what is a pro touring car? I know what pro street is but what is pro touring.?

Upgraded brakes
Upgraded handling

Just about anything else goes, but it would have to meet these 2 criteria for me to qualify it. Some build for comfort, some build for roadcourse/autocross racing, some build for "show", some try for all of the above. :)

Typically 17-18" wheels and lowered will give you the "look" of PT.

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170131

An older vehicle that will corner with the better late model vehicles. It can include major suspension rework or simple bolt ons. Brakes that are up to the task of bringing a 2 ton muscle car to a halt in a hurry. All while doing it with some form of driver and passenger comfort. Basicly it is to make an older vehicle that rides, drives, handles, and cruises with the same or better level of capibilities as a new performance car. Oh yeah it has to have the power to get it down the 1/4 mile in a respectable time too.

good question, I was wondering the same thing. I would like to have new suspension and the best brakes and more hp but, if you have to lower your car and ride with big rims and tires that is ugly.

Big wheels are required to clear the brakes.

good question, I was wondering the same thing. I would like to have new suspension and the best brakes and more hp but, if you have to lower your car and ride with big rims and tires that is ugly.

To each his own...

Cars are lowered, because the lower center of gravity usually helps handling (or at least looks like it)...

Wide tires, better handling/traction...

"bigger" rims; less side wall on the tires can improve handling, but on the street, there's a practical limit.

17" and 18" wheels, pretty excepted, and generally needed to clear larger brakes, although you could still get 12" brakes into 15" wheels in some cases. 19"+ wheels are beginning to lose functionality (improving handling, fragile, etc) for the sake of "bigger" wheels (there are some exceptions, of course).


Generally, Pro-Touring, think of the newer "Touring" cars, Cadillac CTS, BMW, etc. Newer factory cars that have beter than average handling/braking/performance while still retaining the comfort of a new car... When an older car is built to improve all aspects of performance (and comfort) but also have the look of improved performance, then IMO, thats Pro-Touring... To me, the "touring" aspect implies its a car people would be comfortable in on a long road trip (Overdrive transmissions are another of those modernization factors often included in P-T)

But, with ANY kind of label, there will be outliers, fringe elements, and mis-guided folk, but plenty of room for most... Some people might only have stock discs and 15" wheels but might consider their car "Pro-Touring" (IMO, it would have to be lowered with low-profile/wide tires though)... On the flip side, some people might have 20" wheels with 205-width tires and think their's is also "P-T"...

Of course, then there are guys like me. My car has 17" wheels, but thats it... However, I "plan" on lowering it, and eventually adding better suspension and bigger disc brakes, etc... So while I'd consider my building style to be pro-Touring, its still a far cry from fitting the definition...

To paraphrase that famous quote, "I'll know it when I see it."

there's also the more hardcore handling/braking guys, but I think these are more the G-machine type cars... These are the P-T cars that are actually built to handle better, not just look as though they do...

what is a pro touring car? I know what pro street is but what is pro touring.?combine pro-street and road-racing with air-conditioning and a kickin stereo..

i'd say Pro Touring means handling or the way it drives. So it's about:

lowered rideheight
suspension upgrades and
obviously larger wheels and upgraded brakes.

perhaps summing it up best: making and old car handle like a new one, if not better. But with the classic, killer looks.