Jump to content
LegacyGT.com

Staggered tires?


rurouni_x

Recommended Posts

Posted

I know we Can't run different sized tires on our AWD, but what if the sizes end up being around the same circumference ? Like for example I have a used set of RT 615s 225-45-18 with 5 32nds And i was thinking of pairing them with some 245/40's.

 

So with the 225's the side wall would be 101.25mm's minus the 3 32nd's of thread wear which adds up to about 97mm of sidewall.

 

And with the 245's New with 8 32nds the sidewall will be 98mm only a difference of 1mm. Which is safe for the diffs right?. And plus I can further match them by changing the air pressure.

 

Good idea or bad idea? Give me your input guys.

The math adds up.

 

Now my brain hurts:confused:

Posted

here's why you don't do this

 

 

your 225 and 245 might be real close now, but try measuring them again at 60mph

 

 

not to mention odd ride and handling charateristics

(Updated 8/22/17)

2005 Outback FMT

Running on Electrons

Posted
cause the center of a wider tire deforms more than a skinner one

Troof! Don't do it man.

Posted
The RT-615s are MUCH wider than advertised.

 

yeah they are here is the 615's next to some Conti Pro contacts and the 615's are like half an inch wider. Both of them are 240-40-18

 

 

Anyone interested in the 615's I can get you a good deal on them since I will not be using them.

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/rurouni_xgt/IMG00078.jpg

Posted
Another thing to consider is that tire math isn't exact. It is always approximate, and you'll see that many tires of the same size by different manufacturers, and sometimes even the SAME manufacturer will have different values for "Revolutions per mile." This means that even though the tire is the "same size" when new, they actually have different diameters. You always want to have 4 matched tires on a Subaru.
Posted
Something I noticed while working on one, the GT-R runs staggered tires 255-40-20 on the front and 285-35-20 on the rears. The rolling diameter of those two sizes are almost the exact same.
Posted

Yeah, but that's different. The people who have posted so far know way more about this than the people who designed the GTR.

 

I haven't done this myself, so of course I'm just speculating here:

 

In spite of the traditional responses this question always elicits, I just really don't think this is such a bad idea, if (big if!) you do your homework. Doing the math on the tire dimensions is a good start. It'd be wise to actually measure the candidate tires first, to verify that the actual circumferences are indeed close to what the math predicts.

 

The key figure, IMO, is how many revolutions per mile each tire has. And then of course, what's the difference between the two? At freeway speeds, how many revolutions per minute will the center diff need to absorb? If it's a small number (e.g. 2) I wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

Hint: the owner's manual indicates how much tread depth difference is acceptable between the front and rear tires. With a little math, you ca find out how many revs/mile difference is acceptable, according to Subaru. I'd trust that number a lot more than the opinions expressed above.

 

AWD cars tend to understeer, and putting fat tires in the rear isn't going to help matters. But if you're not the sort of person who spends a lot of time driving at the limits of tire grip, that won't make a difference to you. Except maybe in case you need some emergency swerve action, in which case you'll still be light-years ahead of all the other econoboxes and SUVs on the road.

 

So, yeah. Do your homework, choose your tires carefully. Post pics when you're done.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use