1969 Torino

[FETorino]

Originally Posted by Track Junky

I agree to a point. There are alot of variables to take into account when ordering wheel and tire sizes. In our hobby a big one is astetics. Astetics play no part in the way our cars perform yet we are always shooting for how any given wheel design will look with a stepped lip, flat lip, offset, etc. On the same note we are not profesional race car drivers, nor engineers, and it would take a substantial bit of resources to design the perfect wheel/tire design combination for any of our given vehicles so we are left with making our own educated guesses. This is where we start to run into issues with ackerman, scrub radius, etc and is in such our dilemma.

In your case we can anticipate that your tires will be carrying "quite a load" if you will . In turn it's a no brainer that a wider, taller tire out back will be warranted due to the amount of power you will be putting down to the ground.

Now the dilemma......I have chosen a big ass 345 to handle the rear load but what size up front. IMO smart money goes with the widest I can get that will compliment the rears and I dont believe 285's are going to do it. Reason being I used to run 275's all around and had my car neutral. When I mini-tubbed my car and installed 315's out back just for the cool factor the car began to push. I'm still working on getting my car neutral again.

If your adiment about the 285's look into the load ratings for the different heights of the 285's and 345's. Try and choose load ratings that will compliment each other.

Like you said.....tires are disposable........choose wisely my friend.

Did you raise the nose at the same time? If not the increase in rake alone could have unsettled your previous tune. There is no doubt a change in tires without a change in tune would not likely be an improvement. I bet you'll get it back where you want it AFTER you install that Accusump.

None of these cars (most anyway) will be a compromise. Like Carroll Smith says in Tune to Win (I'm paraphrasing) you could have the best set up on paper and if you don't tune it right it's crap and our could have crap and tune it well and have a fast car.

I remember some guy with a chivy running some fast laps with a 275/325 combo last year. I think I can get the 285 to work good enough.