Justafordguy 10 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 I have 245's on the 17x9 wheels on my Fox Mustang but I was hoping to get something a little narrower. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
69Heretic 10 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 Most tire companies have sizing charts on their sites. So based on what brand of tire you want to run go to their site and look at the tire chart. You might find a 225 that will run on a 9" rim but I think you will have to get a 235. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pakrat 1,043 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 Did you try those fox tires on this car as well? You can always try the 235's and stay as far away from the curbs as you can or else new or narrowed rims are in your future unfortunately. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justafordguy 10 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 The wheels on my Fox are 4 lug. I have looked at several tire web sites and it looks like everyone shows a maximum of 8.5" wheels for 225's and 9" for 235's. I guess I better not go any smaller than 235's. I'll start checking with the local tire stores. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grendi 16 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 "bigger is better and huge ist just right" doesn't count for front wheels.... :whistling: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justafordguy 10 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 "bigger is better and huge ist just right" doesn't count for front wheels....:whistling: I'm starting to believe you're right. I found a tire shop here in town that is going to let me try a set of 235-45-17 Kumho ASX tires. They said I could bring them back if they don't help. I don't see how I can pass that up? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pakrat 1,043 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 That's damn sporting of them. So how does that overall tire size match up to your rears? What do you have in the rear anyway? Just curious if you are going to end up with a little more rake now on a 235/45. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justafordguy 10 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 I talked to the guy about the diameter and he said they are very close to my current tires. I have 315-35-17's in the rear and they are about 25.4" tall. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pakrat 1,043 Report post Posted June 15, 2009 That sounds perfect, good luck and keep us posted! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justafordguy 10 Report post Posted June 17, 2009 Well I put the new 235's on today. I only had time for a quick trip around the block but so far so good. It seems about the same as the old 225's I borrowed. I'll drive it more this weekend and let you guys know for sure. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bnickel 10,004 Report post Posted June 19, 2009 i wish i had gotten here sooner. what you probably really need is a set of roller spring perches up front. the reason why is the roller perches allow the tire to better follow the uneven roads allowing the spring and shock to actually do what they're supposed to do, absorb the bumps in the road. personally i think you should put the 275's back on and install a set of roller perches. i couldn't believe how big of a difference they made on my car, it rides almost like a stocker and i have 750 lb front coils and KYB gas-adjust shocks plus a 1" front sway bar too so that's a big improvement!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justafordguy 10 Report post Posted June 22, 2009 I drove about 50 miles this weekend on mostly very bad roads. The car is handling great. It is a real pleasure to drive now. You can still feel all the bumps because of the low profile tires and stiff springs but it goes straight down the road without having to fight it. I want to thank everyone for all of the ideas. I think I'll consider this problem fixed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pakrat 1,043 Report post Posted June 22, 2009 Good to know, I just hope the 245's I planned to go with up front are narrow enough to avoid this issue. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
69again 10 Report post Posted June 23, 2009 I have 245's on the front and it is one scary ride on rough roads. I ordered the perches from Opentracker and will let ou know how it handles after I get them on. Dan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justafordguy 10 Report post Posted June 23, 2009 It sure seems odd that one tire size larger would make that big of a difference. I wonder if it has more to do with tread design than size? My new 235's have a more all-season tread instead of the summer performance design of my old ones. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
69again 10 Report post Posted July 13, 2009 Installed the roller perches this weekend. Drives much much better. I have 245 17's BFGoodrich on the front. As always, the information on this website is great! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LSG 15 Report post Posted July 20, 2009 Guys, I think some here are not understanding just what the issue is.......if your car is doing the tramline thing, it isn't so much a problem with the car, as the car is showing you how much the road sucks where you are. Switching to skinny tires is kinda like driving with thick mittens on......the car still tries to follow the road, but with the squishy tires you won't notice so much, just like if you had some thick insulated mittens on, you wouldn't feel the wheel moving in your hands as it squirms with the tires. I can feel the tram effect on some roads where I live, and I only have a 235/60/14HR on the front. Instead of running less of a tire on the front, i would suggest a firm grip on the steering wheel first. The roller perches and bigger front bar will help, but the alignment specs that I read in this thread are wrong, both of them. You want as close to zero toe as you can get, run the tires straight up for camber, and run 6 to 8 degrees of positive caster. The alignment guy will try to talk you out of running that much, don't listen to him. Do you want the car to track nicely down the road or not ? I promise you that you will be amazed at the differance. The alleged drawback to running lots of caster is that the steering wheel is harder to turn. In theory, thats correct. But in my power steering car, it feels the same. And I have had the same power steering set for more than 30 years, and the setup doesn't seem to affect it. In a manual steering car, you might notice the increase in effort when trying to do parking lot manuvers. You have to remember that the factory alignment specs are not intended to make the car drive well. The factory specs are set to give you understeer and slow steering responce. The factory does this to make you uncomfortable trying to drive fast. They figure that if you don't feel confident that the car will go where you want it to go, you will slow down. It is as simple as that. If you try some more positive caster, you will most likely want some shims for the upper arms. You can get all the caster you want by just cranking on the strut rods, but then the tires end up too far forward in the wheelwell, and they look funny. Go ahead, ask how I know. If you instead shim the front bolts on the upper arms, you can get the caster and the front tires stay where they belong. Not hard to do, and not super costly either. Give it a try. I hope you kept your 275 front tires. If you don't want them, maybe you could send them to ME.:biggrin: LSG Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
