Difference Tires Size Front to Rear, issue and suggestion

[GiuG]

Hi Everyone! this is for someone like me, who wants to put differet tires size. Here a question for the Experts, If on the back I have the 255/70 R15 ( that I suppose is the max size you can have without spacers ). Which is the best smaller size of Tiers to put on front? maybe, e.g 215/60R15 or what.. in your eyes? My idea is to low down the car nose giving some sort of Dragster/Hotwheels flavour but keep a good drivability? I understand you need to check the headlamps beams after and the front tiers need to support well the engine weight. Also, in my eyes, is a good way to see better the road humps!!! The "green" edge below show the normal C3 asset with regular wheels, and then what I want to acieve in the future... Thank you for any suggestions you can give me!!!

 

[Roscobbc]

There are quite a few reasons why you shouldn't do this unfortunately - firstly from an appearance perspective the 215/50/15 will only be 25.15" tall - it will look far to small in the wheel opening. The rear 255/70/15 will be 29" tall. If it fits it'll look good in the wheel opening. The forward 'rake' will affect the steering geometry......possibly the castor angle making it very 'darty'. It will also affect the braking balance under heavy braking.....perhaps causing the rea end to lock-up. C3 Corvette's are not exactly rocket science when it comes to decent handling but work best when retaining the same ride height front and rear. Drag racing today wouldn't need any form of rake......in fact a higher sitting front end wirh drag shocks would aid front/rear weight transfer to improve rear end grip off the start line. Earlier C3's without the improved aerodynamics that later models (like yours) have would get very light on the front-end over 135 mph and salt flat racers would get significant improvements in drag reduction/stability at high speeds by lowering the front end.

 

[GiuG]

Yeh the 215/50 are too small indeed, in terms of "wideness" I read that if the tire is too wide the car reduce speed and grip specially on wet tarmac. Cause the tiers are not cutting the water, but compress the water under the wide rubber surface, and then can cause aquaplanning and loosing grip.

 

[Roscobbc]

Yeh the 215/50 are too small indeed, in terms of widness I read that if the tire is too wide the car reduce speed and grip specially on wet tarmac. Cause the tiers are not cut the water, but compress the water under the wide rubber surface, and then can cause aquaplanning and loosing grip.

Often narrower tyres can improve grip in poor conditions like ice, snow and rain - a narrower tyre will 'cut' through surface of water rather than possibly riding over the top and aquaplanning. Lowering the Corvettes independent rear suspension with significantly offset wheels and wider tyres can potentially cause the outside part of the tyre not to sit 'square' on the road surface and lose potential grip.