MK6 Golf GTI - Tyre Sizes for Rear and Front

[noowve]

Members

i am thinking of putting bigger tyres for the rear than the front.

if this is the case, what size would you recommend for the rear and also the front.

also what brand tyres would you guys recommend as well and why?

i'd like to have fatter and shorter tyres at the rear, not too low just to suit some eibach springs i am thinking of getting and slightly smaller tyre size at the front..

thank you for your thoughts.

[Diesel_vert]

If this is purely for aesthetic reasons, skip the first two paragraphs.

In a car where the engine and driven axle is at the front, more mass is borne by the front axle than the rear, so it is subject to greater loads during acceleration, cornering and braking. By fitting wider tyres on the rear axle, you are moving the balance of grip (rearwards) to where it is least needed. If you really desire such a setup (though completely unnecessary IMO), it would be better to fit wider tyres on the front axle, like the Audi RS3, which have 235/35 R19 fronts and 225/35 R19 rears.

Also, the difference in rolling diameter between the front and rear tyres needs to be as small as possible, otherwise the ABS, ESP, tyre pressure sensors, or anything else that depends on wheel speed differential may be affected. Increasing the pressure of the wider tyre, decreasing the pressure of the narrower tyre, or doing both may help if affected. Unlike the RS3, these differences would not have been programmed into the system.

All that aside, 235/40 R18 would be the next size up, though even here you run into problems. Your current wheels are 7.5 J but the permitted range for these tyres are 8.0 J to 9.5 J. The closest fit would be actually be the same setup BMW uses (on their RWD cars), which are 225/40 R18 fronts and 255/35 R18 rears. Again, 255/35 R18 requires wider wheels (8.5 J to 10.0 J) but then rubbing may become an issue, for either axle.

[walbjj]

i guess the first question is why would you do this, and who said it was a good idea?

[dylan8]

I guess you have a 225/40 currently? maybe go a 235/40?
But as above, why? as well as the above reasons, you can no long rotate wheels front to back...