Different front/rear tyre widths? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

EB2Ghia · 01-29-2003, 23:20

I live in the ACT. I was wondering what the laws were (anywhere in Australia) regarding running different width rubber from front to back?? I went and got a wheel alignment yesterday and was talking to my mate who works there about running 255's or 265's on the rear of my car and 235's or 245's on the front. We looked through the guidelines and laws and it all seems to be very unspecific. Can anyone help?? Any information at all would be great.

MADXF · 01-29-2003, 23:47

As far as i know, as long as the tyres do not rub anywhere and do not protrude past the exterior of the car, they are fine.

the only other law i know of in regards to wheels, is diameter....you can only go up 2" over the largest diam wheel that was available from factory.

Like my car for instance...XF S pac, came standard with 14" but the XF Fairmonts came with 15" so max size I can legally get is 17".

EB2Ghia · 01-30-2003, 00:05

what about the eb gt it came out with 17's .... so does that mean i can go to 19's??

LTDHO · 01-30-2003, 00:35

I think,

You can go wider on the rears as long as you dont change the rolling diameter or the driving of the car, or as long as is doesn't stick out or rub on anthing.

Wheels, you can go 1 inch wider and 2 inch taller than what is listed on the tyre chart on the car. For example if the wheel sixe is 14x6 you can go 16x7. Same rules apple as per above.

An EB GT can go 19"
An EB Gli can go 16"

AJ's XR · 01-30-2003, 01:11

I'm not sure that height is a restriction in ACT, rather what can you fit under and inside the line of the guards. The height and width limit is usually set more by insurance coys. Conservative NRMA or more loose AAMI. So technically if you can fit 18/19's under the guards and your insurance is OK then OK. The width is where they are stricter and I think you'll get caught and with EB you'll be stuck at 8" maybe 81/2" if you can get them under.

I thought also in ACT the rim width must be the same front and rear so if you want 81/2" on the rear, same on front, just compensate through tyre size. EL GT's were 81/2" so there might be something there. There's a few cars, various brands around running different tyre sizes F/R on matching rims. There is a grey EF XR8 (low 4 digit numeric plate) around running at least 17x8+'s Simmons like yours only gold and it runs different tyre sizes F/R.

Give tech standards a ring at Urban Services and see what the deal is. The guys at The Wheel Factory in QBN seem to know their stuff, give them a call as well to see what they work to. Insurance is probably what'll make the final call unfortunately.

EB2Ghia · 01-30-2003, 01:34

thanx aj .. insurance is no probs i'm with Shannons .... if it passes rego its fine with them. Ive delt with the wheel factory before ... i will call em

EB2Ghia · 01-30-2003, 01:40

and yeah ive seen the grey ef. it has 18's and the rims look wider than mine. i will have to have a better look next time i see it but its one sexy looking car.

JC-XR8 · 01-30-2003, 05:32

The only rule I can remember from when I had my EF (205/60/15s front, 225/60/15s rear) is that the rear tyres cannot be a higher profile than the fronts. That means you could run a 235/45/17 on front and 255/40/17, but not a 255/50/17! And the rolling diameter must be within 10% of the original.

carazy · 01-31-2003, 03:24

Yeah provided the wheels on the front and the back meet the requirements of the min/max tyre for the car you can have differant widths on the front and back.
Ie you can have 195/65/14's on the front and 265/45/16's on the back. you'd look like a dick but it would be legal.
You cannot however have a 195/65/14 on the left and a 205/65/14 on the right unless it's a specially designed "get home tyre" and your not going about it's set speed limit.

Martin · 01-31-2003, 06:47

In NSW you can be defected for having wider wheels/tyres at the back. RTA states that they have to be the same width, unless it came from the factory that way. Not sure about the ACT though, id find out if I were you though cause your cops can be pricks if it suits them!