mis3

In my 2004 CLK-320 coupe, the dimensions of the stock tires are 205-55-16 (Front) and 225-50-16 (Back).

Why are the advantages of having a lower profiled tires in the back? How do you rotate the tires?

Now, I plan to upgrade to 17-inch in the summer, should I use similar setup (40 and 45 series) or go with one profile only?

Lynn

Race cars use wider tires on the rear to increase traction for the drive wheels. On street car it is more oftem for appearance than performance. But some street cars benefit from wider tires on the rear. The reason the aspect ratio is smaller is so that the overall diameter of the front and rear wheels is the same. Mismatched front and rear diameters will adversely effect the ESP.

You can't rotate the tires. As for whether the 17's should be a matched set of four or staggered, the choice is entirely yours. Your CLK320 won't really benefit in terms of performance when using staggered tires. Four matched tires will allow you to rotate them.

Luke@tirerack

the reason for wider rear tires is to induce understeer to make the car safer to drive .... it also reduces the throttle induced oversteer .....


you can't rotate your tires .....

mis3

Thanks I understand now. The staggered configuration will give a little gain in cornering stability. However, with uni-directional tires, you cannot rotate the tires at all, this means you will wear out the tires faster (on the drive wheels).

What's your opinion? Does the pros out-weigh the cons?