Last updated on January 11th, 2024 at 05:14 pm
If you are into car modification, then you have seen some cars, usually sports cars, with different tire sizes on the rear and front axles. If you don’t know its reasons, benefits, and disadvantages, then read this article till the end to get all these questions answered.
When different tire sizes are installed on any car, it is the rear axle, that has larger tires and the front axles that have smaller tires, usually a one-inch difference. Sports cars like Porsche and Lamborghini models come in different tire sizes from the company, and some driver modifies their cars and install different tire sizes with their normal passenger cars.
Table of Contents
Reason for Different Tire Sizes
performance purposes
One of the most common reasons for different tire sizes on rear and front axles is to improve the capability of tires to handle different conditions. In rear-wheel cars, the rear tire gets more contact with the ground, and front axle tires are just there to move the car forward; when the torque pushes the axles, the rear wheel tires move, and they are the one who improves or reduces the handling, comfort, and grip performance.
In off-terrain conditions, these different tire sizes are great for achieving maximum performance as they are larger in size, and they contact properly due to the larger contact area. Similarly, they are great on summer tracks, due to improved cornering and acceleration with the help of larger sidewalls.
Aesthetics and Looks
Another reason why most modifiers of old cars use different tire sizes on the front and rear axles is due to the looks they provide. This is also the reason why sports car nowadays comes with different tire sizes, the shape going from above to downward, looks more sporty than a straight car.
The car with different tire sizes looks great not only do different tire sizes improve the performance but they look phenomenal with the aesthetic wheels. So if you want to improve the car’s looks and make your classic car more stylish, increase your rear wheel tire sizes, after consultation with your mechanic.
For balancing weight
By increasing the size of the rear wheel, some cars run more in contact. Due to the installation of the engine on the front side of the sports car, when you increase the rear wheel tire size, the car will be balanced and move in harmony. Also, if you usually put so much stuff in your car trunk, in this case, the increased rear wheel tire size will provide balance to your ride.
Disadvantages of different tire sizes
Low grip and stability
Larger rear wheel tires reduce the contact area of the front axle tires, which can cause low grip and stability in wet conditions. Also, when the car is unbalanced due to larger and smaller tire sizes, this also reduces the grip of the tire; it is not about whether you have good tires or bad; if the tire size is different on both axles, the car will lose grip and traction on wet and icy conditions.
Low rolling
When the tires are big in size on the rear or front axles, depending on the wheel-based car, the car will not be able to resist low rolling; the tire will require more force to move due to the bigger tire size than the recommended tire size.
Early wear off
The bigger rear axle tires cause the front axle tires to wear off earlier than the warranty date. The reason behind this is when the car is bent toward the front tires, the front tires have less contact distance with the road, which causes them to wear off earlier.
Similarly, the rear axle tires, due to the larger contact area, wear off earlier. Because the tires require more force to move, also these tires are not rotatable with the front axle tires, which causes them to wear off unevenly and far earlier than the front axle tires.
Advantages of different tire sizes
Weight carrying ability
most heavy-duty trucks and vehicles installed larger tires on the rear axle to carry more weight on their tanks and trunks. And this really works; the car is able to carry more weight due to the larger load index on tires of big sizes.
Also, when people want a smoother and lightweight ride, they change the front axle tire sizes to lower than the recommended ones. So when the rear axle tires are recommended sizes and front axle tires are smaller, the car is able to carry decent weight with a lightweight performance ride.
Sporty rides
By changing the tire sizes on the axles, the car delivers smoother performance rides. One of the reasons just explained above, is due to the lightweight tires, and the other reason is that the bigger tire sizes and smaller tire size combo make a fraction that contacts the ground in a way that promotes the proper cornering and handling response on summer fast tracks. This is the reason why most F1 and Sports cars use different tire sizes on the rear and front axles of the car.
Improves acceleration
Another benefit of different tire sizes on axles is that the car has a greater acceleration boost. When the rear axle tire is wider and larger, it requires more energy to move. However, the push from rear axle tires toward the front axle tires, which are lightweight and smaller, improves the acceleration. However, it sometimes causes a break to take longer time than it would take with the same size tires on every axle of the car.
Conclusion
Different tire sizes on rear and front axles have many reasons why people modify their cars and why manufacturers of sports cars equip their cars with different size tires. Even though it has few advantages, still not many people of touring passenger cars or luxury cars do that, the reasoning behind that could be the impact different tire sizes put on the car and its performance in the long run.
