265-40-18 tires up front?
05-11-2008, 09:59 AM
#1
On The Tree
Thread Starter
265-40-18 tires up front? Anybody try this size tire up front? Any issues?
The reason I ask is that I switched to BFG KDW with 275-40-18 in the rear and 245-40-18 up front. Rears are fine but tire wear up front inner and outer tread is excessive. I'd expect only the inners to wear more based on the factory alignment. The alignment was checked by the dealer and everything was fine. I don't drive too aggressively and have not seen this type of wear in any of the 3 sets of tires that have been on the car so far.
Any suggestions? I'd like to stick with the KDWs where a 255-45-18 is not an optional size. The 265-40-18 is an option and the 275-40-18 size rubs on the suspension. I am considering 1/8" spacers up front but would rather not use them if I don't need to.
Thanks.
The reason I ask is that I switched to BFG KDW with 275-40-18 in the rear and 245-40-18 up front. Rears are fine but tire wear up front inner and outer tread is excessive. I'd expect only the inners to wear more based on the factory alignment. The alignment was checked by the dealer and everything was fine. I don't drive too aggressively and have not seen this type of wear in any of the 3 sets of tires that have been on the car so far.
Any suggestions? I'd like to stick with the KDWs where a 255-45-18 is not an optional size. The 265-40-18 is an option and the 275-40-18 size rubs on the suspension. I am considering 1/8" spacers up front but would rather not use them if I don't need to.
Thanks.
05-11-2008, 12:05 PM
#2
Front Wheel Spacers You might be able to get away with the .125 spacers in the front, but that's about as thick as you can go without losing adequate thread purchase.
I'm using 5mm (.200) on the rear for rim/suspension clearance (9.5" rim w/275/40 tires) and these are ok on the rear because the studs are a bit longer.
My rear rims are 1" wider (added to the inside) than stock and that left less that 1.5mm clearance from the suspension without the spacers.
You might call Thunder Racing as I believe one of their guys has run the 265s all around.
I'm using 5mm (.200) on the rear for rim/suspension clearance (9.5" rim w/275/40 tires) and these are ok on the rear because the studs are a bit longer.
My rear rims are 1" wider (added to the inside) than stock and that left less that 1.5mm clearance from the suspension without the spacers.
You might call Thunder Racing as I believe one of their guys has run the 265s all around.
05-12-2008, 11:06 AM
#3
James the service manager at Lindsay Cadillac runs 265/40/18's PS2's on stock rims, and didn;t seem to have any rubbing issues.
I tried to put 275/40/18 GSD3's on the front when I intially got my GSD3's (ran staggered 245/45 front 275/40 reat), and no way in hell they fit. With the GSD3's the 245/45's rubbed a tiny bit under very hard laterals.
Fast forward to last weekend at the track. I was running some crappy nitto 555's up front and falken 275/35/18's in the rear. It was raining and the Nitto's were beyond horrific, ploughing non sticking POS, understear inducing garbage. It stopped raining and while the track was starting to dry out, I swapped the Falkens to the front. This definately curred my understear problem (now of course I had issues getting the pwoer down outta the corners, but it was more managable than the horrific understear I had.)
Anyway long story short, I had not rubbing issues with the Falkens up front, pushing fairly hard through the corners. Finally when the track dried up I was able to put my Hoosier 245/40's on (which run very wide stock, about the same width as the Falkens), and again had no issues.
The popular wisdom has always been that anything much larger than a 255 won;t work up front, but I think a lot of that came from the days when the GSD3 was by far the most popular tires for the car (as a replacement for the stock run flats), and those tires just run FREAKISHLY huge.
So the bottom line, is once you start oversizing you will have to do some test fitaments, some tires are going to fit fine, and some won't. I'd be willing to bet that most 265's will fit up front.
I'm now toying with the idea of running 275/35/18 Falken RT-615's all around, on my next tire swap.
-Chris
I tried to put 275/40/18 GSD3's on the front when I intially got my GSD3's (ran staggered 245/45 front 275/40 reat), and no way in hell they fit. With the GSD3's the 245/45's rubbed a tiny bit under very hard laterals.
Fast forward to last weekend at the track. I was running some crappy nitto 555's up front and falken 275/35/18's in the rear. It was raining and the Nitto's were beyond horrific, ploughing non sticking POS, understear inducing garbage. It stopped raining and while the track was starting to dry out, I swapped the Falkens to the front. This definately curred my understear problem (now of course I had issues getting the pwoer down outta the corners, but it was more managable than the horrific understear I had.)
Anyway long story short, I had not rubbing issues with the Falkens up front, pushing fairly hard through the corners. Finally when the track dried up I was able to put my Hoosier 245/40's on (which run very wide stock, about the same width as the Falkens), and again had no issues.
The popular wisdom has always been that anything much larger than a 255 won;t work up front, but I think a lot of that came from the days when the GSD3 was by far the most popular tires for the car (as a replacement for the stock run flats), and those tires just run FREAKISHLY huge.
So the bottom line, is once you start oversizing you will have to do some test fitaments, some tires are going to fit fine, and some won't. I'd be willing to bet that most 265's will fit up front.
I'm now toying with the idea of running 275/35/18 Falken RT-615's all around, on my next tire swap.
-Chris
05-16-2008, 04:21 PM
#6
On The Tree
Thread Starter
Thanks again everyone for your feedback.
I decided to go with 265-40ZR18 Goodyear Eagle F1 AS tires (treadwear 420 AA/A). The suspension gaps look tight but I don't expect any issues.
The Discount Tire guys treated me fairly and gave me $109 credit for the old BFG KDWs I had to replace.
These Goodyear tires, as expected, feel very nice compared to the warn KDWs I had up front. The vibration @ >75mph was pretty nasty with the old tires.
The overall setup with the 265-40ZR18s up front and 274-40ZR-18s in the rear look good. I'll probably end up replacing the rears with the same Goodyear tires if the fronts
I decided to go with 265-40ZR18 Goodyear Eagle F1 AS tires (treadwear 420 AA/A). The suspension gaps look tight but I don't expect any issues.
The Discount Tire guys treated me fairly and gave me $109 credit for the old BFG KDWs I had to replace.
These Goodyear tires, as expected, feel very nice compared to the warn KDWs I had up front. The vibration @ >75mph was pretty nasty with the old tires.
The overall setup with the 265-40ZR18s up front and 274-40ZR-18s in the rear look good. I'll probably end up replacing the rears with the same Goodyear tires if the fronts
05-16-2008, 05:14 PM
#7
Thanks again everyone for your feedback.
I decided to go with 265-40ZR18 Goodyear Eagle F1 AS tires (treadwear 420 AA/A). The suspension gaps look tight but I don't expect any issues.
The Discount Tire guys treated me fairly and gave me $109 credit for the old BFG KDWs I had to replace.
These Goodyear tires, as expected, feel very nice compared to the warn KDWs I had up front. The vibration @ >75mph was pretty nasty with the old tires.
The overall setup with the 265-40ZR18s up front and 274-40ZR-18s in the rear look good. I'll probably end up replacing the rears with the same Goodyear tires if the fronts
I decided to go with 265-40ZR18 Goodyear Eagle F1 AS tires (treadwear 420 AA/A). The suspension gaps look tight but I don't expect any issues.
The Discount Tire guys treated me fairly and gave me $109 credit for the old BFG KDWs I had to replace.
These Goodyear tires, as expected, feel very nice compared to the warn KDWs I had up front. The vibration @ >75mph was pretty nasty with the old tires.
The overall setup with the 265-40ZR18s up front and 274-40ZR-18s in the rear look good. I'll probably end up replacing the rears with the same Goodyear tires if the fronts
I hope they work out good for ya.
-Chris
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05-20-2008, 08:44 PM
#8
On The Tree
Thread Starter
Hi Chris.
If my V ever does hit the track I have a second set of stock wheels w original Eagle F1 Supercar tires for the job. The A/S route I took was to get more than the 6-8K miles I was getting from the first 3 sets of the stock Eagle run flats - which do a pretty good job until you have less than 50% tread depth up front.
So far so good with these dd tires. I'll see what I think come 10K miles from now. If I get 20-25K out of them and they do well for some occasionally exuberant driving I'll be happy.
If my V ever does hit the track I have a second set of stock wheels w original Eagle F1 Supercar tires for the job. The A/S route I took was to get more than the 6-8K miles I was getting from the first 3 sets of the stock Eagle run flats - which do a pretty good job until you have less than 50% tread depth up front.
So far so good with these dd tires. I'll see what I think come 10K miles from now. If I get 20-25K out of them and they do well for some occasionally exuberant driving I'll be happy.
