Brabus

[dancote]

Originally Posted by Padawan

The reason the Brabus Smart has 15" fronts - per Smart

Interesting link but not something I'd put much credibility into. Is my Brabus model "safer" because its 15" front tires are bigger than those on our old Passion model?

I'm not trolling. I would really like to know.

I lean toward the understeer theory of why we have different size tires front and rear.

Regards,

Dan

[Padawan]

Originally Posted by dancote

Interesting link but not something I'd put much credibility into.

This was independently confirmed by the manager of my smart centre, and the information was passed down by smart USA, so whether or not it's "true", that's the reason they have provided. The idea is that there is more sidewall height, which helps absorb energy and provides more "give" in a crash.

As you mentioned, it is also probable that the desire to maintain a degree of understeer factored into the decision, as it would have proven difficult to run staggered tire sizes (narrower up front) with all four 17" wheels.