'05 Front/Rear Tire Sizes Different?!?

[sixty4half]

I just bought an '05 V6 Premium Mustang and noticed that the front and rear tires are different sizes. It has the "Premium Alloy Wheels w/ Spinners." I think the tires make up the difference in rim size difference.

The Fronts are 225/60R16
The Rears are 215/65R16

Is this stock/normal?

Here's what I know about the situation so far. Tirerack.com gives only 1 tire size for this car; 215/65-16

The owners manual states that all the tires should be the same size.

A google search of "'05 Mustang tire size difference" doesn't produce much. It did lead me here and to tirerack.com though.

I checked the first 6 pages of the '05-'9 V6 Mustang threads and found no help.

[KATO]

What were the miles on your car when you bought it? My guess would be someone was racing it, or got the sizes mixed up and mistakenly switched them around. But I'm just guessing on this.

[sixty4half]

I've only had it for a week. It's sitting at little more than 95,000. The carfax report said someone had it for many years putting 13k miles a year on it. Then someone bought it, had it for 4 months, then traded it in. I asked about it and the sales person said he traded it in on a Charger so it's possible the second owner was racing.

---------- Post added at 05:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:40 AM ----------

Are there any potential problems with having 225/60R16s when 215/65R16s are what (i assume) should be on?

[KATO]

Originally Posted by sixty4half

I've only had it for a week. It's sitting at little more than 95,000. The carfax report said someone had it for many years putting 13k miles a year on it. Then someone bought it, had it for 4 months, then traded it in. I asked about it and the sales person said he traded it in on a Charger so it's possible the second owner was racing.

---------- Post added at 05:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:40 AM ----------

Are there any potential problems with having 225/60R16s when 215/65R16s are what (i assume) should be on?

No, personally I would place the wider tires on the rear. My Tire setup on my car is "Staggered" setup: Wider Rear Tires and Rim. Those sizes are not soo different that any problems should arrise. Have a knowlegable Mech check out car totally from Eng to Rear End, to be certain everything is good.

[kickerofdoom]

Some tire size are rare or hard to find the guy just got lazy and just something close to put on to trade it in. I like my tires all the same

[sixty4half]

sry, one more question because I don't know a lot about tires. Based on what you said, I assume the 225 indicates it's wider than the 215. What's the difference in the 60 to 65 indicate?


BTW, nice GT. I really like your rims.

[KATO]

Originally Posted by sixty4half

sry, one more question because I don't know a lot about tires. Based on what you said, I assume the 225 indicates it's wider than the 215. What's the difference in the 60 to 65 indicate?


BTW, nice GT. I really like your rims.

Thanks "sixty4half", the 65 tire is a little taller than the 60. 60 being wider, just as a 50 would be wider than the sixty and shorter.

---------- Post added at 09:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 AM ----------

Originally Posted by KATO

Thanks "sixty4half", the 65 tire is a little taller than the 60. 60 being wider, just as a 50 would be wider than the sixty and shorter.

Actually I think you can go 60's all around.

[05MUSTANG4.0L]

Originally Posted by KATO

Thanks "sixty4half", the 65 tire is a little taller than the 60. 60 being wider, just as a 50 would be wider than the sixty and shorter.

---------- Post added at 09:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 AM ----------


Actually I think you can go 60's all around.

Yuppp I got
Front: 215 60 r16
Rear: 225 60 r16
& no problems here.... 4yrs+

[JimC]

No, that is not a standard tire set up.

Put the wider tire in the rear, the wider tire up front will cause some handling problems. So the 225-60x16 are 8.85" wide, and 26.62" tall.

The other tires going up front, the 215-65x16 are only 8.46" wide. BUT, they are 27" tall so a little taller tire in the front.

According to the DiscountTire website, the stock tires are the 215-65x16. So your speedometer will be off a little bit due to the shorter tire in the back. But it isn't much (60 on the stock tire will be 60.8 approximately on the 225-60x16).

[Rogue Slider]

I was going to mention Discount Tire. They list 2 different sizes for the mustang. 1 size says standard and the other size says OPT

[sixty4half]

Thanks guys. I'm going to go ahead and rotate the tires even though they don't need it just so I can eliminate any problems like the ones listed above.

[KATO]

Originally Posted by sixty4half

Thanks guys. I'm going to go ahead and rotate the tires even though they don't need it just so I can eliminate any problems like the ones listed above.

Hey, let me know what you think and how that feels after you do it.

[sixty4half]

Horrible discovery. I use a 2 ton hydraulic jack. After taking the first tire off and replacing with the spare I have found that The Mustang rides so low I can't get my jack out now. Had the tire been flat I would have been stranded on the road side with no way to jack my car up. There just wouldn't be enough room with a flat to get it under the car in the first place.

[sixty4half]

Those pics are with the jack ALL the way down.

[sixty4half]

I did the swap. IDK if it made a big difference. I don't typically drive over 80 so maybe I'm just not driving at a level where it's noticeable or maybe it's just to small a difference in tire size to truly notice.

[05MUSTANG4.0L]

Originally Posted by sixty4half

Horrible discovery. I use a 2 ton hydraulic jack. After taking the first tire off and replacing with the spare I have found that The Mustang rides so low I can't get my jack out now. Had the tire been flat I would have been stranded on the road side with no way to jack my car up. There just wouldn't be enough room with a flat to get it under the car in the first place.

Ha my stock jack handle broken while changing my blowntire on the rush hour traffic, was stuck there for an hour until I set my entire car on the spare you're while I readjusted the jack