[foooz]

Noticed today that my front tires are wider than my rear which I thought was odd. I then looked in the owners manual and sure enough by the sizes shown in the owners manual the front and rear tires have been swapped. Has anyone seen this? I am assuming someone rotated tires without realizing the different sizes but am not sure.
scott

[Torch40]

foooz, on Nov 8 2009, 06:42 PM, said:

Noticed today that my front tires are wider than my rear which I thought was odd. I then looked in the owners manual and sure enough by the sizes shown in the owners manual the front and rear tires have been swapped. Has anyone seen this? I am assuming someone rotated tires without realizing the different sizes but am not sure.
scott

That's crazy, yes the wider tires go in back.

[SicShelby]

foooz, on Nov 8 2009, 10:42 PM, said:

Noticed today that my front tires are wider than my rear which I thought was odd. I then looked in the owners manual and sure enough by the sizes shown in the owners manual the front and rear tires have been swapped. Has anyone seen this? I am assuming someone rotated tires without realizing the different sizes but am not sure.
scott

I'd like the "educated" feedback from the person that rotated the rear ones forward!

[thewheelman]

The first (and only) time I took my car to the local dealer the "tech" came back in and sort of embarrased like, said, uh, you know you can't rotate those tires don't you? The back ones and front ones are different sizes.......like I had never noticed that. I said, sure, just swap them side to side. I think they also lost my locking lug nuts that day......after they had to wait 2 hours to get 2 more quarts of oil to put in my car--they only had 3-4 on hand......yeah, the last time I've taken it in there for service!

[phdpsy]

At a Track Guys HPDE at Texas World Speedway this year, I noted that several of the GT500 owners with the stock tires had rotated the wider rears on the fronts for running on the track, reportedly to improve front grip and to help with the notable understeer that the stock suspension cars had. A couple of the students noted improvement in their lap times with this and just swapped them back when the event was over. I'm not suggesting that has anything to do with your car, but was just my only expience with this having been done on purpose. More likely it seems they were just rotated without someone recognizing the difference. Just my $.02

This post has been edited by phdpsy: 09 November 2009 - 11:47 AM

[VaporDude]

How long were you running the car with the wider tires in the front before you noticed?

[Shipwright]

Did you have any problems with the wider tires rubbing inside of the wheel well when cornering? I’m asking this as I’m considering going to 285’s for the front and 305-315’s for the rear (post blower upgrade).

[foooz]

No problems with tires rubbing (just went out and confirmed. The larger tires look good up front but I am going to switch back. As far as how long did I drive before noticing, I brought her home from the dealer and drove around town for awhile. Noticed when I was cleaning the car up a few days later.
scott

[Tob]

I drove my 2009 GT500 home from the dealer (snow flakes just starting to fly as I got it home) and parked it in my shop in November of '08. It would sit there until summer of '09. While it sat I changed two things. I added FRPP's Cold Air and I purchased a complete set of take off wheels and tires from Buyfordracing. I immediately took off my original 255's and swapped the pair of 285's that were from the take off set. More here.

No rubbing - anywhere. Not from full lock to lock under compression or not. This was at stock ride height. It looks as though I could lose an inch and still be absolutely fine as well. It definitely helps with the understeer. In addition, the steering feels fine, or in other words, just as dead as Ford wanted it to be.

Another shot, just before I ditched the stripes, 285's installed...
http://im1.shutterfl...3D720/ry%3D480/

I've since made it a point to pay attention to track down tire deals, stock 285 size, that is. I'm happy with the slick Goodyears. I found a guy over at SVTperformance.com that is selling the 285's that were take off's from the Mustang Challenge cars in Utah. I paid $285 shipped for a pair of them with ~ three miles on them.
http://im1.shutterfl...3D720/ry%3D480/

http://im1.shutterfl...3D720/ry%3D480/

http://im1.shutterfl...3D720/ry%3D480/

Tob

This post has been edited by Tob: 15 November 2009 - 07:03 AM

[mr ford]

thewheelman, on Nov 9 2009, 10:43 AM, said:

The first (and only) time I took my car to the local dealer the "tech" came back in and sort of embarrased like, said, uh, you know you can't rotate those tires don't you? The back ones and front ones are different sizes.......like I had never noticed that. I said, sure, just swap them side to side. I think they also lost my locking lug nuts that day......after they had to wait 2 hours to get 2 more quarts of oil to put in my car--they only had 3-4 on hand......yeah, the last time I've taken it in there for service!

Yup, when I parked mines in front of my trailer, I said baby ya know what? Them tires in back er" bigger enem ones in front. Shoot !!! I gonna call Cleatus and tell'em.......................Opps, I gotta get back to the dealer ship and get to work. I's got some fix'en to do.

[sharabi]

foooz, on Nov 8 2009, 10:42 PM, said:

Noticed today that my front tires are wider than my rear which I thought was odd. I then looked in the owners manual and sure enough by the sizes shown in the owners manual the front and rear tires have been swapped. Has anyone seen this? I am assuming someone rotated tires without realizing the different sizes but am not sure.
scott

Another horror story....sorry man.... but it is just ridiculous for them not knowing that!

[skiph]

foooz, on Nov 8 2009, 07:42 PM, said:

Noticed today that my front tires are wider than my rear which I thought was odd. I then looked in the owners manual and sure enough by the sizes shown in the owners manual the front and rear tires have been swapped. Has anyone seen this? I am assuming someone rotated tires without realizing the different sizes but am not sure.
scott

Bummer dude. No, no rotating front to back because of the size issues, no rotating side to side as they are radials (but don't think the tires are directional). So, keep them balanced, aligned and tire pressure juuuuust right.

Just curious, did they stick out so far from the front fender that they just did not look right? I.E.-If you had wider tires on the back then the front, would it have looked good or "funky"?

[Tob]

Quote

Just curious, did they stick out so far from the front fender that they just did not look right?

They don't stick out. Take a close look at the photos I provided above. These cars should have come with 285's all around - at a minimum.

[rdragoo]

Tob, on Nov 16 2009, 07:59 PM, said:

They don't stick out. Take a close look at the photos I provided above. These cars should have come with 285's all around - at a minimum.

So when it's replacement time, is there any drawbacks to just running 285's all the way around so we can rotate the tires like a normal car?

[skiph]

rdragoo, on Nov 17 2009, 08:26 AM, said:

So when it's replacement time, is there any drawbacks to just running 285's all the way around so we can rotate the tires like a normal car?

That's where my mind was going.

***OR***

If the 285's look good, don't rub anything on a tight turn (or cause any other problems) how wide would look good on the rear (assuming stock 18" rims)?

Option 2 could be a totally new, and cool look. But would still have the problem of not being able to rotate the tires.

[Shipwright]

skiph, on Nov 17 2009, 11:36 AM, said:

That's where my mind was going.

***OR***

If the 285's look good, don't rub anything on a tight turn (or cause any other problems) how wide would look good on the rear (assuming stock 18" rims)?

Option 2 could be a totally new, and cool look. But would still have the problem of not being able to rotate the tires.

For option two the closest combination I have been able to find are NITTO 555 front (285 40 18) which are ever so slightly smaller in overall diameter (0.2 inches). and NITTO 555r rear (305 40 18) which are about 0.75 inches larger in diameter than stock (you will probably have to widen the rear wheels). They are good looking tires as well.

If anyone else has suggestions I would love to hear them.

This post has been edited by Shipwright: 17 November 2009 - 08:13 AM