Thoughts on a Staggered Setup?

[Supra469]

Hello all,

What do you think of a staggered setup:

17s Front
18s Rear

Anyone running something like this? Pics please.



Note
-----------
Currently the car has stock suspension and considering possibly going Teins in the future. I still wanna maintain as close as possible to a "stock" comfortable ride.

 

[MKIIINA]

depends on what widths and offsets you pick. im running staggered widths but same diameter wo issue

 

[Ckanderson]

my sister had it on her supra.

it looked funny.

 

[Gilsdorf]

The mkiii is front heavy to start with, putting a smaller wheel up front vs. a larger one out back will push the balance point even further forward and IMHO it would look like a Mulleted '80s camaro.

Since you are considering Teins I would assume you are concerned with handling and moving the balance forward is not going to handle as well a neutrally balanced (50/50 F&R) car (not that the mkiii is a neutral car). So you would only reinforce one of the challenges of the mkiii (how to get weight from the front to the back, or off completely).

I'd go with 17's or 18's but not both.

Matt

 

[Sawbladz]

The mkiii is front heavy to start with, putting a smaller wheel up front vs. a larger one out back will push the balance point even further forward and IMHO it would look like a Mulleted '80s camaro.

Since you are considering Teins I would assume you are concerned with handling and moving the balance forward is not going to handle as well a neutrally balanced (50/50 F&R) car (not that the mkiii is a neutral car). So you would only reinforce one of the challenges of the mkiii (how to get weight from the front to the back, or off completely).

I'd go with 17's or 18's but not both.

Matt

So you are saying that a 17" wheel weighs more than an 18" wheel with tires of equal width and outside diameters?

 

[Yellow 13]

So you are saying that a 17" wheel weighs more than an 18" wheel with tires of equal width and outside diameters?

I too am curious about this.

I figured the wheel with the larger diameter would weigh more...

 

[ma70i6t]

The bigger wheel will be taller pushing more weight to the front is what he means i think

 

[fstlane88]

So there is more to the CCW 18's up front 17's out back road race setup than just brake fitment?

 

[Gilsdorf]

The bigger wheel will be taller pushing more weight to the front is what he means i think

BINGO!

Edit: To be more specific, you could do it and keep the balance close to stock by making up for the difference in wheel diameter with tire aspect ratio, meaning you could have a higher profile tire in the front and a lower profile tire in the rear but with equal overall diameters (have I lost you? Imagine a couple of donuts with the exact same outer size but one has a small hole and one has a large hole).

Now this set up keeps the balance close to stock, but you have a whole lot of sidewall up front, which means that you are now sloppy in the corners, understeer city.

"Now, this is really quite simple, ok? Understeer works like this: you drive down the road, turn the wheel, but the car goes straight on, crashes into a pole and you die. Oversteer works like this: you drive down the same bit of road, turn the wheel, but the back of the car comes round like this, and you go off the road, crash into a pole and you die. Now, oversteer is best, because you don't see the pole that kills you."

 

[Sawbladz]

The bigger wheel will be taller pushing more weight to the front is what he means i think

Sorry..I'm still not following you. You mean to say that the entire car will be raked when using such a setup?

 

[buckshotglass]

no, the tire sidewalls will act different from front to rear.

 

[ma70i6t]

With the car being taller in the back it will move the center of gravity more toward the front meaning more weight

 

[Sawbladz]

With the car being taller in the back it will move the center of gravity more toward the front meaning more weight

The car doesn't have to be if the sidewalls have different aspect ratio's. Therefore the car should have the same weight distribution as before, the only change being the wheel weights.

Also, nobody answered which would be heavier, the 17 or 18. I think the 18 should be heavier given equal tire sizes (outside diameter is standard). If my assumptions are correct, then a staggered setup with 17's and 18's would lighten the front end.

buckshotglass: You are correct that the car would behave differently and since we have no way to test how the car would respond, it would be wise to stick to the same diameter wheels all around.

 

[Sawbladz]

"Now, this is really quite simple, ok? Understeer works like this: you drive down the road, turn the wheel, but the car goes straight on, crashes into a pole and you die. Oversteer works like this: you drive down the same bit of road, turn the wheel, but the back of the car comes round like this, and you go off the road, crash into a pole and you die. Now, oversteer is best, because you don't see the pole that kills you."

so you like TopGear too? lol

 

[buckshotglass]

Hello all,

What do you think of a staggered setup:

17s Front
18s Rear
Note
-----------
Currently the car has stock suspension and considering possibly going Teins in the future. I still wanna maintain as close as possible to a "stock" comfortable ride.

Based on what he said above, we need to know if the tires will be the same height, front to rear, to go into all the weight dist. stuff. I think the wheel/tire weight difference will be minimal.
If he wants a stock ride, 17" is the answer (or stock wheels.)

 

[NickSupra]

Yes, if you have a 17'' wheel and a 18'' wheel of the same style the 18'' will be heavier. The weight difference will be minimal, but its still there. If this setup is what you want to run do it. It has been done before, and it really comes down to your prefernce. If you do this I would suggest running a tire with a taller side wall in the front to even things out. If you dont understand what Im saying Ill try to elaborate. I dont think you should have any problems throwing off any 'balance' with this setup.

 

[buckshotglass]

But, if the tires are the same height, they will differ in weight too. I'm thinking that will make up for the difference in wheel weight. It's really close.

 

[Sawbladz]

When you upsize the tire from 17 to 18, you lose 2 strips or rubber 1/4" thick with an outside diameter or roughly 18 and inside of roughly 17 as well as the weight of the compressed air that used to fill this void.

The rim, however, gains mass by lengthening each spoke as well as increasing the size of the outer hoop. Depending on rim material, this weight may vary. While this slight difference in weight may be negligible in sprung weight, we are talking unsprung weight. From what I can surmise from the various sources I found, 1lb unsprung weight is roughly 4lb sprung weight. (If someone has a more accurate number, please let me know) This would make the weight difference from 17's to 18's more significant.

 

[tlo86]

it is significant, i had same wheels from 17 - 18 and the weight difference was at least 8lbs each wheel with same tires... of course the width was a bit wider with the 18's

 

[BorHor]

I know NSX's run staggered like that. dunno why though