Front Suspension and wide tires

ByUBlue · April 3, 2003

I need soem input from those of you who know more than me about front suspensions...which won't take much. ???

I have 60s on the front of my 93 GMS SWB pickup.

It came with 75s. Big difference.

I had to recently replace my idler and stedman arms which really should not have worn out and seem to have alignment and issues of my front wheels "skipping" when I cut the wheel hard. They also have a tendency to slide easily when I cut the wheel hard.

Is this because the wide tires are throwing off my suspension geometry?

If so, what are the widest tires I would be safe with? ???

MountaineerTom · April 3, 2003

Hmm, I had 275/60/15's on the front and back of my '91 2wd Silverado without any problems at all. The truck had a little over 89,000 miles on it when it was totaled, and I had those size tires on it for about 60-65,000 miles of that. I only had to trim a piece of that rubber wheel well liner on the drivers side because it rubbed when the wheel was turned all the way.

I had no suspension problems at all during that time. The truck handled great with those tires.

ByUBlue · April 3, 2003

interesting...you had the EXACT size tires I have on mine...but I got about 107K on my 93 ???

"SoDam Insane" should be caught and stoned...by his fellow countrymen.

Big Boy · April 3, 2003

the 75 or 60 number you are referring to is the sidewall height as a percentage of the treadwidth which is the first and larger number 275/75 is no wider than a 275/60. the /60 is just a lower profile tire.

Either way it sounds more like an alignment problem than anything else.

MountaineerTom · April 3, 2003

I think he's refering to the 75's as 235/75/15, which was the stock size tires on the 2wd. The 275/60/15 were shorter and wider than the 235's. The 275's were the same size that came on the 454SS's.