Rear Wheels on the Front?

[runflat]

When I took delivery of the car I asked the dealer if I could put a set of the wider rear wheels on the front as well. I was told it throws the balance of the car off. Anyone know if this is actually true?

The dealer also told me this would void the warranty...is that true?

[mfoster]

Offsets are different front to rear. Wider tires are available. Check out the "Pulse" model on one of the european smart sites. On the Pulse the 175's are on the front and 195's are on the rear. They do not use the rear wheels in this instance. They use wider front wheels with the proper offset.

[SmartDigger]

I can't see how that would void the warranty.

[cervixsmasher]

There are laws to protect consumers in regards to aftermarket mods and voiding warranties. The warranty can't be voided unless the damage was caused by a mod you had done to the car.

[mfoster]

Changing offset by putting rear wheels on front will cause wheel bearings to fail prematurely. Take car back to dealer to have it fixed and they'll tell you to take a hike.

[Dunerunner]

I guess the answer is to get the tires and wheels you want but always put the stocks on when visiting the dealer!!

[smart fortimo]

Originally Posted by Dunerunner

I guess the answer is to get the tires and wheels you want but always put the stocks on when visiting the dealer!!

Devious, Dunerunner

[fmaxwell]

The fortwo has different sized wheels to minimize rollover and to account for the RWD/rear-engine design from a handling perspective. The initial introduction of the smart was delayed while Mercedes addressed the rollover problem. One aspect of the fix was narrower front tires.

[rgaus]

Interesting coincidence. Just yesterday I went to the Tirerack website and saw that their recommended snow tire size for the 2008 smart car was the 175 for BOTH front and back. I immediately called their Technical Support people and told them to research that recommendation since I thought they would be open to some liability. (If that combination would work, why in Heaven's name would smart go through the trouble of putting two different size tires on their stock vehicles, I explained). Further confusing the issue was Tire America's recommendation for the two DIFFERENT size tires on our 2004/2005/2006 European converted smart cars in the US, just like the stock vehicles. Not sure, but I imagine Tirerack's recommendations should change on the 2008's sometime later this week... but maybe not, based upon the other feedback in this forum...

Ron Gaus, aSmartCar.com, St. Louis

[Evilution]

Originally Posted by mfoster

Changing offset by putting rear wheels on front will ..........

The maximum difference in offset between the front and rear 451 alloys is 1.5mm. This much offset change will not increase bearing wear at all.

Extra weight will reduce the operational life of the bearings (but we are talking weeks), luckily the bearings are a 10 minute job.