wazup

Ok I have a quick question for everyone on how their cars drives.

I ask this question because a few years back I had purchased a 95 Firebird GT. When I bought the car it had stock 16” wheels and 225 tires. It was a high millage car but drove very good. I upgraded to a 17” C5 wheel and 275 tires all the way around. After doing this, the car started to follow every rut, track or grain of sand on the road. I had it in an alignment shop twice and everything checked out fine. It was so bad that I ended up selling the car because I could not stand to drive it on the crappy roads we have.

Well I just picked up a 98 WS6 with 55k miles. The original owner had removed the stock 17” WS6 wheels and replaced them with 16” wheels and 245 tires all the way around. As it is, the car drives prefect and does not even hint to follow any ruts. Since this will be my daily driver I don’t want to fight it everywhere I go, but for a WS6, it looks terrible with the current wheels. I am going to put 17” wheels back on the car I would like to go back to the stock 275 tires as well. I just don’t want to get back to something that is not fun to drive.

So I am interested in everyone’s opinion on how their car drives. Is the killer look of the wider wheels and tires worth the pain of tiring to follow ever run in the road?

Thanks

CamaroLSwon

iTrader: (3)

It's called tracking. The wider your front tires are, the higher tendency you have for tracking. There was no reason to sell your car, there was nothing wrong with it lol

I currently have 10.5s all the way around and it tracks a lot compared to the 8" wide that used to be on it. Thats the difference between running a 245 tire and a 295.

Tim94gt

iTrader: (2)

Also known as Tramlining(sp?)

The wider you go, the worse it gets. I have the same problem with my Mustang and 275's up front, I just avoid the roads with the huge ruts.

69TA

iTrader: (263)

you don't know ruts until you drive on the crossbronx expressway.......the car almost steers itself from the groves left by the tractors.

anyhow you can compensate some of that
with more toe in

spcearle

iTrader: (9)

lol...you wanna talk about scary...i drive around an 86 kblazer with 40" tires thata are over a foot wide in brooklyn....i ned a heart warning sticker in my truck cause when it catches the road its like riding a chick you call the wrong name ....you gotta hold on for dear life

spcearle

iTrader: (9)

lol...you wanna talk about scary...i drive around an 86 kblazer with 40" tires that are over a foot wide in brooklyn....i need a heart warning sticker in my truck cause when it catches the road its like riding a chick you call the wrong name ....you gotta hold on for dear life

SH1ZN1T

iTrader: (16)

When I had my 87 IROC with the 16x8 wheels with 245's it tracked/tramlined a lot. It's not too much worse with my 99 SS with 17x9.5 on 275's because the steering is tighter.

carlos64030

iTrader: (5)

Kinda off topic. Are you sure the car you purchased is a real WS6? Removing the stock WS6 wheels and replacing them with 16 inchers seems a little odd to me. Most people would've kept and put the stock wheels back on before selling the car.

cemlsx

I have 16x8's on my V6 , 235 tires and it still does that , though most ruts I see on my daily route arent really bad , but if I take the mountain road its kinda annoying as the tramlining is terrible ..

JohnnyBz28

iTrader: (12)

I have 275's in front and it does this. Whenever I'm on the Belt Parkway here in NYC I feel like I'm going to hit the wall lol

Unertl42

iTrader: (63)

yep, mine too

spcearle

iTrader: (9)

I hear ya Johnny on the belt..I turned into a center laner with both my car and truck...but I think the bqe is 100x worse ...I don't dare take my truck on that

69TA

iTrader: (263)

the bqe is just stupid big *** pot holes and constant road repair

try white lining on a bike on the crossbronx
it's like riding the peaks of a mountain

I just cringe everytime I am on there and look between the lanes

wazup

I had that very concern when I bought the car. I could not believe someone would remove the stock WS6 wheel for the cheap ones that came on the car. I did pull a build report from the vin and verified the WS6 was in the codes on the door. I am sure it is a true WS6, with really ugly wheels.

It sounds like everyone has the same problem with tracking and wide front tires. If the car did not drive so well now I wouldn’t worry so much about it. Maybe this time I will go with narrow 17” front tire and something with a little more meat in the back.

GrimreaperSS

I have that ocassionally also. Running 275/35x18 up front and I have about a 100 ft stretch of road on my way to work every morning that will pull me around if I'm not paying attention. For the very few times that I have to worry about the car following the ruts, I by far would rather have the bigger wheels/wider tires! Besides, the car was designed with the 275's on the car. How well is it going to handle with "skinnies" on it? I would definitely have to think you can feel a difference, understeer maybe?

JohnnyBz28

iTrader: (12)

BQE is nothing but potholes like 69TA said, so horrible lol.


Woodhaven BLVD is just as bad too. Going across woodhaven I can actually FEEL the grooves in the road caused by trucks.


If most states used concrete to make their roads instead of asphalt none of us would have this issue.........BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO concrete is too expensive blah blah blah