Staggered Wheel Diameters

[Roy]

Does anyone know whether running 18" wheels at the rear and 17" wheels at the front car work. Obviously i may need to tweak ride heights a little. But was thinking i might try to park 255 x 18s out back and keep the fronts to 235 x 17. Fir what i am trying to achieve it looks like hte overall gearing would be about right, i just dont want to run 18s all round for dollars and front guard clearance which may struggle if i try to get a 18 x 8.5 wheel up there

[Duncan]

trying to acheive a ful sik drift look?

[ISC-Performance]

alot of the Japanese drift cars run 17 front with 18 rear, something to do with the balance of the car and also good to have a smaller rolling diameter up front means better handling.

Ryan

[Roy]

trying to acheive a ful sik drift look?

YEH BRO.

I need to widen the appeal of my car so some young punk will buy it off me

[scathing]

Manufacturers are doing it OEM these days, so there's nothing inherently wrong with it.

As long as your tyre circumference on the rear is correct, for the speedo, and the circumference ratio between front and rear is unchanged (for ABS and traction control, assuming you have them) then the electronics shouldn't know any different either.

[Ronin 09]

you're a farking weird dude brismonster.

[Beer Baron]

lotus do it on the elise. if it can work for them by golly it can work for you big boy.

[phunky_monkey]

I've contemplated this too Bris, keeping the same size up front but moving to 18x10.5's up the back...hmmmm

[Sydneykid]

There are valid arguments for puting the wider and lower profile tyres on the front, not the rear.

Wider - R32/33/34's have heavy front weight bias, in the case of 4wd over 60% on the front wheels. As a result they understeer, so why would you want to make that worse by using narrower tyres on the front?

Lower Profile - a lower profile tyre has less sidewall to absorb the torque hit, so a decent horsepower RWD should have a higher profile tyre on the rear, take a look at a top level Sports Sedan as an example of that logic. Lower profile is good for steering response, so they should be on the front.

Hence my argument would be to use the 18's on the front and the 17's on the rear.

Cheers

gary

[PM-R33]

Not that this has anything to do with performance, but optically on a vehicle the rear wheels always look smaller than the front, hence why a lot of cars run something like 18's on the front and 19's on the rear so the rear doesnt look smaller than the front. Especially on something like a skyline which has a big ass (compared to like a S15). Have a look next time you look at your car from a bit of a distance, the rear wheels look smaller then the front.

[Dragonforce]

And legalities?

[phunky_monkey]

Hey Garry, the only reason I wanted to go the 18's on the rear is because RE55's only come in a 255 in a 17, and I'd like to run the 285's available in the 18's.

Do you think it would have an adverse affect on handling, considering I run 17's on my 180SX at the moment?

Cheers

Dane

[TaKz]

can i run 18s on the front and 17s on the back for occasional drift day and daily.

i was thinking of running 235/40/18 on the front and 235/45/17 on the rears?

i guess to fit the 235s on the 17 i would need the rims to be width 8-9?

Edited May 7, 2008 by TaKz

[Sydneykid]

Hey Garry, the only reason I wanted to go the 18's on the rear is because RE55's only come in a 255 in a 17, and I'd like to run the 285's available in the 18's.

Do you think it would have an adverse affect on handling, considering I run 17's on my 180SX at the moment?

Cheers

Dane

A 180SX is not an R32/33/34, they don't have the weight of an RB. Unless you have done the RB conversion, in which case the rule applies (they understeer if you put smaller tyres on the front).

Cheers

Gary

[siddr20]

guess to fit the 235s on the 17 i would need the rims to be width 8-9?

yup

8 is fine.. and fits perfect

---

Many people in japan have 17s front, 18s rear. I dont see why not.

I had 16s front, 18s rear when i was at wakefield track day. Car handled fine

Just try it out and test the car for yourself.

If you have a RWD drive car..

[phunky_monkey]

Still an SR20, so I might think about giving it ago.

It's just an expensive exercise if it doesn't turn out well!

Cheers

Dane

[R32gts-t]

Still an SR20, so I might think about giving it ago.

It's just an expensive exercise if it doesn't turn out well!

Cheers

Dane

hmmm, thinking about rubber...

sounds like we are getting close?

[phunky_monkey]

I have a Superlap deadline!