hi everyone,

i know there's already another thread on wheel and tire sizes, but i'm having more specific questions besides just fitment, and was wondering if i can have as many input as possible.

i'm currently running 235/35/19 with 19x8.5/32 front, 265/30/19 with 19x10 /38 rear. however, it's almost time for me to get new tires. my front was rubbing so i did the heat gun trick, but even now still rubs over big dips. currently have 2 finger gaps front, and less than 1 finger rear.

as in the other thread was suggesting, i'm thinking about running 225/30/19 front, and keep the rear at 265/30/19. my questions are:

1. will my front finger gap be bigger after i change the front from 235 to 225, and will end up having to lower the front more to decrease the gap? i have a front lip and i am barely clearing some ramps and parking lots so any lower i go i will scrape a lot. Originally i did want to lower the front more, but if I will have to go lower due to tire size change, I will be scraping a lot more, in that case i think i'll just keep it at 235.

2. obviously 225 is more stretched than 235. Can i expect tire life span to last longer on 235 compared to 225?

3. noob question, i'm running a staggered setup, so will i need to change all 4 tires at the same time, or i can change the front without changing the rear? how about a non-staggered setup (currently considering, as well)?

thanks in advance guys!

 

with 225/30/19.......... you will NOT ned to lower it any more. It'll look the same gap wise.
Tire life will not change based on size.
you can change just the fronts.
not sure on the tires all the same size, usually only for AWD

 

optochu,

to answer your questions lets start off with some numbers first:

235/35/19 = 25.47 inches in diameter
225/30/19 = 24.31 inches in diameter

you would lose 1+ inch in overall tire diameter... that would mean 1/2" loss at the top of the tire, and a 1/2 inch loss at the bottom of the tire. the result of this would be:

1) INCREASING your tire to finder gap by 1/2 inch...
2) LOWERING your car closer to the ground by 1/2 inch...

also it would cause the tire to wear faster for two reasons:

1) the tire would need to turn more revolutions to travel the same distance
2) the tire with a lower aspect ratio(30 vs 35) will run at a hotter temp, heat wears tires

 

thanks for responding guys! but answers are different

my understanding is 235 to 225 is just the width change, so diameter of the tire shouldn't change?

 

rather than inundate you with tire tech terminology like "aspect ratio", "tread width", or "rolling diameter", here's the short answer.

go with 225/35-19 in the front, 265/30-19 in the rear.

/thread

 

"thanks for responding guys! but answers are different

my understanding is 235 to 225 is just the width change, so diameter of the tire shouldn't change?"


diameter is determined by multiplying the width of the tire (235 or 225) by the aspect ratio (35 or 30) plus the wheel diameter (19)... so if you decrease the width from 235 to 225 and lower the aspect ratio from 35 to 30, you will decrease the tires overall diameter noticeably...

if you are trying to decrease the diameter (height) of the tire to eliminate the occasional rub...

projectna's suggestion of a 225/35/19 would be a good choice, it will decrease height about 1/4 inch, which might be enough to eliminate the rub... hope that helps

 

thanks for chiming in i see you responding a lot in the other tire size thread, too.

if you don't mind, could you elaborate a little the reason behind your recommendation? i'm assuming it's because 225 will give more room in the wheel well so less likely to rub on the fender when car is turning (hence allowing me to go a little lower in the future if i ever want to). since you changed from 235 to 225 and kept aspect ratio the same, the car should be sitting tiny bit closer to the ground now but tire-fender gap still remains the same as before.
oh i see. thanks!