Tire+1/staggered/deep dish assistance (wheels, not pizza!)

[Guest jjohart]

Hi. My 280ZXT has 205 60 15, and I'd like to get wheels and tires in 16" in sizing. Can anyone tell me the best sizing for tires to keep speedo error down? I suppose that goes out the window with my second request, of what sizing to use front and rear to have that wider rear tire "staggered" effect. What sort of handling will I get with staggered configuration-less or more oversteer? What sort of wheel sizing do I need front and rear for a staggered set up...please be specific as to offset, etc. I DON'T want to use spacers or adapters...is this possible?!

[blueovalz]

Most all of the tire manufacturer's web sites have tire height, and a "loaded" ground-to-hub centerline height (which will affect the speedo). Just find this dimension for your current tire, and then find a 16" tire with the width you want, that has the same dimension or height. I'm guessing here, but I think a 225/50R16, and a 205/55R16 would be about the same height as your current 205/60R15 tires which would keep the speedo pretty close to your current accuracy and give you some wider tires in back, but allow all four corners to be the same height. You'll net an increase in understeer with the wider tires in back. I had an unfortunate experience when I was using this very same set-up. One day when I temporarily had to run the same size tires front and back while waiting for new tires (I did not change the rear sway bar back to the smaller rear OEM bar). I did my usual "spirited" cloverleaf run and neglected to anticipate the drastic increase in oversteer with the smaller rear tires (that now matched the width of the front tires). I corrected appropriately, but my cleaning lady quit the next day. With 225 sized tires, a zero offset should work using a 7" wheel, but regardless of what's said here, always measure this yourself to make sure you specific tire and wheel combo will fit. Always!.

 

BTW, I based this on the assumption that when you said "stagger," you only meant you wanted wider tires in back and not necessarily taller tires in back.

[Guest jjohart]

Yes, but what is the maximum width that I can use without hitting the fenders/brakes/suspension/wheel well....I'm looking at a set which has 8.0 rear width!

John-83 280ZXT

[Phantom]

If you get the offset just right you could go to a 235/45-16 and not affect speedo at all. You might be able to get to a 245/40-16 but then your speedo would have about a 2% error - telling you that you're going faster than you really are - usually not a problem for a person with a lead foot.

[blueovalz]

Ditto the 245. I had 245/45ZR16's on my stock Z with custom offset wheels (essentially zero offset) with a pinky fingers width between the springs and the fender lips.