I don't think people will go back to stock tires when they wear out. Honestly who would put the prius tires back on to have "fun"? Owners will put extreme performance tires if the weather permits. I would. Wouldn't you?

I will if I drive a barely modded or stock car. Without sufficient power, the car can barely spin the wheels with sticky tires. It's going to be less fun and slow. What's a point of putting stickier tires then?

I dunno, to me a middle ground like a LRR summer tire, but not ultra-high performance or whatever sounds nice. Especially in California, where summer tires are suitable year round. Anywhere that snows, I'd want special winter tires, not all-season. The all-season tire doesn't make sense philosophically to me. More grip is safer when you can't afford to slide, aka on the road.

Since I put snow tires on stock wheels, whatever aftermarket wheels I get will have a summer tire. I guess I am ruining the purpose of the car and should be chastised :(

I will have a set of snow tires/wheels - possibly even studded - and it will not ruin the fun of the car at all. Putting 8 sandbags in the trunk for traction may slow it down a touch though. :burnrubber:

Would Clarkson even fit in the car? They'll have to get Hammond to do it probably.

I'll be trying out the stock tires and see how they feel. If they're not up to the job then they'll be getting a set of performance summer tires. I always use snow tires in the winter.

I've only watched a few episodes, but Clarkson has crammed himself into some tiny cars. I'm sure he'd give it a go.

Just a tid bit regarding the tyre width and size.

- Some countries require cars to pass some driving vibration requirements, tyre is critical in this requirement.

- The stock wheel size is chosen the way it is, because of 2 purposes (1) Performance and (2) Cost. Sometimes Cost and Performance are actually evenly looked at...

- With that said, 17 x 7.5 is not big at all. For people looking for new bigger wheels.... I dont see any issues with 18 x 8, or even 18 x 8.5. 9+ wide tyres may be overkill and for this type of car, no performance benefits can be attained from having such wide tyres... (the car is not a torque monster etc).

With that said... 18 x 7.5 (225s) Fronts, 18 x 8.5 (245s) is my ideal selections :-)

So just introduce a ton of understeer where none existed prior, in other words?

A mustang GT with 300+ hp runs 235 width...

Since you are not the only one that seems to be planning to run a staggered tire setup I wanted to give my 2 cents on this aswell,

As far as looks, I am in complete agreement that this cars body work demands a staggered setup (which I think is the main reason people are looking as getting a staggered setup). If aren't too worried about taking this car around corners at high speeds on the track, you can probably stop reading and order your wheels/tires.

As far as handling, I personally would not even consider putting a set of staggered tires on this car until,

1. I drive this car and get a feel for the car balance (which as far as reviews go so far is that it is perfectly neutral) because...

2. Not enough, if any at all, thorough testing has been done with staggered tire setups to see exactly how this is going to affect the cars balance. It is pretty much guaranteed that the car is going to either tend to understeer, or oversteer more once a staggered setup is put on this car. I think logically the car will probably tend to understeer since with the added grip the back end will stay more planted, although I read that the staggered setup on an s2k produces more oversteer (and that a non-staggered setup on extremely common on japanese tuned s2k's.)

I'm pretty confident in assuming that the 86/BRZ, a sports car built solely for handling and driving feel, is sold with a non-staggered tire setup because it is optimal.

Optimal? Maybe. Cheaper? Definitely.
BMW M cars are always staggered.

STI concept at TAS runs staggered. 215/225. maybe something similar is good enough for look while keeping good handling/balance.

Anyone else notice their 25k euro estimated price? That's 33k in the US or was that some fully loaded one