#3

Hokay, yesterday following a run in with a small furry animal that led my new FD to spin i decided that my first post winter investment will be wheels and tires. In the interest of maintaining neutral handling characteristics what would your recommendation be. I'm eventually looking at making ~400whp w/ a single turbo, interested 17" wheels and i've had my eye on the Volk TE37 time attack wheels. how wide can i go (in the rear) before i negatively affect handling?

Hah! It's not a "will these wheels/tires fit my car" question!

<<patiently awaits flame attacks>>

 

My opinion is this:

Don't SACRIFICE rear fitment size in the name of matching the front.... particularly on the street, where I believe having the same size all around is less valuable except for being able to rotate for tire wear.

If you have no problem using a really big front tire, like a 17x10" w/ 275/40/17, then by all means use it and match it with the same in the rear.

If the wheels you choose really only allow a 9" rim, and/or you'd like a little more clearance margin up front and thus want to run a 255/40/17, GREAT... but DO NOT feel you then have to go that small in the rear. Go for the 10" 275/40/17 for the rear.

I don't see any offsets listed on the Time Attack wheel link, but you look like you might fave the options of 9" all around, 9.5" all around, or 9" F, 9.5" R. Get the offsets, and we can halp you pick.

 

I'm not concerned with matching the front size, i don't want to cause it to understeer by going with too large a tire in the rear.

The offsets are listed with the specific wheels. for example the 17x9.5's (the widest of the 17's) has a 35mm offset. the 17x9 has a 65mm offset. even better website now that i've looked more is here:

Sorry for the massive size.

 

Sucky selection of offsets for the FD.

You could probably fit 9.5" +35's in the rear, but I wouldn't use them up front. No way a 9" +63 will fit up front.

in 18", you might could go with the 9.5 +35 rear, w/ 265/35/18 or 275/35/18 ... and a 9" +40 front w/ 245/35/18 or 255/35/18.

Get your fenders rolled.

 

It will with a 1/2" spacer and longer studs. (But at those prices, I'd call CCW to get the right offsets out of the box.)

 

Unless something is broken, the FD should be fine as it is.

I've always run equal sized tires on my FD, and it's fairly neutral as it is (even when they were all 235's with the stock suspension).

The problem I had, in the past, is that I turned the steering wheel too quick and too much.

Getting rid of that habit cured many of my understeer/oversteer problems.

Having said that, the answer to your question depends on your suspension. Putting 285s in the back will seem like it solves one problem (oversteer) but may create others.

 

Once your FD gets over 350WHP, larger rear than front is needed and no way will upset the hangling.

Be sure to visit the Pettit site for recommended changes in alignment for larger than stock wheels & tires.