Tire Help

In '94, 245-45-17s were offered as optional. They cleared the SN95 no problem. Earlier Fox, I'm not sure, but I don't THINK there was that much difference between Fox and SN95 clearances. imp

On my 93GT I run:
Front- 235/45/17
Rear- 245/40/17
No rubbing issues and quads removed.

Mustang5L5 said:

You can get a 245/45/17 up front, but a tad easier on the 91+ cars...especially LX.

I have run a 245 up front on mine. The extra GT body work on the 87-90 with smaller fenders tends to get rub

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I have 245/45/17 on 8" wheels on the front of my '89 LX with lowering springs. Had a small rub on the spats. A little work with a cutoff wheel and a dremel and that fixed it. I also have 275/40/17's on the back. No quads and no rub.

I chose the same rim sizes for my car and decided to run 235/45-17 on the front and 255/40-17 at the rear. While it would be possible to fit one size larger on each, these tires are the optimal width for the wheels. The next size larger tires are still an acceptable fit on the rim width as per the tire manufacturers and would likely fit under the car just fine also. My reason for choosing the optimal tire size for the rims is to minimize sidewall roll. The wider tires would be slightly too wide for the wheels and thus would have slightly pulled in sidewalls at the bead and a slightly rounded tread face. This has the effect of causing less stability for handling as the tire will have more tendency to flex and roll side to side. I plan to use my car for autocross and occasional track days as well as street driving, so maximizing the handling is more important to me than the appearance of a fatter tire on the car. The minimal gain in contact area would be negated by the sidewall roll so the smaller tire should actually have better overall performance. I also chose to go with extreme performance tires with a 200 treadwear rating to maximize traction and handling, even in the narrower sizes they will out perform a wider tire with a less aggressive compound.

The bottom line is that you need to decide how you want the car to perform and look, and which factor is most important to you.