tires 155/60 front + 165/60 rear: ESP/ABS issues?

[dguy]

G'day,

 

Does anyone know if pairing 165/60 rear tires against the OE 155/60 front will cause undesired ESP/ABS intervention? 

 

Last season's Hakkapeliitta R2 fronts are in great shape, but the mystery brand rears are done and Nokian does not provide a the OE 175/55 rear tire.

 

165/60 rear should turn approximately 12 revolutions per km less than the fronts, which is double that of the OE 175/55 rear.  Whether or not that will trip the nanny system, I have no idea.  Hopefully someone out there has tried this combination and has some feedback to share.

Edited September 11, 2018 by dguy
fixed tire size in second sentence.

[jwight]

According to this you can probably get away with it, although narrower tires on the rear could be a handling issue: https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-size-calculator

[dguy]

Thanks, that's a similar calculator to what I used earlier to determine the revolutions per km change.  Not that I would expect them to, but neither calculator answers the question of at what point a deviation from the OE tire sizes will confuse the ESP/ABS system.

 

As for the width change vs. potential handling issues, it's a double-edged sword.  With a wider (winter) tire comes a greater chance of floating on top of snow or slush rather than slicing through it and making ground contact.

[jwight]

Way back in 2008 I put a set of winter tires on a 451 - 5 in. rims in front, 6 in. rims in rear, stock tire size in front, the rears were 175/65 vs. 175/55.  That was enough to set off the ESP and put the car into limp home mode.  Swapped the rears for stock size tires and problem solved.

[Huronlad]

3 hours ago, jwight said:

although narrower tires on the rear could be a handling issue:

 

 

145/65R15 front/rears in the winter since 2009, still here to tell the tale.

[dguy]

22 hours ago, jwight said:

Way back in 2008 I put a set of winter tires on a 451 - 5 in. rims in front, 6 in. rims in rear, stock tire size in front, the rears were 175/65 vs. 175/55.  That was enough to set off the ESP and put the car into limp home mode.  Swapped the rears for stock size tires and problem solved.

 

So the "trigger point" then lies somewhere between 6 rev/km and 39 rev/km.

 

145/65 front + 175/55 rear (stock 450): rear turns 3 revolutions per km less than front

155/60 front + 175/55 rear (stock 451): rear turns 6 revolutions per km less than front

155/60 front + 175/65 rear: rear turns 39 revolutions per km less than front

155/60 front + 165/60 rear: rear turns 12 revolutions per km less than front

 

Which side of the border the 12 rev/km combination is on, is the question.  The answer to which may be buy-it-and-try-it.