Tire sizes

[Ralph]

For a lower, shorter tire and for better 1/4 mile performance, what size tire should I go with all around (4)?

[Joe Walsh]

A P255-45ZR18 is 27.0" tall....which is very close to the OEM front tires P235-50ZR18 (27.25") and will fit on the OEM 18 x 8" rims. On the rear the P255 will be shorter than the OEM rear tire P245-55ZR18 (28.61") giving you a 'steeper' effective ratio....@ 3.76.

[BillyGman]

I'm not going to pretend that I fully know and understand your intentions, but just to clarify something for you if I may......don't expect to see any performance gain or considerable ET reduction from shorter tires alone. I think there's a slim chance that you might obtain a tiny ET reduction if you use a very short tire in the back such as one that's a mere 25" tall, but those tires will look pretty lousy on your car since there will be a big gap and they will not even come close to filling up the wheel wells. That is assuming that you have a Marauder.

[jgc61sr2002]

Ralph - Welcome aboard. :welcome:

[Dark_Knight7096]

quick question, i'm not trying to jack the thread or anything, but if you change the tires to a shorter size giving the rear a smaller effective ratio will that affect the shift points or the way the trans operates at all?

[CRUZTAKER]

Taller tires have a better rollout.

Shortening the rear, or moving down to 16" effectively change the gear ratio (virtually), but may have adverse effects on the t/c, the abs, and the overall handling of the vehicle if the fronts do not match.

In my opinion, there is no advantage at the track 'shortening/lowering' the tire size.

[stevengerard]

In my opinion, there is no advantage at the track 'shortening/lowering' the tire size.

Unless he is going to go autocrossing

[RoyLPita]

A P255-45ZR18 is 27.0" tall....which is very close to the OEM front tires P235-50ZR18 (27.25") and will fit on the OEM 18 x 8" rims. On the rear the P255 will be shorter than the OEM rear tire P245-55ZR18 (28.61") giving you a 'steeper' effective ratio....@ 3.76.

That is some neat info. Could a use a much lower profile tire (than above) to achieve a 4.10 ratio feel (this may help calibrate the speedo with a chip w/o installing gears)?

BTW, Welcome aboard, Ralph. Enjoy the site.

[mmmmmmarauder]

You can use 255 tires in front

and 295 tires in the back...right?


I was looking at getting Goodyear F1 (Eagles?)



Peter
847 310 5200

[CRUZTAKER]

Unless he is going to go autocrossing
Correct....

I have seen other members with their autocross wheels on. They look really silly, but apparently get the job done.;)

[BillyGman]

okay, I just went to the Richmond gear website to use their online gear calculator, and punch in the #'s. I found that in order for you to get the same acceleration benefit of a Marauder from shorter tires as you would from 4.10 gears, you would have to use a 24.5" tire height(for the back tires)!!! That's nearly 4" shorter than the factory stock tire height of 28.4".


So obviously using tires that are that short are going to look utterly rediculous on a Marauder.Not to mention the fact that you will NOT find any 18" tires that have a tire height of a mere 24.5", so in order to have tires that short, you'll have to go to 16" tires which creates a need for new rims. Therefore the purchase price of the new rims combined with the new tires would cost just as much if not more than the cost of what a gear change would be. So all you guys who advocate doing a tire swap instead of a gear swap to gain some acceleration can put that fable to rest. :)

[RoyLPita]

okay, I just went to the Richmond gear website to use their online gear calculator, and punch in the #'s. I found that in order for you to get the same acceleration benefit of a Marauder from shorter tires as you would from 4.10 gears, you would have to use a 24.5" tire height(for the back tires)!!! That's nearly 4" shorter than the factory stock tire height of 28.4".


So obviously using tires that are that short are going to look utterly rediculous on a Marauder.Not to mention the fact that you will NOT find any 18" tires that have a tire height of a mere 24.5", so in order to have tires that short, you'll have to go to 16" tires which creates a need for new rims. Therefore the purchase price of the new rims combined with the new tires would cost just as much if not more than the cost of what a gear change would be. So all you guys who advocate doing a tire swap instead of a gear swap to gain some acceleration can put that fable to rest. :)

Thanx for the info. You have been a big help.

[fastblackmerc]

okay, I just went to the Richmond gear website to use their online gear calculator, and punch in the #'s. I found that in order for you to get the same acceleration benefit of a Marauder from shorter tires as you would from 4.10 gears, you would have to use a 24.5" tire height(for the back tires)!!! That's nearly 4" shorter than the factory stock tire height of 28.4".


So obviously using tires that are that short are going to look utterly rediculous on a Marauder.Not to mention the fact that you will NOT find any 18" tires that have a tire height of a mere 24.5", so in order to have tires that short, you'll have to go to 16" tires which creates a need for new rims. Therefore the purchase price of the new rims combined with the new tires would cost just as much if not more than the cost of what a gear change would be. So all you guys who advocate doing a tire swap instead of a gear swap to gain some acceleration can put that fable to rest. :)
Thnaks for the 411.... :D

[Rider90]

How tall, in inches, is the 94+ Chevy Impala Tire?

[BillyGman]

How tall, in inches, is the 94+ Chevy Impala Tire?Hmmmm, well I'm assuming that you must have an Impala SS yourself. I really don't know the answer to that question, but all you need to know is the exact tire and size that's on the car, and then just go to www.tirerack.com (http://www.tirerack.com) and just as long as the tire in question is still in production and is sold by Tirerack, you can look it up on their site. Once you get on their webpage there's an option to shop by brand. You simply need to choose thatoption, click on the brand name of the tire on the Impala SS, and then type in the specific size. Once it pops up, you'l notice at the top of the page there's a "specs" button. Just click on that button and a size chart wondow will pop up, which includes the "outer diameter" of the tire which ofcourse is the tire height. ;)

[Rider90]

I dont have one, but my brother has a 96 SS Impy and a turbocharged 383 in the works :depress:

he gives me crap about my car barely being able to spin em' and I keep tellin him my tires are a lot taller compared to his go kart tires...just wondering

[wchain]

How tall, in inches, is the 94+ Chevy Impala Tire?


Stock Impala SS (94-96) was a 255/50R17, a height of 27.0" vs 28.6" Rear and 27.3" on the fronts, respectively on our cars.

[BillyGman]

I dont have one, but my brother has a 96 SS Impy and a turbocharged 383 in the works :depress:

he gives me crap about my car barely being able to spin em' and I keep tellin him my tires are a lot taller compared to his go kart tires...just wonderingYou can always get a rough idea by taking a yard stick to the side of the tire to measure the height. It might be tough to get an accurate measurement though with the tires on the car. or you can just take the yardstick to your brother instead. :D

But Impalas have more torque off the line in the factory stock configurations than the Marauders do because of their bigger engines(which is why I've S/Ced my Marauder). Marauder engines exhibit better acceleration above 40 MPH because of the 32 valve cylinder heads allowing better breathing/airflow.

[Rider90]

sssshhh! don't bring up the Impala power VS Marauder Power in here...or anywhere even... :flamer:

thanks for the info, it'll take a lot of time and money before I'll be able to catch up to his car in the future. I can beat it now, since it is engine-less :cool4:

[BillyGman]

sssshhh! don't bring up the Impala power VS Marauder Power in here...or anywhere even... :flamer:
LOL.....yeah, that can be a hot button for some people (been there done that;) )........BTW, thanks for that tire info Wes. :)

[RoyLPita]

okay, I just went to the Richmond gear website to use their online gear calculator, and punch in the #'s. I found that in order for you to get the same acceleration benefit of a Marauder from shorter tires as you would from 4.10 gears, you would have to use a 24.5" tire height(for the back tires)!!! That's nearly 4" shorter than the factory stock tire height of 28.4".


So obviously using tires that are that short are going to look utterly rediculous on a Marauder.Not to mention the fact that you will NOT find any 18" tires that have a tire height of a mere 24.5", so in order to have tires that short, you'll have to go to 16" tires which creates a need for new rims. Therefore the purchase price of the new rims combined with the new tires would cost just as much if not more than the cost of what a gear change would be. So all you guys who advocate doing a tire swap instead of a gear swap to gain some acceleration can put that fable to rest. :)

Check this pic out. Current owner trying the Fable:

http://images.autotrader.com/images/2005/2/5/177/374/1256793246.177374128.IM1.MAIN. 565x421_A.562x421.jpg

What do you think, Billy?

[BillyGman]

What do I think? It sounds like that's a loaded question, and like you're trying to start a debate w/me. The question is, what do you think? Okay, sorry if I'm getting paranoid, but with all the people that are so quick to hammer people just for voicing their opinions around here, I don't think you can blame me.


So since you've posed the question first, I'll comment........I think that's a lousy pic. What I mean is, it's too dark around the wheel wells. Especially at the back wheel well. We need some more light on the back of that car. If the sun was hitting it, I think that it would even look uglier than it does (the tires I mean, and not the car). Just not my cup of tea. I also think that having the pic taken at the angle that it was being from a top view of the car doesn't tell the whole story either. But even from the higher veiw from where this pic was taken you can see the wide gap between the front tire and the fender lip. That's just not for me. If you like that, then that's your choice my friend.

Let's see a well lit pic of an angle that another driver would see while sitting behind the wheel of his car. In other words at an even height, and you'll then notice the gap between the tops of the tires and the bottom of the fenders. And that's what I was talking about. But for the record, I highly doubt that those are 24" tall tires like I was previously talking about in this thread since they're on Marauder mags, and I didn't think there are any 18" diameter tires that have an outer diameter as short as 24 or 24.5" like I was talking about. Therefore, unless I'm mistaking about that, then that pic has nothing to do with what I was talking about. If those are 18" wheels(which they look like they are) then I believe that those tires must be atleast an inch to 1.5" taller than the 24.5" height that I was talking about. Right?

Oh, BTW, I think that how a shorter tire will look on a Marauder also has alot to do with whether the car in question has the factory suspension or not, because if the suspension has been lowered a couple inches, then obviously the shorter tire height will not cause a gaping space between the fender lips and the tops of the tires. However, there still will be a big gap between the front of the tires and the fenders as you can see in that pic(the front tire :puke: ). Hey, you asked for my opinion, right? Either way though, whatever suspension height you have on your Marauder, I still think that a 24.5" tire height will be too extreme, and that it is NOT a good alternative to a gear swap IMO.

I apologize for the rediculously long answer, but there have been so many people here lately who misunderstand other peoples' statements and OPINIONS, and who are quick to take offense, that I felt the need to FULLY explain mine in this post because contrary to some peoples' opinion of me, I don't set out to offend people.

[RoyLPita]

Thank you again, Billy. Your opinion is appreciated.