Okay, I'm considering getting some different wheels for my FD, but I autoX, and I'm not too sure I want to get aftermarket wheels and sacrifice the car's already fantastic handling.

I'd like to know among other things -

1. For those that autoX, what is your ideal setup (disregarding reclassification)?

2. How does having different widths of tires in back and front affect handling on the street and at autoX?

3. How does wheel size (with proper fitment of tires according to offset, etc.) affect handling?

Some of these seem obvious (i.e. larger footprint = more traction), but I don't know what I give up to get another thing.

TIA,

-E

p.s. If mods need to move this to wheel & tire that's cool, but I was hoping to leave it here for more exposure and the discussion specifically geared towards FDs. Thanks!

 

*putting larger wheels/tires on the rear will shift the balance towards understeer

*going to larger, wider wheels (heavier) will increase the unsprung weight. This will hamper the ability of the suspension to react and will slightly affect acceleration and braking.

*having wider tires will give more traction, provided the wheels are wide enough for the tire size, other factors could change such as breakaway, wider tires also tend to follow road variations more easily

 

if you want to keep the FDs nimbleness go with a lightweight 17 and stick with 225-45-17 or 225-40-17s up front. 265s are plenty in the rear unless you have some serious hp. The most important is going with good tires. I couldn't stress this enough. I went from the stock 16s to heavy chrome 18s but also went with Nitto 555s (absolute crap) My FD with stock 16s and Dunlop D40M2s would run a circle around my FD now (as far as handling and cornering) They are only 18x8 rims all around so I'm presuming it's the crappy tire. S02s or S03s seem to be a good choice among people.

 

Thanks!

I had a feeling it would understeer it if I put wider rubber/rims on the back. By breakaway, I assume you mean how long it takes before the tires actually lose traction during cornering and break loose from the road? It improves the breakaway point I'm guessing. I also assume along with that comes the "moment of truth" where once they have broken loose, there's almost no coming back.

Define "serious horsepower". I'll have ~360 to the wheels in the next 2-3 weeks (after dyno and tune). Thanks for the input!

-E

p.s.

Anyone autoX out there? Still waiting to hear the ideal setup, though I'm leaning toward using the stock wheels for autoX and putting whatever look nice/handles decent on the street car.