The new mustang has 40 more horse power and 18 pound torque more, but they put a less porformance oriented tire set up on them? Was this for better fuel milage, ride quality, or what? The old set up was 245/45/17 and the new is 235/55/17. nobody i know knows the official reason for this. I have 300+ horsepower on bullit 17" with the factory tire set up and smoke them by not even trying :scratch:

 

overall handling on all weather and costs. Really there is no real reason.

 

Ford did it so that you and I would replace the tires at first op.

 

I work in the parts dept. of a ford dealership on the back counter. The service dept. had alot of pre-05 mustangs coming in with vibrations. I think Ford wants to limit warranty costs by going with taller tires that will reduce the vibrations. Plus alot of people will change tires for something wider. That will keep Ford from dealing with tire warranties and put it on the tire manufacturer of tire you buy. JMO

 

Ford wants to minimize every bump and imperfection in the road reminding their Mustang customers that they a have an archaic solid rear axle suspension.

 

Man, let it go, jack.

 

Actually, look at the times people are getting at the track. With the old gatorbacks, it was hard to get less than a 2.1 60' time...with the new Pirellis a lot of folks are seeing 1.8 times. There's more to tires than just size. Tread pattern, composition, etc all play a part.

And the taller tire probably has more sidewall flex, giving better grip on hard launches. After all, there are not too many low profile slicks out there...

 

Also don't forget the '05 outpeforms the '04 Cobra with wider/lower tires and IRS in the slalom.

 

Ford chose these tires because the are All seasons so they can be used in snow if need be and ride comfort. The stock tires are a poor choice for a performance application IMO.

 

Ford went to taller tires because they wanted the 18" wheel package from the factory to be available. (Ok, it got delayed until '06). The taller tire meant that there would be a bit more sidewall for the bigger wheels. The last thing they want is people complaining of bending rims with an ultra-low profile 18" wheel, in addition to the jarring ride.

The thinner 17's could be for a few reasons, I guess that it intices people to step up to the wider 18's if they want the extra grip. (again, we have to wait for '06). Another reason is cost IMO. Considering the GT outhandles the SN95's they didn't feel they wanted to spend the extra money for wider tires when they didn't need to.

 

I do...

This is partially correct...

There are 2 main reasons for the tire size:

1) Taller tire fills wheel well better and leaves less gap (seen any pics of these babies with 245/45's? )

2) They wanted a larger difference between the 17" and 18" wheel/tire combo so that more people would opt for the 18's


Hope this clears everything up

 

I dont know if that would be entirely true though either. Ford could have lowered the car a few mm's to account for the gap. Also, I feel Ford chose the taller sidewalls also for traction reasons.

 

Actually, the 235/55/17 and 255/50/17 that some guys are replacing them with, are essientially the same diameter. Not sure how the stock tires fills the wheel well better. :scratch:

 

they're big enough to use on a truck as a mud terrain tire

 

I'm sorry, I guess you missed the part in the Fordstar broadcast that I watched for the Mustang launch where Paul Russell gave these reasons; or maybe you have a "source" :bang:
These are FACTS, not rumor and conjecture or guesses...

Quote:

Originally posted by wjones14@February 24, 2005, 7:56 AM
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Actually, the 235/55/17 and 255/50/17 that some guys are replacing them with, are essientially the same diameter. Not sure how the stock tires fills the wheel well better. :scratch:

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The comparison is between last year's 245/45 17, not replacement tires...

 

Those maybe a reason he gave, but I don't buy it. A taller sidewall will give you a better ride, which is something the suspension engineers were able to achieve. Ford mentioned that they went with the SRA for drag racer; with that in mind the taller sidewalls offer more flex for better 60' times. I know that Ford didn't choose these tires for handling.

 

here's my 2 cents..... big whooop. My 97 GT had the 245/45's on it and they were only 1cm wider and 1/4" less in diameter than the tires on my 2005 GT. If people are going to complain about being 1cm shorter you have a lot of disappointing days ahead of you.

Besides, some of us are replacing them anyway and would have done so even if they put 245's on it. On another note, the Pirelli's that came with my 05 were alot better than the Goodyear tires that were on my 97.

 

Those maybe a reason he gave, but I don't buy it. A taller sidewall will give you a better ride, which is something the suspension engineers were able to achieve. Ford mentioned that they went with the SRA for drag racer; with that in mind the taller sidewalls offer more flex for better 60' times. I know that Ford didn't choose these tires for handling.
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:crazy:

 

You are crazy for believing Ford's explanation. I guess you believe Ford explanation too about why they didn't use an IRS. If you fell for the drag racing excuse I am sorry for ya, it came down to COST.

 

You are crazy for believing Ford's explanation. I guess you believe Ford explanation too about why they didn't use an IRS. If you fell for the drag racing excuse I am sorry for ya, it came down to COST.
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Have you actually seen one of these cars with the shorter sidewall tires? It looks worse than it did on the sn-95's. It MAKES SENSE (which not everyone has) that this along with the differentiation between the 17 and 18 would be the reasons, not "more flex for a better 60' time". If this were the case, tell me again why Ford didn't use the IRS? You say it was for cost, not drag racing, yet you imply that they used the taller tires for "better 60' times"?