Celica Forums General Discussion Engine and Performance wide tires

how will wider tires (compared to stock) affect the handling...same offset

Wider is better.

Wider tires = more rubber on the road = more friction. You can use the extra friction in a turn (sharper turning), straight line (more power to the wheels), or a combo (powering through a turn).

as a rule of thumb, everything else remaining equal (such as sidewall, composition, tread pattern, etc), a wider tire outperforms a skinner tire in every category. it's harder to spin out a wider tire, which helps when launching during a drag. a wider tire increases the friction base, so handling will be improved.

of course like i said..it's just a rule of thumb. if you already have a wide enough tire to where you can't spin out during a drag..then an even wider tire would do you no good whatsoever, it's a waste.

lost in all of this is the fact that a smaller sidewall profile tire handles a lot better than even wider tires when cornering. the stock sidewall has a 55 profile. a 35 sidewall makes a WORLD of difference (in a good way). 30 is even better purely from a performance point of view..but it won't feel too nice. the smaller a tire sidewall, the better the handling, but the less the comfort. the bigger a tire sidewall, the worse the handling but the better the comfort.

also lost is how soft or hard a tire is, a softer tire improves performance by increasing grip in acceleration, handling, and braking..but will wear faster. a harder tire decreases performance in acceleration, handling, & braking..but will last a lot longer.

as with most things..moderation is key.

wider = more traction

go wide all the way if nto for the proformace, it makes your car look so much better.

wider tires and rims do add weight though.. get huge slicks out front and skinny small tires in the back.

wats the widest tires we can have?

There is one other thing to take into account when talking about the width of a tire and its performance.. which is temperature. A wider tire will take longer to heat up then a narrower counterpart. So from an autoX perspective you would want to pick a tire that would heat up quickly but still be wide enough. As for the side wall I remember reading in a Road and Track that although profile does effect handling a very low side wall doesn't actually make for a better handling tire.. more responsive yes.. but not better handling. That said and done I just got a set of 235/40/17 tires for my GTS don't have any trouble with rub or fit, but I also haven't pushed that car or hit any bumps with them on yet so that might make a difference. For autox though i currently run a 225/50/15 Yoko AO32R and have found it works quite well.. i will probably be switching to the 235/40/17 AO32R for next season though. That said what do you plan to do with the car?? What suspension/ engine mods are done??

^^ you are correct about tires heating up if you are comparing a wider tire to a skinner tire with the same size sidewall & diameter (which im sure you were..but just to clear things up a little).

a lower profile tire that is wider will heat up slightly faster than a skinnier tire with a larger profile. most of it has to do simply with the amount of air in the tire..the tire with less air will generally heat up faster. a wider tire also has a bigger contact patch which will cause more friction, which will heat up air more quickly than in a skinnier tire.

245/40/17 Is the widest i've seen persoanlly on a Celica without Fender Flares... Make sure you have a pretty stiff suspension though

al i have is eibach sportlines , will i be fine with wheels/tires that wide?

so wider tires affects turning response...now handling? in what way? is steering more sensative? well my question was very general ... i was just wondering since most supercars have wider tires, i was just wondering what kind of benifit they get ... i already understand that they get better traction ... but I am i correct in saying that they sacfrice handling or will it just remain the same? response and handling...how would you compare those...please explain...

there are so many different things about the tire that will affect handling... a wider tire is better there is no arguing that. As for profile think of it like an elastic band that holds the contact patch to the rim during a corner. A small elastic will tighten up fast where a bigger elastic will strech a little more before reaching it's limit. Once this "Sidewall Elastic" reaches it's limit the tire will break loose in a corner. The other thing to know for this analogy is that during a corner the contact patch and the rim do not remain parallel. The contact patch can angle up to about 20 degrees out from the line the rim is driving it in (depending on the amount of sidewall.) Following this analogy a lower profile tire (such as a 225 30 or 35) will provide more feedback and tighter handling while the rim to tire angle remains low. However, once you need more holding power in a corner (eg a highspeed sweeper) a higher profile tire (225/40 or 45) will hold longer before breaking loose / sliding. Again what are you planning to do with your car?? I hope this makes sense...

^^^

well, my car right now is just a daily driver ... but i want it on the track as well. I'm thinking I would just put the wider tires on the track and keep the stock ones on on the road. I am also wondering if i use a wheel with a low offset will it hit the side wall?

for the track and to be easier on the budget i would say get 225/50/15s and then some 15x7 with a 38 offset I use an Enkei RP02.. its a fairly light set up and works quite well with the car. I am not sure what you mean by how the offset will hit the side wall?? the lower the offset the further out from the car the wheel will sit.
Some Tech info for you...
www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/racewheels.jsp [tirerack.com]
www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/offset.jsp [tirerack.com]

thanks alot!

about the offset hitting the wheel, i was wondering if the wheel would hit the side wall if i had a low offset.

I just got new tires on my GTS. I have the stock 16 inch rims. I went from the 205-50-16 v-rated size tire to the 225-45-16 z-rated tire. My new tires are about 3/4 of an inch wider than before. So 3/4 x 4 tires = 3 more inches of rubber on the ground. The sidewall is also a bit shorter as well. My car handles a lot better. I didn't think that it would make much of a difference, but DAMN!!! My old tires still had some good tread, but I hit a huge pot-hole amd I got a huge bubble in the front tire and they discontinued the style I had, so I just replaced all 4. Plus the wider tire just looks great. I've had them on for 2 weeks and I still check out my tires everytime I go to get in the car.

too wide tire = slow

^^^do you use those (the phat wheels?) for shows?

When you say side wall are you talking about your wheel arch?? Offset doesn't affect the tire, a tire on a 17x8 45offset and a 17x8 35offset will fit exactly the same. The difference between the two will be that the wheel with the 35offset will sit 10mm further out to the side of the car.