Front Tire Width

[Madlock]

I'm in the home stretch of The Great SVTPP Alternative Tire Sweepstakes and would appreciate any helpful guidance or perspective pertaining to front tire width.

 

The OE front tire is 265/40-19. Of the sizes available to me for an alternative, I can choose from either 245/40-19, 275/40-19 or 245/45-19. There are various costs and benefits to each, but I'm specifically trying to understand the degree to which certain aspects might be affected.

 

245/40-19 is probably the "quick 'n easy" choice. There'd be no clearance issues whatsoever (not even theoretical ones), it should be less subject to scrub (-20mm) and reduce the likelihood of hydroplaning.

 

275/40-19 offers some very attractive possibilities. A 275/40-19 would also be a suitable replacement size for the OE SVTPP rear tires, meaning I could maintain a set of fully-rotatable "everyday" wheels and tires that are very consistent with their intended purpose - particularly with the F-1 G: 2's mounted on the original wheels and set aside for track use.

 

The most notable considerations would be using 10" wheels front and rear (I could get away with 9" front wheels, but at the expense of the full benefit of a common wheel and tire on all four corners) and an increased propensity for scrub and hydroplaning (though at only +10mm, I'm not certain how much of a real-world difference there's likely to be).

 

SVT assures me Ford wouldn't bring to market any car in which a single width wider tire would ever create any clearance problems - so I'm not worried about the front-end being able to handle a 275mm tire. I'm more concerned with how it would affect handling and road-holding - particularly compared to a 245mm tire. It's just so damn potentially attractive - because it also splits the difference between OE front and rear tire diameters almost perfectly down the middle.

 

245/45-19 would be the wildcard. Frankly, it would only become an option of a 275mm front tire were to be an inherently bad idea and using a 285/35-19 rear tire became preferable to the 275/40-19 to maintain proper front-rear stance balance. 45 is an awful lot of sidewall for a car that's meant to handle so aggressively, but nothing is off the table entirely in a world where so many moving parts have to be taken into account.

 

I'd appreciate any guidance or advice anybody may have about these three choices. The rear is much easier - by virtue of only two suitable rear size candidates in the model of tire I'm going to use (285/35-19 or 275/40-19) - but I'd certainly welcome any thoughts about deciding between these two as well before I make my final decision this week so I can order and mount them.

 

Many thanks in advance.