It’s time to get some new tires for my 79’ and looking into all my options. My car is currently lowered with RB springs with 15x7 +7 wheels. My tires right now are 195/50/15 in the front with 205/50/15 in the rear. I’m looking into getting Toyo Proxes RA1’s in 205/50/15 for the front and 225/50/15 for the rear. I did see that these tires also come in 225/45/15 on some sites, so I wanted to know if the 45 series in these tires for the rear is better or beneficial or if I should just stick to the 50 series? I drive my car on some weekends and some spirit driving in the canyons at times. Based on the tire calculator this is what came up. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

I would run 205/50's all the way around on the car. You would get the benefit of being able to rotate tires front to back.

There is no performance gain to be had with a 225 or 245 RA1 on a 7" wheel. If you increased the wheel width to 8-9" then going to the wider tire would be worth doing. But honestly, these types of tires work better when stretched (not to extremes) than they do when pinched. The tire sidewalls on DOT performance tires are not stiff enough. So, from experience, a 205/50 on a 7.5" or 8" wide wheel is better than a 225/45 on a 7" wide wheel. Basically, the width of wheel is what actually determines the foot print of the tire.

There are cantilever road racing tires made specifically to work on a narrow wheel and provide a wide contact patch. But even these tires work better when wheel width is increased from 7" to 8-10" widths. Been there, done that and it works.

 

Agree with the above, unless you've done something drastic to your car, having all 4 tires at Toyo Proxes RA1’s in 205/50/15 is far more beneficial for the ~50/50 weight distribution to provide consistent cornering feel along with the utility of being able to rotate them regularly. I made the mistake of going narrower on the front ONCE with Yolo A008s back when they were available, and they wore heavily and unevenly, and we're a waste of $$$. No better traction solution exists, and the car was designed for even balance using the same tire size front and back.

 

Thank you Mustanghammer and Longduck for your insight. You both are absolutely right but let’s say I just wanted wider tires in the rear for let say for “looks”, would you recommend 225/45 or 225/50 for the rear? I may just stick to what you’re both saying and get 205/50 all around, but just wanted to see what you guys think. Thanks again!

 

The 225/45 will be same diameter as the tires you have now. So no speedometer error. The 225/50s will make the speedometer read differently than it does now - the speeds indicated will be slower than your actual speed.

 

I see, okay got it. Thanks for the heads up 🤙🏼

 

How about a picture of your car with the current wheel/tire setup, so we can have a better idea.

 

Here are some pics

 

I'd go with the 205 all around. If you run the 225 in the rear I believe the tire will stick out past the fender and will sling up all the dirt/water like a 4x4.

 

Cool thanks yeah I hear you. Probably best overall