Can anyone please help me w/ my Cuda's sidewall height decision? Pics would be great!
 

Hi Guys...

this is for a higher horsepower 71 cuda project (e-body)...not a huge sized car, but not small either.

With all the knowledgeable guys around here i need some help.

Wheels will be 19x10 front and 20x12 rear.....

I have gone back and forth deciding between these two tire options:

michelin pilot ps2 275/35/19 front and 335/30/20 rear

or

nitto invo 285/30/19 front and 345/25/20 rear

suggestions/opinions welcome... ....Looks VS. Ride Quality??????????

I'm pretty sure there are examples of both directions (Ned, TJ, Bill and boilermaker...), which makes the decision even tougher--those are awesome rides! I'd just like to hear more opinions and see more pics of those sizes if they are available.

...this should be a long thread:thumbsup: ...everyone has an opinion, right?...:lol:

PLEASE don't move this to wheels/tires--I had no responses there.
Thanks a million in advance!

John

275/35/19 = 3.8 side wall and 26.6 dia
335/30/20 = 3.97 sidewall and 27.94 dia

285/30/19 = 3.37 sidewall and 25.75 diameter
345/25/20 = 3.40 sidewall and 26.81 diameter

The sidewall is measured from the ID of the tire and about 1/2" of the side wall is hidden behind the lip if the wheel. The wider set is going to look like rubber bands, If that is what your looking for then get them, Most cars built will have the slightly narrower size. If the over diameter is an issue the you might go to 18's and 19's to to have some side wall.

Good luck tires and wheel sizes can be a difficult to pick.

Talk to Devin he has the 69Charger project Mayhem in the members section he is using the Michelins and the same size as well. Either way you go off the line you will smoke them, but they both should do well. I got to go for a ride in Devin’s car and it was awesome going through some corners and he could light them up pretty easy.

Having worked at a tire store for several years, mathmatically speaking, the sidewall hieghts for the tires you listed are almost exactly the same. The second number is the aspect ratio of the width to the sidewall hieght. Normally speaking, what that means when the first number (the width) goes up, to keep the same overall hieght, you need to go down in the second number.
Here is an easy example. We did this conversion all the time for people with small cars. A customer comes in & wants a wider tire. Say they have 155/80R13s on it (far from pro touring, but bear with me.). The first numbers go by 10s and the second number by 5s. The next size wider (which they don't make) would be a 165/75R13. The size after that would be a 175/70R13 (much more common). This gives you a wider tire with the same tire hieght.
If the manufacturer was the same, you would be choosing 2 different widths. The only problem is that different manufacturers measure the width at different places. Theoretically speaking, it should be the widest part of the tire. Some manufacturers make the widest part at the shoulder of the tread and others make the sidewall buldge out to get the width.
Sorry for going on, but I hope that helps.

John, how low is the car? Also, air ride or coilovers?

Really? so you are saying nitto's run tall and narrow and michelins run short and wide?

Thanks
John

Hi TJ,
I have not set ride height yet, but worried about michelins being a full inch taller...also I'm running coilovers...

...the taller michelin size is on Project Mayhem (69 charger) and a charger is a lot bigger car than our e-bodies--not sure if that would look right....

Thanks
John

Cudas to me looks better with a little taller tires to really fill out the wheelwells, so I would go with the taller tires all else being equal.

Tonny

1 inch taller is only a 1/2" bigger on the radius.

Just to clarify how tires are measured, Since there seems to be some confusion.

The first number is the width in MM. I divide by 25.3 or 25.4 to get inches.
The middle number is a percentage of the width so you can multiply the width times the percentage to get the profile height. Then You can double the profile and add the rim size to get the overall height.

Example 335 mm = 13.24 inches
13.24 inches x .30 section percentage = 3.97 profile height
3.97 + 3.97 + 20 = 27.94 total height.

Usually in a 245/255 5 percentage point on the cross section equal a 1" jump in rim size. But on smaller and bigger tires that percentage is more drastic... Obviously.


Rodger

Here are two cars we did with the back tires you are looking at using. The cuda as the 335 tire and the camaro has the 325 tire. I hope this helps. I would use the 335 tire.

Good Luck,
Mike