16s on rear 15s on front

[rattlsnak]

Ive done this years ago, and now Im in a situation where I might do it again. Looking to run 16x9s on rear and 15x8s on front. Anybody else out there doing this?

[raceman]

you don`t see this too much on 911`s,although it`s a legitimate set up on plenty of cars.What year is your car,and why are you considering the stepped sizes?l`d love to see it set up and hear about the performance.Everyone is going to the big wheels and l see an early black 930 when l go to the Pomona swap that sports wide Fuch 15`s with gumball tires and it looks sooo good it makes you forget about plus sizing..l love the models though

[KobaltBlau]

I'm not doing this, but you would get less contact patch in the front with the 15s vs the 16s. This is why porsche went to huge diameter wheels on the 935s when they were limited in width, if I am not mistaken. Please let me know if I am.

addition: I believe 935s had 16s in the front and 19s in the rear, at least 935/76 and 935/77. Not sure if they made them bigger on moby dick. It's in one of my books....

[Bill Verburg]

You might want to check out your brake clearance before making any decisions

[IROC]

I have 17s on the rear and 16s on the front. FWIW.

Mike

[rattlsnak]

Brake clearance is fine, its on my '72 race car using old school huge bremteks which actually fit under a 15. The reason is, I have 15 x8 and 16 x 9 already, but have 16 x7 and cant find any 16x8 for a decent price. So Ill sell those. Im running Hoosiers and dont think the contact patch will be all that different from a 245 45 15 to a 245 45 16. I have done it before several years ago, and never noticed a problem, but that was before anyone even heard of 17" or bigger! There are indeed several new cars today that are running mismatched diameters, as well as motorcycles.
Mike, did you noticed any difference? Did you run 16s all the way and then change to 17s?

[IROC]

Actually, I went from 7x15s all around with 225/50s (stock '76 bodywork) to 8x16s with 245/45s and 9x17s with 275/40s (SC flares), so I noticed a difference for sure. The car went from a decently quick car to something that could generate some serious g-forces.

IMHO, the mismatch in diameters is meaningless on a car without ABS, traction control etc. The car couldn't care less whether the front and rear tires are turning at the same speed or not.

Mike

[KobaltBlau]

Originally posted by IROC
IMHO, the mismatch in diameters is meaningless on a car without ABS, traction control etc. The car couldn't care less whether the front and rear tires are turning at the same speed or not.

Exactly!

btw, which hoosiers are made in the 245/45-15? TTweed mentioned this to me in another thread, but I'm clueless when it comes to hoosiers.

TIA

[david c.]

I have the same question. The Hoosier site says that size is available in the A3S03 and A4S04 but Tire Rack doesn't show them as available.

[Bill Verburg]

Do you have the matching rear Bremteks? I've been working w/ a fellow that has front B/Ts and can't get decent bias(not easily anyway) as I recall there were 3 or 4 different versions for each end of the car as an additional complication.

[KobaltBlau]

Originally posted by dave cardone
I have the same question. The Hoosier site says that size is available in the A3S03 and A4S04 but Tire Rack doesn't show them as available.

Ah, I see. I didn't look on the hoosier site, but I did look on the tire rack site, and they didn't list them. Anyone, anyone, Bueller? TTweed? where do you get yours?

[rattlsnak]

I see they are actually 245x50x15s here at:
http://www.racetire.com/

Bill, I have a matched set of all 4 Bremteks, I can snap a photo or look for some kind of number on them if you need it. They all appear to be identical in overall size and piston size.

[Bill Verburg]

I just looked up my old data there were 6 different fronts and 6 different rears. If you can get some pics and some idea of the piston and pad sizes that would be interesting to me.

[rattlsnak]

Bill Ill take some photos tonight.

[rattlsnak]

Here are some pics of the calipers. They are old school Bremteks! But hey they were kick a$$ back then right?? They are about 9" long, each with 4- 1 1/4" pistons. Part numbers are 3053 and 98091. Let me know what you come up with Bill.

[Bill Verburg]

That's great, thanks! Can you get a measurement on the pistons?

[rattlsnak]

They are 1 1/4" diameter on all four pistons, on all four calipers.

[Bill Verburg]

You have a large bias problem!

[rattlsnak]

The guy i got them from, a car which i've ridden in, says they were perfect. Hmm, Maybe i need to measure the fronts vs the rears a little more carefully.