New Tire Dilema

[Ernest]

Looks good.... but it just bugs me, OCD thing i guess, that i have two seperate wheel and tire sizes on my malibu, it came that way when i bought it. (17x8 rear 275/55 - 17x7 front 225/55)

I've had 255/60/15 before in the past.... back in the early 90s, i had a '75 chevelle 2dr with original '71 corvette 15x8 with 4'' back spacing rally wheels that was on my dads '71 corvette at the time, he gave them to me when he upgraded with aftermarket rims, they fit and looked great, of course the '75 was bigger and has more fender well room compared to the '78 malibu/el camino on up.

 

[565bbchevy]

Well for my Monte I don't have a choice, my big headers only leave room for a frontrunner which is 4" and I have 15 x 9.5" rears with 295/55 MT's but this car is about attempting to get some sort of traction. also I did the frame notch on this car.

 

[SS_Malibu]

Mine are all the same size however, I prefer a little bit wider rear tires. When I do the wheels, I'll stagger them. I had to throw tires on immediately when I bought the car so these were "cheap and easy"

 

[Ernest]

The thing is with my current rear tires(275/55), the last owner of the malibu rolled the inner fender lip, even now on occasion, if i roll into a turn to tight, the rear tire(s) rub... i dont care for that.

 

[565bbchevy]

The thing is with my current rear tires(275/55), the last owner of the malibu rolled the inner fender lip, even now on occasion, if i roll into a turn to tight, the rear tire(s) rub... i don't care for that.

For me any tire rubbing is a not acceptable, how much clearance do you have from the frame?

 

[Ernest]

I have acceptable frame clearence.... its the rolled fender lip the tire(s) are gentley rubbing on, the malibu is running with the stock suspension, nothing modified and i have yet to remove all four wheels to check for individual back spacing.

 

[565bbchevy]

Based on your front and rear sizes I think you could go with a shorter rear tire to better match your front and get a slightly less section width and it will probably give you the clearance you need, your back tire is pretty tall for a Gbody at almost 29"

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[Ernest]

Well its done... i made the jump with Nitto NT555 G2 , 225/50r17(front) and 255/50r17(rear), both sets purchased from Discount Tire around the corner near my home, my go to place for over a decade.

I have the rear two in my possesion, i had to order the front two, they should be here some time next week, $155ea(front) and $177ea(rear), best i can do and luckily get with this supply issue thing still going on, i wanted the same(brand/model) all the way around, much cheaper route than getting 15x8 wheels(4.5BS/0mm offset), and the 255/60r15 tires all the way around i was thinking about doing.

As a reminder, i have American Racing Torq Thrust 2 wheels, 17x7(front) and 17x8(rear), i still havent lQQked into the back spacing. I most certainly needed these new tires, the Toyo Proxies ST 2 that came on the car were long over due, front tires are 8yrs old, rear tires are 6yrs old with plenty of tread still showing on all four, last owner only had the car for 4yrs, so he never bought new ones when it came due. I've done a plenty of test and tune in that car on most sundays only, heavy cruising the streets and seeing how she felt on the highway doing 70mph, old hard tires = unwanted vibration, luckily nothing has happened, no WOT as of yet, not at least till i get my AEM wideband 02 gauge installed.

Nitto 225/50 r17 - https://tiresize.com/tires/Nitto/NT555-G2-225-50R17.htm

Nitto 255/50 r17 - https://tiresize.com/tires/Nitto/NT555-G2-255-50R17.htm