My opinions on wider tires with stock rims
 

I just got some daily driving Toyo FZ4 225/50/16 tires on the rear of my GTUs rims today and took it out for a drive on some twisty roads. All I can say is *YUCK* I was running stock size 205s before, and they made the car feel sooo much tighter and more accurate in the turns. Granted I had a little more bite when it came to traction on the 225s, but the rear end felt mushy and loose. I got on the highway and was doing high speed lane changes and the car was ALL OVER THE PLACE. I hated it. Gonna take these 225s back and get a second pair of 205/45/16s to match the front. The smaller tires also accelerate a lot better.

Not sure why a lot of people go 225 on 16x7 or even 15x6 or 6.5. Maybe the sidewalls on the these tires are crap, but I will never go bigger than 205 without having an 8" wide rim. The 205s feel so much more accurate.

Anyone else have this experience?

Kurt G.

were both tires the same kind??.... just changing brands / models etc will make a diff. get the same tires in 225 and 205 for a real test.

I love my proxy ra1. 225/50/16. I live in the mts and I felt the 225's tighter then the 205. New suspenion helps alot too.

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...sorry, for some reason this damn BB posted my message 4 times, so I am just clearing the redundant messages seen as though I cannot delete them.

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Yea, fronts are FZ4s also, they are actually 205/45/16s. I had these on the rear up until today with some older Bridgestone SO2s (205/55/16), and the car handled so much better in tight corners. When I would give the wheel a quick flick at speed, it would turn with no slop or hesitation. With the 225s it was all over the place, it felt like I was driving my fiance's New Beetle. Did not like that! The tires also squealed like all hell every time I getting on it hard in the turns. I have a GTUs with extremely tight suspension, so that is definitely not the issue. I guess the sidewall stiffness on the FZ4 vs the RA1 is significantly different because the handling has changed 110%. It is almost like a different car.

Kurt G.

holy quadriple post batman!!!

speaking of which ... scott i love that video!! but man is it old!!! lets see a vid with all your new mods and see how it compares... also by the way much <3 for your car... its OG and clean!

You should take chalk and mark the sidewall of the tires then go for a quick drive. If the chalk smears then the tire is rolling over, hence why it feels like crap.

Sounds like you need toe canceler from racing beat

Fuck that. There's no way I'd ever go with 205s instead of 225s. Get a stiffer sidewalled tire, or get some 7" wheels. Aren't your stock wheels 6.5"?

I have the stock GXL rims... stock size is 205/60/15

I needed new tires so i went and bought a set of Sumitomo 225/50/15s

All i can say is it felt great afterwards, granted i need new suspension.. But i felt the lower profile/wider tire overall helped. And i'm only running on stock 6"wide rims. I am getting a set of Convert rims which are 6.5" wide... and i'm going to use my same tire. Should be ever better

-Markus

"Or maybe i just need to stop typeing"

225's with a hard side wall like proxy ra1 is perfect. My car handles like its on rails!!!!

You think that felt like sh*t, then you should drive my car. The previous owner put 235/60 on the phonedials, and it makes the car handle like crap, can't wait for my new rims.

actually the 225's better suit the 7inch wide rim. switching from 205/55 to 225/50 was a big difference. granted i switched from brand new all-seasons to race compound victoracers. the only problem i ran into is when at the track, cornering too hard caused too much body roll and my wheels rubbed on the fender. this cut up the tread and shredded the i guess you would call it the belt of the tire ruining the $150 (each) tires up front. this was with stock suspension though.

ive got 225/50/16's on my stock t2 rims they are falken ze502's im pretty happy with them

My rims are the 16"x7" GTUs ones. The tires are 225/50/16, but it seems like there is a fair amount of bulge over the rims. Maybe it is purely the fact that FZ4s are not nearly as stiff on the sidewalls as RA1s. All I know is that these particular 225s bite a little better but make the car feel really loose.

It might not have helped that I went from Potenza S02s in the front and a bald pair of Yoko S306s (both 205/55/16) in the rear to these FZ4s. Do you think that may have something to do with the difference in handling?

Kurt G

If I read this correctly, it seems your running 205/45 front 225/50 rear. If this is the case the 225's are about 1.7" higher. That would put more weight on front end and with the higher rear tires, the geometry will change in the rear, and naturally the handling characteristics. Stay with same diameter tires.

I had 205/55/15 toyo fz4 on my prelude and at first they were sloppy like you say, so I added more air (closer to 38..39psi) and they got hard as nails and much more responsive. You might loose some lateral grip though. I think the way the camber is setup in the rear of the rx you need a fat sidewall tire to make it look good.

Turbonut, good observation. I did not realize this would make such a significant difference, but there is about a 1.5" difference in diameter between the two tires. I am probably just going to go back to the 205s. These are my non-race tires, so I am not too worried about loosing a little wider tire bite. I just want to get back that tight, crisp handling I had before.

maybe you're feeling understeer from having skinnier tires on the front than on the rear, and the rear is actually getting *better* traction.

I don't think it is understeer....it feels more like a loose ass end. When I point the front into a turn, it goes where I want, but the rear end comes around like it is riding on balloon tires. It also squeals like all hell when I dive a corner. That may have something to do with tire pressure (I have it only 2-3 PSI under the max.), but the tire is definitely rolling under the rim.

I had the same symptom on my 87.
What fixed it? - TIRE PRESSURE!
If you run 35PSI or more on the negative chambered rears, the wider tires will be tip-toeing in the inside edge.
The tire footprint is actually smaller than the 205's.
Drop the rear pressure down to around 27PSI & go for a test ride. - The difference is amazing!

PS. On my 91, I'm running 225/50/15's on the stock 15x6" wheels at 28PSI.
I get a little latteral slack since the tires are wider than the rims, but the wet & dry traction is much better.
The only time I notice the tread shift is cruzing in a strong crosswind.

Last Sat. I followed some 3rd gens through some corners marked 45MPH.
They were doing 120. I held 115. I'm still learning how much lateral G's this setup will give.
http://208.62.166.66/guest/pics/Kuhmo 711 rear.JPG