling setup. They said to switch back to the stock GSX front sway bar because the RMDSM front sway prevents the car from understeer, in other words the car won't rotate around a corner as easily.

I can't help you with your tire question but you can change the cars handling characteristics by playing with your sway bar setup.

BTW, Go Big Red!!! I grew up in Beatrice, NE... :thumb:

:dsm:
 
So, for example. you want to put a 255/40 on the rear and a 225/45 on the front, both on 17x9 wheels? The tire diameters for those would be 636mm and 634mm respectively.

Is that what you'd want to do?

First of all, what's your thought process on why you want to do this? What problem are you trying to correct? Or do you want to do it simply for looks?

yes. and maybe a wider wheel in the rear. just thinkin, more traction (going strait) and easier to fit bigger wheels in the rear. and (ya I'm a lil ricer here but) 2g look soo good except for the ### little tires under them. I get made fun of alot by my friends (MKIV and vipers etc)

Like maybe a 235/40/18 and a 285/30/18 or 235/45/17 and 265/40/17 or something
 
I think if you want more traction, you should just go to a wider wheel with a stickier tire. I'm not sure what you could potentially mess up by running a setup like that, but if you're doing it because your friends are making fun of you, that's not a good reason.

If you want wide, check out the couple people on here who are running 275's. Now, they look funny because they stick out pretty far, but if you want wide, that's one way to go. I personally think a 245 or 255 is a great tire for most people on here if you're willing to roll the fenders.
 
I think if you want more traction, you should just go to a wider wheel with a stickier tire. I'm not sure what you could potentially mess up by running a setup like that, but if you're doing it because your friends are making fun of you, that's not a good reason.

If you want wide, check out the couple people on here who are running 275's. Now, they look funny because they stick out pretty far, but if you want wide, that's one way to go. I personally think a 245 or 255 is a great tire for most people on here if you're willing to roll the fenders.

I was looking at modding the rear knuckles, and leaving the fronts, i have spares I may just try messing with all of them and seeing what I come up with. But when I thought about it and would be happy with just the rears. It is not just my friends it has always bothered me that we have these amazing looking cars with little toothpicks under them, look at stockers on a 2ga they are like 205 or something. I was looking to see what all problems that I would be dealing with if I do this, have 2 or 3 sets of knuckles so giving it a try may be something that I do just because I have too much time on my hands.

I'm really the only one that thinks that we got screwed in the tire department??
 
would their be a disadvantage to putting larger tires in the rear of a 2g awd? Yes I know that the tires Must be the same diameter front and rear. But if you get the same diameter would there be a down side to handling??? please explain.

There are ways to make a AWD car handle better than most people can effectively drive. Simply swapping out tire sizes won't help much and compounding issues of having different tire diameters.

Suggestion, look at your suspension and figure out what you have vs what you need. IE if your making it a track car you would obviously end up investing more into suspension vs daily driver / i feel like flogging it on sundays on a winding road.

An alignment can go a long way to helping the car rotate. First thing to look at is your camber adjustment range, cause if its a 2g then it has no adjustment in the front and it plows like a draft horse. Get some front camber adjustment, take some rear toe out.(read 0 or up to about 1/16th out, because in compression the stock geometry adds toe WTF.

after that with some more money into it you can change springs and shocks. look for spring rates in the rear that are = to or stiffer than the fronts if you want the thing to rotate. or you can use more compliant rear springs paired with a siffer rear swaybar ;)

back to your original question. IMO there is no sense in running a big front and narrow rear. if you want to run wide tires front and rear you can run up to about 255/40/17 or 45 if you want RA1's with rolled fenders. on a 8.5 x17, +30, 114.3, the evo wheels fit nicely and are 8x 17, +35, 114.3 (2.5 in) with a 235/45/17. Part of your steering issue could also be tire related, crap tires turn for crap almost all the time LOL. So if your running a UGQT of 600 then don't expect much:pray:
 
as a tire gets wider it also gets taller. for example a 225/40/18 and a 255/40/18 are not the same overall diameter even though they are the same profile

and having different diameter tires can cause drivetrain problems with an awd dsm
 
most of you may not remember but rmracing was going to make super knuckles that would clear a 275 or 285 tire and still tuck. but there was not enough interest for the cost and they bailed on the project. This Idea has been running around in my head since rmdsm were talking about them in like 1998 or 1999.
 
I agree with your tire screwage comment but its easily corrected by running a 245 tire on an 8" wide wheel. Besides, these cars were built in the 90's when a 205/55/17 wheel on a stock GSX was a pretty big wheel setup then. It wasn't until Evo's were hitting the streets in '03 that Brembo brakes and 17" x 8" wheels were the norm on a sport compact.
I don't see any potential problems running a wider tire in the rear, however if its because your getting flammed for running a 6.5" tire then its not worth the trouble. The RWD crowd runs skinny's up front and tubbed 10" wide tires in the back because they need all the traction they can get. Find the middle ground and go for traction at all four corners, your AWD.

:dsm:
 
as a tire gets wider it also gets taller. for example a 225/40/18 and a 255/40/18 are not the same overall diameter even though they are the same profile

and having different diameter tires can cause drivetrain problems with an awd dsm

I posted 235/40/18 and 285/30/18 these are close and could be shaved to match as could the other 235/45/17 and 265/40/17. I noted in the beginning that the diameter would be the same. Just to clarify

I have stock evo rims and tires, but was thinking of stepping up the rear. a 245 doesnt look that big next to a stock viper/ vette-Z06 or MKIV. my friends 94 supra has 295/??/19 on the rear they have a mild stretch and still tuck. that kills me. the car looks much sexier with the wider tires. and I am doing more (standing mile) highspeed stuff from a roll. 30-160mph type of things so traction going strait is top priority. but dont want to kill the overall handling.
 
oh ok i misread well better traction in the rear then the front could cause understeer

also a heaiver wheel on an awd could possibly cause a problem too maybe someone else can confirm that

like Brian said a 255 is alot of tire and if you go with 17x9 wheels a 255/40/17 tire is pretty cheap even for the sticky tires (around $150 each)

if its something you really want to try though give it a shot and let us know how it turned out
 
as a tire gets wider it also gets taller. for example a 225/40/18 and a 255/40/18 are not the same overall diameter even though they are the same profile

and having different diameter tires can cause drivetrain problems with an awd dsm
YEP it will cause your new transfer case to go out!!
 
if you match the circumference to where it will only be 1 or 2 revolutions off per mile, you shouldn't have any worse wear on the drivetrain than normal. if you have same size stuff all around, and the front or back wear out quicker than the other it doesn't mess stuff up. the transfer case won't be ruined, it's the center diff that gets a thrust load and wears the output shaft to the transfer case. i would get a 4-spyder diff and a viscous coupler eliminator if i were to run a staggered setup.

Tire size calculator

go in there and punch in 225/45/17 in one, and 255/40/17 in the other and see how close they are? it's only 2 revs off per mile out of around 800. that's only .25%! it's the equivalent of having the same tires with either the front or back being worn 3/32 from the others.
 
just get the fenders rolled and pulled and fit 255s all around
 
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