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why go with different wheel sizes front and back?

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Old 03-03-04, 02:50 AM
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why go with different wheel sizes front and back?

hi. i have been reading through the archives and stuff i pulled up on search, although most discussion was for FD setups. i am looking at wheels and tires for a FC. a lot of people have gone with a staggered wheel setup on their cars. i was originally planing on going the same size all the way around, for economic reasons, and for what i thought as keeping the original balance. however, is there good reason to go with, say 225/45/17 on 17x8 in the front, and 255/40/17 on 17x9 in the rear (where do you even get 17x9 rims anyways...), over 17x8 all around? i don't know exactly how the dynamics of the car will be affected until i try it, but would you not lose some turn in (or do you gain...) and generate more understeer this way (staggered)? i know this question is application dependent, but i am just looking for a general explanation. if anyone really wants to know though, just say so.

thanks

Last edited by coldfire; 03-03-04 at 03:11 AM.
Old 03-03-04, 12:34 PM
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two words: understeer sucks.
people have staggered setups because 1) they have insanely powerful cars
2) they drive a Porsche or other mid-rear engine car
3) they possess mad skillz
4) they think they have the abovementioned variety of skills
5)they wish their cars had ***** enough to need a bigger rear tire
Old 03-03-04, 01:16 PM
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yeah, that does make sense. i think i will be just sticking to 17x8 all around, or 17x7.5 all around then...besides i can't afford NOT being able to rotate my tires
Old 03-03-04, 03:58 PM
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i will have too much power for a tire you can fit nicely on a 8" wheel.
Old 03-03-04, 08:22 PM
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Originally posted by $150FC
i will have too much power for a tire you can fit nicely on a 8" wheel.
are you saying that you have too much power for anything 8 inches or less, or that you have too much power not to go with a staggered setup?
Old 03-03-04, 11:45 PM
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Originally posted by coldfire
are you saying that you have too much power for anything 8 inches or less, or that you have too much power not to go with a staggered setup?

Sorry for being unspecific. But, technically, i guess "yes" to both your questions.
i would not put more than a 245 series tire on an 8" wheel. I am going to run at least 255s. So, too much power for 8" or less, AND too much power not to go staggered. It is difficult to fit a 9" wheel up front in an FC. (I will be running 8" in the front and 9" in the rear.)
Old 03-04-04, 12:20 AM
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oh okay...i guess it makes sense that you would want to keep your *** planted as much as possible with high hp figures, and a staggered setup would also help control power oversteer. for my purposes, where i am planning no more than minor powertrain improvements on a N/A FC with an aftermarket LSD, i don't think i have to worry too much about on thottle oversteer. a staggered setup will more than likely give me too much push going into corners fast.

i am, also, planning on weight reduction, including striping whatever doesn't really need to be there. now THIS may change weight distribution, and from what I can figure, will probably take more weight off the back than the front; just because i can find more stuff to strip from the firewall back. so that's one more reason not to go staggered, right?
Old 03-04-04, 01:22 AM
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what are you gonna do with the car? drag racing? or autocross? drifting?
Old 03-04-04, 02:42 AM
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Originally posted by neptuneRX
what are you gonna do with the car? drag racing? or autocross? drifting?
i knew this question was going to come up eventually...

well, it will be for the most part a street car, although i want to get into autocross this summer. the local motorsports club runs the event about once every two weekends, so that will be the extent of on-track use.
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