Staggered tires, didn't even know...

[Robin-535im]

So I go to get new tires and the guy asks me if I want 235's or 255's (7.5R17 rims).

I go out to look, and lo and behold I've had staggered tires on it this whole time... I felt like a complete idiot for not noticing. I've been rotating them front / back for the laat 2 years to even out the wear and never thought to look to see if the numbers were different.

Old tires were Kumho Ecsta 235/45R17 & 255/40R17's on a 7.5 inch M 40-spoke (ala e39 m5) replicas. New tires are Yokohama AVID Hs4's, 255/40 all around. Almost triple the treadwear rating, hopefully I'll get more than 2 years out of these puppies. Was going to get more Kumho's but they were out of stock and I needed them sooner.

Oh yeah - and remember to tell the tire guy BEFORE he gets to work about the whole hubcentric ring issue. This guy "didn't notice any" so at least they didn't fall on the ground, but I haven't been home yet to open it up and see that they're all still there.

[632 Regal]

it's possible that you dont have the rings but Id be surprized if you dont shake on the highway without them...you had them when you changed them around right?

[Cactuar]

What are staggered tires? Please pardon my limited english!

[Robin-535im]

it's possible that you dont have the rings but Id be surprized if you dont shake on the highway without them...you had them when you changed them around right?


Yeah - I've tried the ol "too cheap to get 'em, just center the tire" approach and no matter how hard I tried they still wobbled. That was after I buggered up a ring a while back and hadn't gotten new ones yet. There's a bit of wobble right now and I'm hoping its the rings, or else they have to balance them better. It's a good shop though, so I'm not afraid to take them back.

@ Cactuar - "staggered" with respect to tires just means the fronts are different sizes than the rear, so for rear wheel drive cars usually the fronts are skinnier than the rear. Sometimes front wheel drive cars will do the opposite and have the fronts wider. Helps balance the cornerning behavior, it's another knob to tweak just like spring stiffness, roll bar stiffness, camber, etc.

[Jon K]

255's on 7.5" wide rims?

[clhorton]

Different sized tires in the front and back.

[pmlmotorsports]

255's on 7.5" wide rims? ....It's called the "pinch" method............bet it looks hot

[Jon K]

hrm... i definitely wouldn't stagger tire sizes on non staggered rimzzzzzzz

I definitely wouldn't run 255s on 7.5" wide rimzzzz either.

I run 255's but my wheels are 10" wide.

[Rick L]

Isn't the 8" wide rim the minimum width for 255/40-17 tire??? I run 235/45-17 up front and 255/40-17 for the rears on 17x8 rims on all four corners. I used to run 235s all four corners and by upgrading to staggered setup, I believe my car track better. On my Jag, it came with 255/40-18 all four corners. I think the wide tires up front creates the wheel to follow into the grooves of the road. I changed the fronts to smaller 245/45-18 and wider 265/40-18 for the rears. This change in tire setup made huge improvement in comfort and handling.

[bahnstormer]

each tire manufac lists the min req rim width for thier tires...

[Robin-535im]

Good point - I thought that too, but after a long discussion with the tire guy (who's been installing all sorts of tires on all sorts of rims for decades) we decided it was fine, given the geometry of this particular rim (not all rims are the same of course) and the fact that the PO had 255's with no problems for a few years.

I didn't want to stagger the tires on the same size rims only because I wanted to be able to rotate the tires w/o dismounting them. I agree that wider tires follow grooves better (unfortunately) but the cornering and stopping power are worth it to me. 235's may be a more popular choice... but since it's my car I wanted to set it up how *I* like it... not how the "experts" think is "hot". ;)


Isn't the 8" wide rim the minimum width for 255/40-17 tire??? I run 235/45-17 up front and 255/40-17 for the rears on 17x8 rims on all four corners. I used to run 235s all four corners and by upgrading to staggered setup, I believe my car track better. On my Jag, it came with 255/40-18 all four corners. I think the wide tires up front creates the wheel to follow into the grooves of the road. I changed the fronts to smaller 245/45-18 and wider 265/40-18 for the rears. This change in tire setup made huge improvement in comfort and handling.