Jump to content
SAU Community

Sacrificing Sidewall Flex For Grip?

White GTS-T
 Share

Recommended Posts

White GTS-T Mentor

White GTS-T

Posted
Posted

Firstly, i know this is in the wrong section but i need an answer by tomorrow and there was only one person reading the suspension, breaking and tyres thread.

I'm buying new tyres tomorrow and i want to know if fitting a 225/50/R16 tyre on stock 6" wide R32 GTS-T wheels is overkill?

Will i get more grip or just more sidewall flex as apposed to a 205/55/R16 tyre which are fitted at the moment?

Should i just stick with the 205's?

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/178383-sacrificing-sidewall-flex-for-grip/
Share on other sites
mad082 Grand Master

mad082

Posted
Posted

is it going to be for track drag use? if yes then go the 225's. is street/track then go 205's or 215's. i ran 225's on my stock 33 wheels and didn't really notice a difference. they gripped a bit better and didn't really notice any sidewall flex when cornering, but that was only street use.

700HP-GTR33 Mentor

700HP-GTR33

Posted
Posted
Firstly, i know this is in the wrong section but i need an answer by tomorrow and there was only one person reading the suspension, breaking and tyres thread.

I'm buying new tyres tomorrow and i want to know if fitting a 225/50/R16 tyre on stock 6" wide R32 GTS-T wheels is overkill?

Will i get more grip or just more sidewall flex as apposed to a 205/55/R16 tyre which are fitted at the moment?

Should i just stick with the 205's?

225 tyres will be to large for any type of track work....unless it is for drag.

205/45/16 are the way to go on 6 Inch rims for your car.....remember wider is not always better.

EDITED..Sorry..I meant 205/55/16..Cheers

--------------------------------------------------

Your side walls will hold in corners with this size.

Also if you forget to pump up your tyres and run lower pressure for a while with the 225's your side wall corner tread

will wear quickly and you will have to run...high pressures after to try and even them out.

Don't forget also...some tyre manufacturers under state the widths..so also depends on the make.

Thunderbolt Rising Star

Thunderbolt

Posted
Posted (edited)

I've had some weird and wacky combinations in the past on my car. For a long time I was running 215/60/15 on the stock SR rims (5.5"). The tyres looked very bulgy, but did quite a few mountain drives / skid pan sessions and never had a big problem with flex plus the grip was amazing.

I am now running 225/50/16 on R32 rims on the arse end, and it does not look nearly as bulgy as the above combination was. I am going to give it a go at the track next weekend as two of my semi-slicks have had it and the other two tyres that I have aren't nearly grippy enough.

ps. If you go to this site: http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp and type in the two tyres sizes you are comparing, you will see that the 225/50/16 combination is recommended for rims that are 6-8.5" wide.

Edited by Thunderbolt
mad082 Grand Master

mad082

Posted
Posted

you could always try and get yourself a set of 300zx rims. they are about a 7.5" rim, so you could run 225/50/16s and not worry about flex.

205/45/16 are the way to go on 6 Inch rims for your car.....remember wider is not always better.

you would also have to take into account what the track is like. if it is rough the smaller sidewall of these tyres is going to make it rougher, and it will alter your gearing slightly, since the stock size has a higher profile, at 55.

at the end of the day tyre compund is going to have the biggest affect on grip. if you get a set of hard tyres they won't grip as well as a set of sticky tyres. a set of 195 semi slicks will out perform crappy, hard 245's.

foznice Veteran

foznice

Posted
Posted

I'm running 225's all round at the moment, and prior to that, was running 205's all round.

The launching traction was noticeable but the sidewall flex pissed me off when in the twisties. I'm going to run 205's on the front and 225's on the rear next time.

260DET Experienced

260DET

Posted
Posted

For circuit work you need to know the actual tread width of the tyre, not the numbers, in order to make an informed choice. Rim width should equal or be up to 30mm wider than the tread width.

White GTS-T Mentor

White GTS-T

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

I should have specified that the tyres were for the rear only. I had previously ran 205's on the front and 225's on the rear but decided this time to go with 205's all round.

I ended up buying Continental Tyres. Has anyone else used these before? I was a bit sceptical as i haden't heard alot about them but they are of excellent quality and cars such as BMW and Mercedes come with them fitted from factory. They're very big in europe.

They were $285 a tyre, marked down to $185 each on special and i got a deal so i got them for $175 each or $350 for both.

I mentioned sidewall flex in terms of drifting. I'm hoping to enter in a Winton practice day the one after the kamakazi battle. I have a set of old 205's and a set of old 225's so i will be able to find out first hand the amonut of sidewall flex i do get if any.

Cheers.

Habler Rising Star

Habler

Posted
Posted

Those Continentals looked perfect fit in 205's.... I dont think there was any real issue when you were running 225's on the rear for the street but when you go to winton i would just be using the 205's.

From my personel experince stretching the tyre just a bit (235 on a 9" rim) made a noticable difference from my street 255's. It felt much nicer overall. I would like to test a 225 on my 9" but the 235's are so easy and cheap to get my hands on.

Also different tyre brands vary so much - 235 bridgestone is more stretched than say a 235 nankang etc. for example

Might be worth trying a 195, 205 and a 225 before the track day to see what feels right?

Or buying some wider rims :(

Thunderbolt Rising Star

Thunderbolt

Posted
Posted

Well I thought I would give some feedback after running 225/50/16 on the rear of the car on the track today. I didn't notice any flex at all, however the tyres didn't grip as nicely as I would have liked. It was probably made more noticeable because I was running semi-slicks at the front.

Sticky Collaborator

Sticky

Posted
Posted

depends on brand....

some brand will have a stiff enough sidewall that it wont matter, whereas some are really soft and allow the tyre to move more.

but its better to have a correct sized tyre. so 205 is a better fit.

  • 1 month later...
Birth Experienced

Birth

Posted
Posted

This may seem silly. What is the difference in profile between 50 / 55 / etc? Does a bigger number mean that the verticle height of the tyre is higher? Does a smaller number mean that the overall diameter of the tyre is smaller?

Duncan Grand Master

Duncan

Posted
Posted

yeah 55 is higher than 50 for the same width, but the even sillier thing is its not 5mm or 5cm or anything like that. It is the height of the sidewall as a % of width.

so a 265/35/18 is about the same height overall as 235/45/17. there are calculators around to calculate equivalent sizes

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • GTSBoy
      Stock rb25det neo questions

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      Essentially, yes. Although I wouldn't put the AFM on the crossover pipe. I'd want to put it into what amounts to the correct size tube, which is more easily done in the intercooler pipework. I bought a mount tube for card stile AFM that replaces the stock AFM - although being a cheap AliExpress knockoff, it had not flange and I had to make and weld my own. But it is the same length and diameter as the stock RB AFM, goes on my airbox, etc etc. I don't have a sick enough rig to warrant anything different, and the swap will take 5 minutes (when I finally get around to it and the injectors & the dyno tune).
    • Wazmond
      Stock rb25det neo questions

      By Wazmond · Posted

      So to summarise, the best thing to do is to move recirc to between turbo and IC, and maf on the crossover pipe. Meaning I'd need a recirc flange, drill a hole in the piping on turbo outlet area. And drill hole on crossover to fit/weld maf sensor? Either that or put the MAF on the turbo inlet right?  Is an aftermarket recirc/blowoff valve recommended? Do currently have family in Japan so could probably bring something back with maybe a cheeky lil SuperAutobacs run?
    • tsuokun
      Lets play a game - What is causing my oil consumption?

      By tsuokun · Posted

      Yep, so far most have said that it looks like corrosion on the wall from piston not moving. Which then has probably damaged the oil rings and caused those vertical marks. The longest the engine was still after the rebuild, was the winter of 2018 - 2019, plus the boat trip to Japan. When I shipped the car, it had normal gas in the tank but before that winter pause, it had E85 in tank.  In any case, even if either one of those was the cause, it happened close to 6 years ago and the car has been driven something like 30 000kms after the fact. Again, apart from the plugs and the dip stick, there is nothing in the way the car runs that would indicate what has been going on in the engine. I am going to consult a shop and ask their opinion, what would be the best approach. I do have some access to a garage I could use to diagnose further myself, but time is very restrictive. Might end up buying another engine that could be used while this one is being remedied. Without pulling the head, it will be impossible to find out if it needs another bore, but here's to hoping a hone would suffice.  Goddamnit, I would really have preferred this not happening.  
    • 25RBGT
      Got this r31 silhouette flood car to rebuild.

      By 25RBGT · Posted

      Boot is going to be replaced eventually. I just wire brushed what I could and rust converted. Then painted in rust kill primer. the spoiler also got repainted and plugs replaced on the ends. The under side of the bonnet is going to be black also, currently white. But red on the top side, same colour code as the silo to begin.
    • Shoota_77
      Car Rotisserie

      By Shoota_77 · Posted

      Hi guys, has anyone either purchased or built themselves a rotisserie for their car before? I can only just justify the need for one hence why I should just make one but at the same time, if I make one I can kiss another 4 weeks of potentially productive car working time goodbye because I'm building a bloody rotisserie....  I mainly want it for the application of the body deadener.  Cleaning the old stuff off, priming and then colour over the deadener doesn't worry me, it's just the application using the Schutz Gun that I feel would achieve a significantly better finish painting it side on and keeping the Schutz Gun upright.  I don't think they would work well on the side let alone almost upside down for some areas.  If the product I use (Terosun, etc) could work through a HVLP ok then it might be ok to apply without the rotisserie.   I can get one of these style ones for about $1200 which is pretty good value-     I reckon if I made one it would cost around $500 but it's more the time that it would take is more of a killer than the cost.  They look to hold their value pretty well second hand so I could always sell it after using it and realistically only lose $200-$300 at worst.  Or keep it and buy another project when this one finally sees the light of day... Anyone selling one...? Cheers!  
×
×
  • Create New...