I am currently using 245/40 18 on the front and planning to get a new set for the back (currently have 255/40 18, but am unable to get new tyres in this size).

I was wondering if 245/40 18 will work on the back or not, or should I go for 265/35 18 with out any VDC issues since these are the only tire sizes available where I live.

Thanks.

 

First tell us what rims are on the car.

 

Neither are ideal, but the 245/40/18 in the back would be better than the 265/35/18 if you had absolutely no other choices. I assume you have 18x8 or 18x8 and 18x8.5.

 

both rims are 18x8.

So, if its 245/40 18 both on the front and back, it would not be an issue for vdc ?

 

245/40-18” Front with 265/35-18” Rear won’t work at all if your car has VDC since your fronts are taller than your rears. When accelerating (even when driving in a straight line), the car will feel as though it’s hesitating.

245/40-18” Front and Rear (“all square”) will run better than the above setup, but there are problem reports by a couple of members using this setup. The problem is unwanted VDC activation resulting in sudden power loss and even ABS activation as VDC falsely senses an incorrect speed-ratio of wheel rotation. This happens in long sweeping turns (freeway clover-leafs being an example). The attractive feature of this setup is allowing you to rotate your tires.

A better choice on your VDC-equipped car is 245/40-18” front with 245/45-18” Rear. 245/45-18” is a common tire size so you won’t have any problem finding this tire for a reasonable cost. This setup works perfectly with VDC. I’m running this setup on my VDC-equipped car, and I really like the neutral steer.

There is a caveat with a 245/40-18” Front with 245/45-18” Rear setup: When the rear tires are new, the handling is neutral and just a lot of fun to drive. However, the rear tires wear faster than the fronts on a rear wheel car. Once the rears wear past the fronts, the neutral steer goes to over-steer. That can make the car tricky when pushing hard in a turn. Of course VDC will mitigate this problem, but it’s disconcerting when VDC activates and you are not in any type of emergency situation. I find this annoying to the point that I plan going back to wider wheels with a staggered tire-width setup.

Hope this helps,

--Spike