The car is a 1989 GTUs. It will be an occasional street car and two or three times a year track day car. It will have a 20B N/A in by the end of the summer.

My question is, will a 17x8 front and a 17x9.5 rear be too much of a stagger? As in adversely effecting my steering balance.

I really want more meat in the rear but 17x8.5 front seems to be pushing it.

I am trying to stay as flush as I can. I don't want my wheels sticking out. I am not pulling or rolling my fenders.

 

I run 17x8 up front with 235 40 17 tires. I run 17x9 in the rear with 275 40 17 tires. I'm about 2300 lbs and 400 rwhp and it sticks pretty good with Toyo RA-1's in those sizes. I have the 25mm widebody fenders up front and run a 25 mm wheel spacer and coilovers. In the rear I've rolled the fender, but I didn't need to. I do leave a tiny bit of rubber on the inside of the fenderwell and the outside of the suspension arm when cornering very hard (1.35 g)

-Trent

 

I love to see some pictures of your setup. I was thinking about going with a Mariah front wide fender but I was really not wanting to do that. I am trying to stay basically stock lines. I am curious to see how a 275 looks on a 9" wheel. I have Cusco Zero2R coilovers.

I know I have room for the 9.5" on the rear. But will that induce to much understeer if I only have the 8" in front?

 

Hey, I was in the same boat as far as trying to get some traction in the rear, but not wanting too much understeer.

I was able to do 275/40-17 on 17x9.5 +40 and 255/40-17 17x8.5 +30.

Here is my thread w/ pics
https://www.rx7club.com/suspension-wheels-tires-brakes-20/blue-tii-new-fitment-stock-fenders-255-40-17-front-275-40-17-rear-772831/

It turns out that I will have to roll the rear lip under a bit at the 10 o' clock and 2 o' clock positions to get the full suspension travel or run more than 1 deg out back- although 255 in the rear would be another solution.

I am also going to run Shine +30mm fenders up front in hopes of eventually going to 9.5 rim up front w/ 275 as well.

 

275's are a long shot up front- the tire is too tall, so that creates more problems. it will hit stuff inside the wheel well, as well as the back edge of the fender.
realistically, 255 is the max with the typical 20-30mm fenders.
in short, i'd say 17x9 +15-20 with 255/40/17 and wide fenders, and 275/10/17 rear on whatever size wheel (10, 10.5) with +35

 

If you follow my link you will see the 17x8.5 +30 and 255/40-17 on stock front fenders.

Next step is to mount the Shine/Foresight fenders and see if I can squeeze the 275 in next season.

 

nvm, you have seen the thread :P

 

its not the width that the problem its the height. the tire is an inch taller than your 255's.
anyway, byy all means go for it! if you can pull it off, i think it'l be a first.
another option you may consider is 285/30/18. they are the same height as the 255's. i'm gonna test fit those as soon as i can find a wheel to borrow

 

That is all very, very useful information but my question was, "Will a 17x8 front and 17x9.5 rear wheel cause to much understeer?"

 

This greatly depends on the tires you intend on running.

I run 225f/245r on 16s and get too much oversteer. Wheel sizes aren't going to tell you how the car will behave. Suspension setup, tires, alignment, and differential setups can.

 

No, because essentially you could run 225's or 245's all around. Rim width does not dictate steering balance. Offset and tire width would more so.

 

even with staggered tires, a fat rear sway bar will bring the balance back without affecting your drag performance. its a nice bandaid for those who wanna turn and go strait.

 

Thanks for the info....

 

Very true. I've even read that drag-specifically some guys take the front sway bar right out, helps grip on launch I guess. OP doesn't sound like his interest is fully in drag racing though, if he's worrying about understeer.