Low profile wider tires noisier?

Which conti's? Some tires ARE noisy. Tirerack.com has a lot of user feedback on various tires and while not 100% authoriative it's good for trends. If nearly everyone else find the tires noisy then you know it's a good chance these are just noisey tires. If they doin't, well, uh... I dunno.

To quote Richard Welty "turn the radio up".

Lower profile and wider - likely to be noisier and give a harsher ride.

Ah! So you're one of those rare people who prefers even *more* understeer than the average BMW brings to the table!

Why the hell would you have not only two different *sizes* of tires, but two entirely different *brands* of tires on your car? Are you being stupendously cheap or are you just dumb?

-- C.R. Krieger (Tried that only when I was desperate enough.)

I have 17" ContiSportContact tyres all round on my E34. I dont hear any tyre noise. Mike.

Actually, I did that quite on purpose on a Civic as a cheap way to bring massive understeer under control...

JRE

My E34 has 235/45 ZRx17" on the front, and 255/40 ZRx17" on the rear. The fronts on 8" rims. The rears on 9" rims. Those sizes are listed as an option in the E34 Owners Handbook. So having different width wheel rims would appear to be quite acceptable. Mike.

Yes, acceptable for those wishing to indulge in increased levels of understeer. The car understeers by default with same sized tires on all

4 corners, how could putting wider rubber on the rear do anything but increase it?

All that said, if you never drive the car beyond 8/10ths you would really never notice a difference...

Really? So how would one induce oversteer on a front wheel drive car? This one I want to see...

It is, depending on the car. I was actually trying to build to a superlative conclusion and I have to admit it didn't work so well. My real point is, you would not normally use different *brands* of tires front and rear unless you were: a) cheap or b) ignorant or c) both.

Even with a staggered setup, you would preferably not only use the same make but the same *model* and *age* of tire to maintain a consistent differential of performance between them. It seems to me that using a set of R compounds in the rear with a set of 70,000-mile 'rocks' up front would be a recipe for terminal incurable understeer, regardless of their sizes.

-- C=2ER. Krieger (Been there; didn't like that)

He didn't say *overcome*. He said "bring ... under control". You could definitely influence the extent of the understeer tendency in a FWD car by doing this. You could conceivably achieve some slight oversteer. I know that a race-prepared GTi I drove some years ago exhibited slight oversteer - or at least a lot more than I got out of my 'street' Toyota FX-16.

In fact, oversteer is rather easy to induce on a FWD with a good rear wheel handbrake. I used to be able to do 180=B0 'bootlegger turns' with mine. =3D8^D

-- C=2ER. Krieger (Been there; done that)

Oddly enough, early 90's Civics (along with some Acuras of the same approximate age) were prone to *snap* oversteer if you lifted from full throttle suddenly while cornering at the limit without widening the line or hitting the brakes briefly (but hard). This is a bugaboo for some drivers in autocrosses. (Did they spin on corner entry? This is probably why.)

But the point is that putting better tires on the front (they did wear out first, after all) helped considerably to reduce the usual massive understeer. The car was gone before I ever replaced the rears.

JRE

OTOH, since he didn't mention a model as you did, for all we know, 'bimbim' has a set of Contis that normally go on a Jeep.

-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)

Swings and roundabouts IMO. All cars have an element of u/steer. However, accelerating hard out of a bend in a RWD car often provokes o/steer. More grip on the rear can mean more power can be applied before that happens. It's all a question of balance. I've never taken my E34 on a track, (with M-Tech suspension as well as the M-Tech wheels) but after 2.5 years of ownership, I would say there are no adverse effects from having more rubber at the rear. Even when driven hard. Mike.

Good point. That would make a difference. :-) Mike.

I replaced 225/55x15s on my '94 325 with a set of 225/45x17s. I took Michelins off and installed Kuhmos. I did not notice an increase in road noise.

Later, the car was totaled and I bought a '94 325 convertible that came with

16s -- a 205 size that I do not fully recall. In any case, I went to the body shop and took the set of 17s from the wrecked car and mounted them on the replacement car. I did not notice any increase in road noise on this car either. This car had Continentals on it if I recall correctly.

What I did notice on both cars is that the speedometer is now accurate within 2 mph at 85 mph. It still reads on the faster than I am really going, but not as much faster as it used to read.

PS You WANT the speedo to read fast, so it says 80 before 80 really happens. The logic is that if you were limited to 70, and the car was going faster than 70 when the speedo said 70, then you would be exposed to a ticket. But if the speedo read 70 when you were really doing 67, you would have a small margin to insulate you from the ticket givers.

Holy shit! I think I got X5 wheels!?? :)

To give you all a few more facts to base your responses from, the wheels and tires were off of my brother's 98 Z3 who went for 18"s.

These Z3 wheels are staggered 17X8" and 17X81/2" with these tires: Front Continental ContiSportContact 225/45R17, Rear Toyo Proxes-T7-S

245/40ZR17.

As I have always felt that 15" wheels are a bit boring nowadays, I decided to put these wheels on my '95 325i to give it a more sporty look knowing that staggered setup is fine for E36s. And it did look nice. Not too much as I think of 18"s.

However, I find the front tires a bit noisy. Though most passengers doesn't seem to mind or hear it, I being like one with the car am not sure if that is acceptable. If it is the Contis, then I might get a pair of Proxes to replace it. The rear Proxes are almost new. The front Contis are about 7/32.

As somebody mentioned "oversteering", I did feel changes on the car steering. Seemed more sensitive, and seem go with wavy-uneven asphalt road stretch that I usually take.

Thanks for your more sensible insights.

As I wrote in an earlier post. I have almost the same front tyres on my car. A '94 525i E34. The only difference being that mine are slightly wider at

235/45ZR17.

Though most passengers

As I also wrote, I don't find the Conti's particularly noisy. With the windows shut I don't hear the tyres at all. Maybe you're being oversensitive, or the possibly the tyres just don't suit the car

Sounds like you're experiencing 'tramlining'. A problem that can occur when wider tyres are fitted. Are the wheel and tyre sizes listed as acceptable alternatives for your car, and is the wheel offset correct? Mike.

If I go to tirerack.com they recommend 17X8" +40 on front and 17X9" +45 on rear with same tire sizes I have now. My rear wheels is +41, I can't remember the front. Thanks.

I think you've got that the wrong way. I'm sure the profile should be 45 on the 8" rims, and 40 on the 9" rims.

My rear wheels is +41, I can't

If you don't know you should certainly check. Incorrect offsets can really compromise the handling of a car. Especially with front wheels. It could be the cause of the change in the steering feel. Mike.