Dry traction increases with wider tires but wet traction decreases (easier to surf across the puddles with a wider platform). Road noise increases with wider tires. I'll take performance over looks any day. That said, I'll probably step up one size from stock when these tires wear out for a bit more dry traction and also to have the tires bulge out slightly past the wheel edges so they don't get scuffed up. Stock is 235/50-18 and I will replace with 255/45-18 on all four corners so that I can rotate them.
thats helpful. I'm just tired of braking the car loose even going into second gear.
for those of you with the wider tires..whats cornering like for ya?
275/60/15 on a 15x8 race stars Nitto Dr everyday all day even in rain
Fixed my traction issues. I put on stock tires last week because one dr had a nail and I could loose traction in 3rd. I'm NA full weight with shaker 1000.
Its not always about how wide the tire is as much as sidewall. I would rather have a 275/60/15 rather than a 295/35/18
I have 255/45/18s up front and 275/40/18s in the rear. Not enough meat in the back for my 500 ponies, but anything after 2nd, I can floor it just fine. Great rain traction and great cornering still. Great in the dry. I got te sumitomos in the rear real cheap from AM.
Had that for about 2.5 years. Works well for me. Gas mileage may suffer a tad but as far as diff driving conditions I was pretty much solid all year. (I'm in Texas, so we don't get full four seasons) Just last year when it snowed/iced badly I took the wife's jeep. But other than that man go big and don't think twice about it! You'll enjoy it!
You can't get any more tire on the back of an S197 than I have without cutting out the bump stop brackets. I run 28x12x15 Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/Rs on the rear for street driving. They absolutlely consume the wheel well. I run 26x6x15 Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/Rs on thefront both on the street and at the track.
I have a set of 18x9 rims for the winter months with 255/45's all around. For the summer months I have a set of 18x9 front 18x10 rear and run 255/45 on the front and M/T 305/45 DR's on the rear. Car drives great and I am very happy with this setup.
I've had several different sizes on the front, the one to avoid is a 255 width. Just going to 275's seemed to be wider than the grooves in the road and was much more enjoyable. 265's werent bad either. I run 295/35/18 NT05R's on the back they're not terrible in the rain but MT ET street radials are a PITA in the rain!