Rick

My neighbor just brought home a 97 Targa and it's going to need tires very soon.

Current Rear Tire is 255/40/17 (Diameter: 25.00 inches) and I'm thinking of going to a 265/40/17 (Diameter 25.3 inches).

Current Front Tire is 205/50/17 (Diameter: 25.10 inches) and thinking of putting on a 225/45/17 (Diameter 25.00inches).

Is this plan OK?

Can & should we go wider on either the front or rear?

Thanks.

nile13

Why?

Rick

Two of the tires have rather severe cupping and there's not much tread left anyway.

Hey...I'm asking the questions around here!

thomed

Rick,

Wonder what color/where you bought your targa? I traded my guards red 97 targa to get my TT a year ago, Napleton Porsche. Still wonder where my baby went. Traded up in Rockford, IL. I'm from Ogden Dunes, IN, there probably aren't many targas (or, for that matter many TT) here.

Tom D.

nile13

Rick, you know what I mean. Why go with larger size?

Mike J

I am running 225's on the front of my Targa to reduce the understeer that is dialed into the car. This was pre-RS bars but it seemed to work ;-)

nile13

I would buy that, perhaps. But why go with larger rears?

STLPCA

Rick
My track tires are 17s. The 225 reduced understeer nicely w/my RoW M030 fixed sway bars. The 265 rears would diminish that handling improvement. I'd go to 225 front & stay w/the 255 rears if more balanced handling is a priority.

I see we're both in Group B for the CIRPCA April DE at Putnam - another 2 days of watching your tail lights disappearing down the track

MrCanuck

Back in November I considered larger tires for my 97 targa but decided against it. Main reasons were:
1) Wanted the S02-a's, which only came in the stock size
2) Didn't particularly want the speedo to be out of whack
3) Viken mentioned that the larger tires on the stock cups can look bulged out... I want it to look better, not worse.
Just my $0.02

Rick

This is a white car that came out of Nashville - it's got less than 25K miles and in very good shape (except for the tires).

I think we'll go to 225s on the front and stay with 255s on the rear - that appears to be the best decision. I was wanting to get some input because I had seen some posts in the archives about people putting 265s and 275s on their 17" wheels and was curious if there was any sense in doing that.

Thanks much for the input.

nile13

Rick, if you go with 225 and 255 (or 215 and 255) you can get a fairly cheap and pretty good Kumho MX tires.
Mine are just in and going on the back of teh car today.

Chris W. - '96 Targa

I put 225 front, 255 rear SO3s on my Targa about 2 months ago, and have been quite happy with the wider tire up front.



-Chris

nile13

Chris, what ratio did you use on the front? 45? Did the car become more neutral?

Chris W. - '96 Targa

Fronts are 225/45-17, rears 255/40-17. Wheels are stock Targa - 17x7 front, 17x9 rear.

For me the car's handling went from understeer to more neutral. It used to plow in sharp corners, and that has been helped, with no alignment changes (which of course could be tweaked too). And now that they've been on the car for a couple of months, I don't even notice the slight increase in bulge in the front.

And I much prefer the Bridgestone Potenza SO3s to the Kumho Ecstas they replaced.



-Chris

nile13

Did they replace Kumho MX or Kumho 712? What exactly do you like about S-03s better than Kumhos?
I appreciate your answers, as I think tires are the singular most important part of teh car's handling