i recently bought some new wheels (the 99+ mustang gt ones, 17x8) with staggered tires- 235f/255r. i read through quite a few threads on the subject, but i didn't find a definite answer to my question.

what i'm wondering is: will this combination make it harder for me to learn to drive my car at autocrosses and open track-type events? it's an s4 gxl, so i'm guessing that my car won't have near enough power to take advantage of this setup. i'm in the process of getting a streetported rebuild, but i'm pretty sure that won't it a worthwhile combination.

my suspension is all stock (previous owner said it was totally redone w/oem stuff recently, so it should be in good shape) so i'm assuming that the balance of the car will be altered to a point way beyond somebody just starting out. when i put them on, they did look pretty neat, but i got over that in a couple of days. my goal is to make it a good car for learning and developing some good basic driving techniques. so, should i change the rears to 235 (or maybe 225)?

 

you most likely will have some rubbing issues in the front with stock suspension. the 235's are a bit taller than the stock tires, and the wider tread means more grip, resulting in more susp compression in corners. nothing a bat to the fenders wont fix.
stagger- the car will definately be balanced the best with even tires all around. more rear tire means more understeer at the limit. thats not necessarily a bad thing, you just have to drive it differently than you would with same size tires all around. i know with my driving style, i would benefit with staggered tires. i never get understeer in autocrosses- just oversteer (i started autox'ing in an MR2).
power- my s4 GXL would spin 245 gForce TA KD's (sticky!!) in 2nd gear while cornering, so i wouldnt say that's too much tire. too much for drifting maybe, but i could still rotate the car with the gas fairly easily.

 

hey, thanks for the help. i definitely plan on rolling the fenders, i have the heat gun and everything but i haven't gotten around to doing it. i've had a little rubbing, but i'm just taking it easy until i get that taken care of.

 

Just knowing the width doesn't say anything about them being taller or shorter. 235/45/17's are taller, 235/40/17's are shorter. Which are you using? Please post which tires you're using and the results of your anti-rubbing efforts.

I'd definetely un-stagger them. I've got the 99+ GT wheels too and I've autocrossed and track driven it a bunch. I've always used 225/45/17's and the balance is pretty good, with a stagger it'll understeer a lot more. Unless the tires are old and hard, the surface is rough or slick, or I am really aggressive with it I can't get the tires to spin, so 225's are enough tire for stock like power levels. With the equal tires it still understeers, not much, but a bit.

 

i believe they are 235/40's, but i will double check tomorrow in the daylight. as soon as i roll the fenders, i'll post the results and go over some of the bumps that use to cause them to rub to see if it helps.

as for the unstaggering, i think i'll try to trade someone around here my 255s for their 235s, i don't want it to understeer any more than it did with stock tires.

 

maybe its just my driving style, but i pretty much never had understeer on any of my rx7s. it was grip, then oversteer. iv'e never had stock suspension tho.