Hi, {CLIFF NOTES IN BOLD}

I am selling my 18's and moving to 17's in hopes that I will get to enjoy more track time since my wear items would be cheaper. I have been searching around quite a bit for a good track wheel (width/offset) at a reasonable price and have searched this topic before creating my own thread.

Goals:

Wide'ish tire. I want to try the RS-3 255/40/17, but it is a little narrow. Other options are the Z1 in 265/40/17 and the Conti DW in 275/40/17... I don't think I really need a 275, but who knows.
Not require spacers
Cheap

I was looking at the usual suspects like the NT03 (hate the 17" version), RPF1 ($250/wheel plus spacers), Rota grid (17x9 +25 and 17x9.5 +30) and them I came along the MB battles...

The MB battles come in 17x9.5 +15 and 17x9 +30....

I went back and forth between the two and was thinking the +15 won't work in the back without a skinny tire and the +30 just won't look that cool....

So after more searching and zone'ing out about things to buy for my car I thought about a reverse stagger. 17x9.5 +15 in the front and 17x9 +30 rear, both obviously would be on the same tires.

I have read that you can possibly create a different circumference by stretching the wheel more but I don't think that will be an issue in this case.

So I am left curious; will the staggered widetrack in front cause issues with the AWD system other than the obvious? How will this effect the vehicle at the track? I am running a square spring setup (572lb Ohlins)

Any input is great.... I know Evolutionary has done this in autocross, but that is a track car and mine is a street/strip/track car.

Thanks guys,

Justin

 

It could change but I bet they would be super close not enough to cause you a problem. You could probably even them out with tire pressure just run a few more lbs in the rear tires. If I were you I would just run the same size wheel and get spacers for the front. I did this on my WRX wagon and it made it much more tail happy. I loved it. It pivoted much better and I was able to do more power over maneuvers instead of trying to scrub off understeer. Now I am not sure what this would do to an EVO but I assume it would be the same.

 

Here's an article I came across a little while back about reverse staggering.

http://www.therealjdm.com/archives/TheRealJDM01.pdf

I'm sure if you're looking to gain every last piece of grip on the race track, that this setup could be/is beneficial, but on the street, it doesn't seem necessary at all.

-Jalal

-Jalal

 

Thanks for the article Jalal!