getting new wheels. staggered or not??

[vwu]

hey,

Il be getting new rota grits wheels. my dealer is suggesting to have it staggered ( 18" 5x100 8.5) front and ( 18" 5x100 9.5) rear.

I personally want front and rear to have 18" 5x100 9.5 concave wheels. would this work?

would a staggered set up be more beneficial in performance? which was is best?

I would like to have concave 9.5 for the look.

[Stang70Fastback]

Staggered is worse for performance; not better. A square setup is ideal both in terms of performance (neutral handling) and in terms of being able to properly rotate your tires. Putting wider tires on the rear makes the car more prone to understeer, though you likely wouldn't notice in DD use unless you like to drive at 10/10ths on the street... which you shouldn't, lol.

[ST185RC]

You should get a new dealer. if you do play out your conceived wheel choice, your car's performance will suffer some pretty big penalties. The car barely has enough stock torque to get decent acceleration from the stock 17x7.

Your braking distance will definitely increase, your acceleration will suffer, your turn in will be horrible, your hubs will see excessive wear.

If you're gonna spend on knockoff wheels, that would be your first mistake.

[churchx]

In addition to already said, not always you can find wished tire model in both sizes, and selling off later staggered set is harder, as way less people may consider it.
Friend of mine that has car with stock staggered wheel setup said it was more of PITA. Hence i don't get why choose worse alternative on car where you don't have to.
And yes, that dealer is full of crap if he advises worse choices. Or you have asked him wrong questions. Like "what wheel size i need to get those concave looks", instead of "which wheels would work best on this car".

In most cases when staggered setup is chosen for twins it's by someone from arguable looks crowd, that think that choosing wheel and tire from different but more expensive car will be better on this too and/or when they try to mount absolute widest wheels & tires they can fit (in rear you can fit a bit wider). It's their choice, their car, their money, if they chose it they are free to and it's their willing choice to sacrifice some things like performance/handling to pay for that. Except one should't fool oneself or others that it's for sake of better performance. You can fit staggered setup too. I didn't notice written that you do track days, but you mentioned looks. So if specific looks are your kind of bread - why not? At a cost though.

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by vwu

hey,

Il be getting new rota grits wheels. my dealer is suggesting to have it staggered ( 18" 5x100 8.5) front and ( 18" 5x100 9.5) rear.

I personally want front and rear to have 18" 5x100 9.5 concave wheels. would this work?

would a staggered set up be more beneficial in performance? which was is best?

I would like to have concave 9.5 for the look.

Welcome to the forum.

That stagger will fit with some poke. To get 9.5s on the front you will need coilovers.

The best way is subjective. The posts above are correct coming from a performance stand point. A lightweight 17x8 with 225/45/17 is probably best. But, many guys just roll the big heavy wheels for looks. So, if thats what you want, it is your car.

Read through this thread.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41083

[rvoll]

Originally Posted by vwu

hey,

Il be getting new rota grits wheels. my dealer is suggesting to have it staggered ( 18" 5x100 8.5) front and ( 18" 5x100 9.5) rear.

I personally want front and rear to have 18" 5x100 9.5 concave wheels. would this work?

would a staggered set up be more beneficial in performance? which was is best?

I would like to have concave 9.5 for the look.

If you are not going to turbo your car there is no reason to put wide wheels/tires on your car for performance reasons. If you are doing this for looks, then go for the slimmest combo that you like, and as others have said, go square. If you must have 9.5's, go for 245's on all wheels. Your performance will suffer slightly, but it won't be really noticeable on a street machine.

[Mr.ac]

If you want performance ditch the 18's and go for 17" no need for anything wider than 8". And staggered is not worth it.
If all you want is looks then forget what I said.
Also your dealer is a lying pos. Find something online or from another place.

[ZionsWrath]

I had 18 8.5 and 9.5 staggered
Definitely regret it. It looks good i guess but i care more about the driving dynamics, or at least i found that out after purchasing them. It also makes the ride worse

I got 17x8 pf01 with 225 200tw tires for track and am much happier with that. Stock wheel and tire is fine for the street imo, especially get a little sliding in the rain xD

[vwu]

Originally Posted by rvoll

If you are not going to turbo your car there is no reason to put wide wheels/tires on your car for performance reasons. If you are doing this for looks, then go for the slimmest combo that you like, and as others have said, go square. If you must have 9.5's, go for 245's on all wheels. Your performance will suffer slightly, but it won't be really noticeable on a street machine.

Yes i will be installing a turbo. forgot to mention...yes, ill be def having coilovers.

to be honest, looks is something im going for considering there is not too much of a performance dip. So, 18" 9.5 is on my mind and since staggered is not a recommendation, it will be 9.5 on all.

as far as having 9.5 in the front...ive heard there might be some milling needed for clearance. dont know how true that is? also what is the consensus on having 245 front and 255 rear as far as tire? asking if it might help facilitate clearance issues, if any.

[Shark_Bait88]

Rota is knocking off grits now?! Have they no decency!

Friends don't let friends eat reps, buy real grits.

[ZDan]

The supposed evils of staggered setup are tremendously overstated...
That said, if you might track the car you will want widish tires up front anyway.

I just put 17x9 +40 with 245/40-17 all around on my car, and it's a pretty tight fit up front... That's as wide as I'd want to go up front personally. Nothing wrong with 245/255 tire stagger IMO.

[ST185RC]

I hope OP is doing the brakes too. Or is that something you forgot to mention? Good grief.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ZionsWrath

I had 18 8.5 and 9.5 staggered
Definitely regret it. It looks good i guess but i care more about the driving dynamics, or at least i found that out after purchasing them. It also makes the ride worse

I got 17x8 pf01 with 225 200tw tires for track and am much happier with that. Stock wheel and tire is fine for the street imo, especially get a little sliding in the rain xD

That is what my dealer had on my car in the showroom. They were willing to give me $4L worth of wheels and tires for $1K. I still told them to swap back to stock or no deal. The last thing in the world I wanted for my DD street car was big staggered wheels.

[Spuds]

Fun fact: Rota apparently means "Broken" in Spanish...