Okay well I searched the forum and there was two topics on the subject but none really answered the question.
If I understood right… according to this one topic… it means you running front tires smaller and rear tires larger? Or something? I honestly don’t know.
More than often, I see on rim sales “staggered rims” and some “non-staggered rims”.
I honestly want to know once and for all what it’s about.
Just a while back I was looking at some s2000 time attack cars and the guy was talking about not running staggered tires… or rims… and how it meant more oversteer for an inexperienced driver or something.
My goal with the car is a street car that I would without following any rules try to perfect for personal time attack… grip racing… I don’t care about participating in rule based competitions…
Another thing I thought to myself was… does it mean when the tires are not stretched. Or when the tires are stretched on larger rims and the rim edges are kind of pushed out.
I honestly don’t know and wish to know…
The other thing was ‘flush’ wheels. It’s a world of terms I am not yet familiar with…
Staggered just mean that their are wider wheels on the rear then the front, example a 9" in the rear and 8" in front.
if you look at you car now with the stock wheels i assume, you will notice they are a couple inches inside the fender edge, Flush is referring to when the wheel is lined up or “flush” with the edge of the fender.
some people like a staggered set up others dont, the wider the wheel, the wider the tire that can be fit on it, the larger the contact patch = more grip BUT you do not want too wide of a wheel on the front or back, if the wheel on the front is to wide you will loose steering radius and it could make the steering sluggish, a too wide of wheel on the rear without the power to back it up will cause stress on the engine, drivetrain etc. this is when a staggered setup come into play, having a nice wide wheel in the rear for lots of grip and smaller up front to keep your steering responsive. For daily driving the same size wheel all around may be a better choice as you will be able to rotate your tires.
Flushness is really just a fad, its JDM Tyte to have nice flush wheels, they actually do nothing for handleing, in fact its better to have a slightly more sunken wheel in some cases… The right offset and size wheel really helps in the handeling department
wheel staggering not only upsets handling balance, but braking balance as well. your rears will tend to lock up sooner than the front with a stagger, and you increase understeer with a staggered setup. now those can be managed with a good braking setup/proportioning valve and adjustable sway bars.
people like to use the staggered because you lose a little turning radius/turn in with 9" front wheels.
conversely, the guys at auto-x here almost always use the same with front and rear tires. they go as wide as they can in an R compound to get the maximum grip. that may mean having to run a 15X7 with 215/50/15 R compound rather than a 225/40/17 street tire, but the R will undoubtedly grip better.
Flush wheels imporve balance and control because the stance is much wider.
Also, narrow tires in the front will give understeer which is good for people who can’t drive (most people), but if you wanna push your car, you want wider front tires to get more oversteer. What makes steering sluggish is having wide tires on the front on rims that aren’t wide, if you have a wide tire on the front it’ll be fine as long as it is a little bit stretched.
hey Ed! damn! Nice car! I haven’t seen you at any meets anymore… where have you been?
By the way… yes. Staggered is pretty much 2 different size of rims on either the front or back. I’m running 16x8 all around with the same size tires all around as well. 225-50-16, and i love it. Tires grip like crazy.
Same for me, well I was supposed to have 16x8, but got cheated by someone who knows who he is so it’s actually 16x7 but anyways, I got 225/50R16 all around to and tires grip like crazy. I got Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 tires.
but anyways, I got 225/50R16 all around to and tires grip like crazy. I got Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 tires.
