Re: Need better handling!
...while the dia difference is not good for the transfer case, handling (IMHO) can be effected by:
-Tire Compound, Tire Tread Design, Tire Pressure, Tread Depth and tire wear
-Sidewall Flexibility, Sidewall Construction and Sidewall height
-Tire Width and proper fitting on Tire Rim (cupping or ballooning)
-Tire Balance front to rear and side to side
-Front and Rear Alignment/Tracking
-Use or non-use of rear and/or front sway bar (adjustment and thickness)
-Shocks and their settings (rebounding, compression, travel, foaming)
-Spring rate and composition (along with sprung/unsprung weight)
-Front to rear transfer weight during braking, acceleration, turning
-Steering box and ratio (and possible use of a steering damper)
-and of course front/rear suspension components (ball joints, etc).
One could have "sticky" tires and a lousy suspension setup with incorrect tire pressures
and create oversteer, understeer or braking weight transfer problems by overloading
the handling characteristics of a vehicle. Ive seen the champ/indy cars adjust downforce
and tire pressures to 1/2 psi to dramatically change handling....and if you consider our
vehicles being 4,000 lbs vs 2,000 then a lot of things come into play other than tire dia
(but it does contribute if one considers skinny/tall tires vs fat/short tires - ie wagon wheels
vs formula 1 wheels).
Lastly, when your talking about roads/highway handling (vs track conditions) one has
to consider concrete vs asphalt vs seams vs grooves vs oil residue etc.
ZR1 275/315s will tend to follow every groove and create wandering on imperfect streets.
But they probably improve one`s cornering ability. Then theres pot holes, dirt/gravel/stones
curbs, water/hydroplaning, wind, 18-wheelers, temperature of the pavement and such to consider.
Personally I think more "information" is required to determine how the owner wants the
vehicle to handle on what type of roads under what type of conditions to determine a cure...
-Larry Brown
