295/30s vs 285/35s

[welsh619]

Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster. Ever find yourself obsessing over a decision that you realize isnt all that terribly important but despite that you cant stop thinking about it. Well here i am building my dream 67 chevelle (496, t56, sc&c, kore3, currie, budnik, yada yada...) and im stuck trying to decide what size rear tire to run. Im posting here cause i was afraid to post over on the chevelle site and i figured there would be way more first hand experience/ opinions over here, which is what im looking for. This, by the way, wont ever see a track more than once, straight or curvy, but will hopefully will be involved in a lot of "spirited" cruising.

At first i was thinking 295/35/19's but then i kept seeing 19-20 set ups that looked bitchin so i thought why not 295/30-20 which is darn near the same diameter (27"). By the way im planning on 255/35/19s for the front (26"). While looking through pics on the internet i see some that look way too low profile and others that seem just right (they should be the exact same sidewall as the fronts). Thinking that the sidewall might be a little small i started considering 285/35/20's but once again im seeing some that look like the sidewall is just a little too big (others just right). I guess im just looking for any first hand experience on 295/30s good or bad and if its mostly bad then ill fall back on the 285/35s. Thanks for any imput hope everyone is having a great spring. By the way i had my local Americas tire order me up a 295-30-20 and although it is a frickin beautiful tire the sidewall does seem a little small, who knows if itll get better with a rim and air.

[WSSix]

If you go with a 255/35 front, you're going to want to go with the 285/35 rear, IMO. This will keep the sidewall of the rear tires taller than the side walls of the front tires. Regardless of overall diameter, I think it looks best to have more sidewall on rear tires than front when having rims that are different diameters front to rear. I'm betting it's just an optical illusion type situation and will depend on stance and even rim or car color choices but a safe bet would be to make sure the rear has more sidewall.

If you put the same diameter front and rear, having the same side wall front and rear looks fine. Could that still be a possibility for you instead of staggered?

Maybe some of the design guys will step in and can offer other alternatives or point you in the best direction. I'm just stating my opinion.


Oh and welcome to the site.

[SR71]

if you are going to have 1" of stagger in rim diameter, you need AT LEAST 1" of stagger in tire diameter. otherwise the front sidewall will be taller than the rear sidewall. and that looks like crap.

I prefer taller tires that are tucked up into the fenders more. it makes that car look lower but actually have more ground clearance.

before I minitubbed it, my car wore a 295/35/20 on the rear.

[welsh619]

if i ran the 255/35-19 in front and 295/30-20s in the rear they would/should have the exact same sidewall heigth but i get what your are saying about the visual difference making the rear (sidewall) look smaller. I dont think i thought about 295/30-19s because they would only be as tall as the fronts and i dont think it would look right. I know that most c6 corvettes run 285/35s so i need to find one in person to check it out, can you believe my local chevrolet dealership didnt have any... thanks for the input guys its helping.