Question about staggered wheels...

patsti

patsti

NitrousFed
Ok so I have always thought it was a bad thing to run staggered wheels on an awd car but I have noticed a lot of audi/vw guys do it but run the same size tires in all four corners...

So would it be bad to run lets say an 18x8+44 18x9+44 with 225 45 18 on them?

I know am wondering if this would kill the center diff or since they are the same size (tire wise) be alright? Does having the 1in difference in the back make that a problem?

The reason I am asking is because I have found a REALLY GOOD DEAL ON A SET OF JDM Rays wheels and always heard this was bad.

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Nate

Nate

Founding Father
Yah, Its gonna be bad. Stretching the same size tire on two different widths would screw stuff up. Its going to change the outside diameter of the tire for sure.

 
Evan

Evan

Active member
it wont change it. no problem. you'll just have funny looking stretch. the overall diameter (roll out) is all that matters and it doesn't really change. i would go with something more like 245's though. 225's are made for 7" wheels. 245's would have a little strech on the 9" wheel, none on the 8" wheel. right in the middle.

 
COSTIGAN86

COSTIGAN86

New member
I agree with Evan. You won't have any problems. Changing the width of the rim will only change the overall diameter dramatically on high profile tires with a much wider rim. 1" will not make a difference. You will have very little change on a 45-series tire. And a 225 is too narrow for a 9 inch wheel, unless you are looking for that overstretched V-dub look. And it will suck to mount.

 
Evan

Evan

Active member
and by overstretched he means, dont take any high speed corners or else you risk blowing it off the rim bead and spinning out of control.

 
patsti

patsti

NitrousFed
Doubt it, he flat out told me it was a waste Justin and I had boosted KA's in our 240s at one of the Evergreen meets.
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I don't think I ever said that... I actually like turbo KA's... they make decent torque... I think you are mistaken. I was prob talking about something totally different. I can be a dick... but not that bad. I like anything with boost... Even Kristof's car... Ok well maybe not that one!

i think I talked to you at Star and told you I thought it was pretty sick.

 
theimbalance

theimbalance

New member
No big deal, it's water under the bridge. For the record, I believe your comment then was along the lines of "i don't know why anyone would boost the ka, it's going to blow up anyways" and mentioned you had a KA in a 240 and it was junk. It was probably a year ago or more at this point. I didn't take it personal I just figured you weren't a fan of my or Justin's car.

Have you figured if you can run those Rays? Did you find them on rbwheels or one of those other jdm wheel import/export places?

 
patsti

patsti

NitrousFed
No big deal, it's water under the bridge. For the record, I believe your comment then was along the lines of "i don't know why anyone would boost the ka, it's going to blow up anyways" and mentioned you had a KA in a 240 and it was junk. It was probably a year ago or more at this point. I didn't take it personal I just figured you weren't a fan of my or Justin's car.
Have you figured if you can run those Rays? Did you find them on rbwheels or one of those other jdm wheel import/export places?
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No I def like your car and justin's. I thought justin would blow his ka with that big turbo but it is still kicking...

I am sure I said that... I can't believe they haven't... Little Ryan's is still going to it is crazy. Every one is always saying the will blow up. They are worth turboing because a spare is either free or a few hundred.

I spend the cash on someother things that made more sense. I was going to just weld the center diff (on a 5speed). My friend is taking his car off the road and I was going to buy it off him for the swap but after driving around with Mike I want to keep it AWD.

For the record I think you would be fine if you ran a 225 45 all around.

I run 225 40/45 18's all the time on the front of my car and never had one come off (well... )

 
theimbalance

theimbalance

New member
We both run Holset turbos, he's got an hx35 and I have an hy35, and both are still running great, just took mine out this weekend.

To be fair, I didn't expect the KA to last this long in either of our cars. I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Then again after seeing the abuse his takes with 200k on the original motor, I feel like mine would last forever since it's just a street car that gets occasional "abuse."

I run the 235 in the front and a 265 in the rear

 
Blue GT

Blue GT

New member
<-another boosted KA past owner with no real complaints. They just like the abuse that's all!

A few hellaflush guys (nasioc) run staggered offsets F/R on the same width, also not supposed to be good, but they do it.

 
Nigel Prodrive

Nigel Prodrive

Dirt surfer
pat what is the aim of the staggered setup...I mean, what is the point.

ppl can all weigh in with what we think we know, but the fact is you won't know about the diameter of same-size tires on diff size rims until you get em mounted an measure tha dang things. anything more than a 2% or 3% difference will make your center diff very unhappy.

remember, subarus have significant issues with even same size tires with different wear levels -- say you have 225/50-16s that are half worn and you blow one, it's a problem to mount a new one along with the 3 worn ones.

 
patsti

patsti

NitrousFed
pat what is the aim of the staggered setup...I mean, what is the point.
ppl can all weigh in with what we think we know, but the fact is you won't know about the diameter of same-size tires on diff size rims until you get em mounted an measure tha dang things. anything more than a 2% or 3% difference will make your center diff very unhappy.

remember, subarus have significant issues with even same size tires with different wear levels -- say you have 225/50-16s that are half worn and you blow one, it's a problem to mount a new one along with the 3 worn ones.
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The point for this is the the car is getting a v1 sti swap with a welded center diff (for some rwd fun). But in the winter/spring I want to have a stock center diff in it.

Like I said tho after driving around with Mikey the other day I kinda like the idea of just keeping the car as it is (still kinda stock looking... sorta) and keeping it awd with the v1 sti swap. That way no one knows what it is and I dont get attention with it.

 
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