[DML] Re: Different tires

[magriese@xxxx]

Erik wrote:

>what would happen if i put the same tires on the front as that are on
the back? just curious. The front rims would have to be the same as
the back, wouldn't they?<

Erik - Not a good idea. The tire size, along with the rest of the
suspension package was designed and developed by the
best suspension people in the business - Lotus Engineering.
The tires were sized to give predictable handling given the
weight distribution of the car, the roll center, and the polar
moment of inertia. The results are quite good. Changing
the size of the tires on the front of the car to match the size
on the rear will tend to bias the handling from mild understeer
(which is what you want) to oversteer - the back end of the
car will tend to come around at the worst possible moments
like braking in a turn, lifting in a turn or anything else that
would unweight the rear of the car. You could potentially
have problems with brake bias as well. The same behaviour
would occur if you tried to make the rear tires the same size
as the front. The front end of the car, already high to begin
with will be even higher throwing off airflow and headlamp
aim, plus you will probably have some interference between
the tires and the front bodywork. Properly sized Yokohama
AVS Intermediate tires are available from places like the
Tire Rack for well under $100 per wheel shipped and
installed. There really isn't any reason to tamper with the
tire formulas until correctly sized tires are no longer available.

Mike Griese
Storage Software Development Manager
IBM Storage Systems Division
Rochester, MN 55901
Internet: magriese@xxxx
voice: (507)253-1853
fax: (507)253-2880