26" tires? Will they look good?

[Slick68]

Ok, the 68 needs tires. I'm currently not in a situation to switch to 18's to get what I really want, so I'm trying to find a better tire for the 17's I already have. The problem is tire height. To get a "decent" tire like a Nitto 555 or Continental Extreme Contact, the tallest I can get is a 255/45/17 front, 285/40/17 rear combo which are right at 26" tall. Right now I have 255/50/17(27") front, 275/55/17(29") rear sizes. A 27-28" tire looks good on these trucks and I'm worried about the shorter tires looking to small. My other option is to run the Nitto NT450 in 255/50/17, 275/50/17 combo. I'm just not sure how well they will do in autocrossing. However, anything should be an improvement over the Hankooks I have now. lol

This is how she looks right now.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/01/IMG_07461_zpsa422e5b2-1.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/Slick68/media/My%2068/IMG_07461_zpsa422e5b2.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/01/IMG_07381_zpsc646250d-1.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/Slick68/media/My%2068/IMG_07381_zpsc646250d.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/01/20150905_124156_zps4fqtpftp-1.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/Slick68/media/20150905_124156_zps4fqtpftp.jpg.html)

[bovey]

This very thing messed with my mind too. You may need to adjust the height of the truck a bit.

In the photo below the front and back tires are 18" 295 Rivals and are 26.1 inches tall (advertised height). Visually, the rear should be dropped, but it worked well at this height.

123082

[Dr G]

I've also spent a lot of time contemplating this. My original setup had front tires at 29" OD and the rears at 30" OD. I thought it would look good on a truck, but in effect it made it difficult to get the truck close enough to the ground without serious rubbing issues. That old setup was not a real performance one, it was more of a compromise.

My current thinking is that a 27" OD is probably about right for a PT truck. 26" OD is maybe more appropriate for a PT car, but if you lower the truck as much as possible it should still look ok.

I do not know what the width is of your wheels. But my opinion is that if your are going auto-crossing you should try to use the same tire width front and rear to prevent understeer.

Gustave

[Slick68]

I've also spent a lot of time contemplating this. My original setup had front tires at 29" OD and the rears at 30" OD. I thought it would look good on a truck, but in effect it made it difficult to get the truck close enough to the ground without serious rubbing issues. That old setup was not a real performance one, it was more of a compromise.

My current thinking is that a 27" OD is probably about right for a PT truck. 26" OD is maybe more appropriate for a PT car, but if you lower the truck as much as possible it should still look ok.

I do not know what the width is of your wheels. But my opinion is that if your are going auto-crossing you should try to use the same tire width front and rear to prevent understeer.

Gustave

My wheels are 17x8 and 17x9.5. I agree that the 27-28" tire height looks best When I can free up some funds, I plan to run 18x0.5 with 295/40/18(27.2") tires. As for now, I'm strapped for extra funds, so I gotta deal with what I can afford. If I decide to go the route as I originally mentioned, I'd like to run a 275/40/17 up front, but I'm afraid the sidewall will bulge too much on the 8" rim.

I may just settle for the Nitto NT450 tires and see how they work. If nothing else, they'll be easier to sell with "truck" sized tires when I'm ready to change to 18's.