Just got Wheels, TCS is messing up.....HELP!

Joined
16 December 2002
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85
Location
Atlanta, GA USA
I just bought a set of Enkei RPM2's. Tire sizes are 215/40/ZR17(front) 225/35/ZR18(rear)the tires are Yokohama Parada Spec 2's. After installation I took a little test drive, first gear was fine, in second the TCS came on and wouldn't allow me to go past half throttle. What do I do? btw, the car runs fine with TCS turned off.
 
Originally posted by gatdamn:
I just bought a set of Enkei RPM2's. Tire sizes are 215/40/ZR17(front) 225/35/ZR18(rear)the tires are Yokohama Parada Spec 2's. After installation I took a little test drive, first gear was fine, in second the TCS came on and wouldn't allow me to go past half throttle. What do I do? btw, the car runs fine with TCS turned off.

You just don't have the right pair. For the rear you need at least 275/35/18, when you go as low as 35. Your rear is to small now for your TCS working alright.

Gerard
 
225 in the back ??

Perhaps a typo an you are running a 285x35x18 in the back. If so, you have mimatched tire diameters. TCS can normally allow the front-to-rear tire diameter to be within 5% of each other. If you are running a 215 front and 285 rear, that is a difference in overall diameter of 8%. You need more tire up front.
 
Not a typo, Discount tires reccommended the 225 in the rear. I origionally opted for a 10" rear, but they stated that the car would not run right with something that big, I told them about almost all upgraded wheels on a NSX are 10". or that I've seen anyway,. but they talked me into the smaller wheel/tire. I called this morning and they stated that the front is .5" taller and the rear is .7" smaller than factory heighth. Any suggestions?
 
Holy cow. Those guys have no idea what they are talking about. Tons of people (including me) run 18"x10" rears with 275 or 285 width tires. You certainly don't NEED a rear wheel or tire that wide but it is no problem to do so if the wheel is properly designed (offset, etc.) for the car.

For the stock 15"/16" tires (1991-1993), the rear tire diameter is 7.7% larger than the front tire diameter.

For the stock 16"/17" setup (1994-2001), the rear is 4.7% larger than the front.

You need to keep the ratio within 5% of whatever you car came with from the factory. In other words, for a '91-'93 car, the range is 7.7% +/- 5%, or between 2.7& and 12.7%, for TCS to work. It is best to try and keep it closer than 5% if at all possible.

The diameter of the rear tire they sold you is 1.8% larger than the diameter of the front tire they sold you.

This would probably be OK on a '93+ car, but they are too different from the stock front-to-rear size ratio to work on a '91-'93 car, so I am guessing you have a '91-'93 car.

Your options are:

1. Live with it and not have a functional TCS with those tire sizes

2. Replace the tires with appropriate sizes (may need to replace wheels as well to properly fit the correct tire sizes)

Since these are the sizes they recommended, and they are incorrect for the car and cause one of it's safety features to malfunction (TCS is considered a safety feature) I am pretty sure it should not be difficult to pressure them into fixing their mistake at no cost. I doubt Discount Tire corporate HQ wants one of their shops to cause a safety feature on a customer's car to be inoperative.

[This message has been edited by Lud (edited 19 December 2002).]
 
Lud is right.

One more thing:

Originally posted by gatdamn:
I called this morning and they stated that the front is .5" taller and the rear is .7" smaller than factory heighth.

This is exactly why they don't work. If the front increases by .5" then you need to increase, not decrease, the rear by roughly the same amount, to keep the outer diameters in the same ratio as stock.

Their figures are off slightly, though. If you have a '91-93, the outer diameter of the front is bigger by 0.7" and the rear is smaller by 0.7"; if you have a '94-01, the front is bigger by 0.2" and the rear smaller by 0.5".
 
Wow is right!Get rid of that rear 225 and get a 265/35/18 soon.What size is the wheel itself,18/?If they sold you a narrower than 8 in wide rear wheel you need at least a 9 in to optimize your tire choices.Holy smoke!
 
Thanks alot guys, I've been hounding them for the past 2 days now, but I haven't heard any more than "I'll have to do some research on it." Plus they keep trying to get me to go to an Acura dealership and get the computer changed to allow for the wheels/tires. The rear wheels are 18x8.5" wide. They look great but It's getting into winter time and TCS might come in useful. I'll see if I can either order a wider wheel, or get something bigger than a 35 series tire. If any of you guys want to see what I'm talking about, E-mail me and I'll send out pics. [email protected]
 
I think you have enough info by now to know that you should NOT go to the dealer to have your computer changed. That's the biggest bunch of crap I've ever heard of. The computer isn't at fault. It's the fault of the tire salesman that sold you the wrong size tire and now they're trying to cover their asses.

I can't believe Discount Tire would tell you this. I am definitely not slamming Discount Tire because they have always treated me right. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they realize that THEY made the mistake and will right the situation. Good luck and have patience.
 
what appears to have happened is that someone (either gatdamn or discount tire) chose the tire model first and then worked backwards to put the package together. the problem is that the parada spec 2 doesn't come wider than 225.

there are two solutions:

1. keep the wheels and switch to a tire that comes in 255/35-18. not ideal as 8.5" is a bit narrow for this size, but it will work.

2. do as docjohn suggests and replace the rear wheel with one that's at least 9" wide.

i got a good laugh out of discount tire's suggestion to have acura change the tcs computer. do go to acura with this ludicrous request and get the response in writing. then take it back to discount tire for additional ammunition.
 
Also...

Please drive carefully whilst you are using this 215/225 tire combination. Not only has this change confused your TCS, it has probably changed the handling characteristics of the car as well. Assuming its a 91-93, youve added 10mm to the fronts, but nothing to the rears so this will probably give it a tendency to oversteer.
 
Thanks again, still no word from them, but I'm sure they will be returning my call. It seems to be handling ok. keep in mind I have only owned an NSX for a couple months.
 
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