245's Vs 225's

[jammygit]

ok - i've seen a few posts re rear tyres sizes - i need to replace the rears and have been reading about several experiences on changing to 245x45's. Is there a noticable difference in performance? i take it as red that the looks are cool - but what if you only have 205's on the front - will this look stupid with 245's on the rear? any experiences here? the front tyres are relatively new so it would be stupid to change at this stage. for info i have a mere 4hc without p/s. ive been quoted £120 plus VAT for the 245s (yep S03's) which i know is pretty damn good. Thoughts please ...........

[trefor]

245s will fit fine, give a smidgette more grip (some people say too much), they look good and probably won't hurt with 205s on the front. They make your car much faster too.

T/.

OK, the last bit wasn't true. They probably slow you down due to more friction!

[Griffithy]

quote: changing to 245x45's. Is there a noticable difference in performance?

I don`t think so. There is more rubber on the road (not shure about this), but aerodynamics suffers.

quote:if you only have 205's on the front - will this look stupid with 245's on the rear? any experiences here?

245s look definitly better, but 205s in front don´t matter, because front and wheel-diameter is so low.

Just my opinion.

[GreenV8S]

Well - it all depends, of course! There's a big difference between the nominal tyre width, and the width of the contact patch. I found that the contact patch for S02 245/45/16 on 7.5" rims was actually only about 15mm wider than the equivalent 205 section on 15" rims. The 245 tyres were too wide for the 7.5" rims which may be part of the problem. The S03s I'm running seem wider than the equivalent S02s. 225/45/16 have a wider contact patch than 245/45/16 S02s on the same rims. They also fit the rims far better with less visible sidewall distortion.

A wider contact patch improves the grip slightly but makes the tyre a little more abrupt when it starts to slide. S03s are stiffer which produces a similar effect. Combine these together and you may find you have too much of a good thing. I'd be cautious about running wider or lower profile S03s unless you know what you're letting yourself in for.

Cheers,
Peter Humphries (and a green V8S)