I just bought a 08 sedan AWD and was wondering if I can put on 18 inchers staggered wheels with the same size tires on all 4 corners, such as 235/45/18, 225/50/18 or 225/45/18, I'm guessing the first 2 are pretty close to stock but would the last one be too far off..

Thanks
Gboy

 

It doesn't really matter how close to stock you are, just how close your new tires are to eachother. rule of thumb is less than 3% difference in outside diameter. I have an 04X and have 245/40/19 and 275/35/19. less than 1% difference in diameter. You will have to take into account that a wider wheel means a tire isn't quite as tall (very small difference but if you are close to 3% I'd rethink)

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCal...bmit&reset=yes

 

NOOO DONT

or else...

 

What exactly is it that you're trying to accomplish?
Do you just want the look of a wider and narrower wheel set on your car?
Do you want to balance handling issues with different contact patch sizes?
Would you be just as happy with a wider tire size all around, but mounted on the same size wheels?

If you run the same size tires on all 4 corners, then the only thing you're staggering is your wheels, so basically there is no issue with transmission/Xfer case or VDC. You may have speedo variation, but it will most likely be minor as long as you're close to the overall original OEM diameters. The challenge you will face is finding the same size tire that fits well enough on two different rim widths, yet is close to OEM diameter and wide enough to be of any significance over stock.

 

Looking at buying 18 wheels from a 07 sedan S and I was under the impression they wheels were staggered, front being 7 1/2 and rears being 8/1/2 wide, please correct me if I'm wrong. I want to use the 18 wheels as a summer set up and my 17 as a winter set up.
Will the 225/50/18 fit well on both the front and back wheels without an issue?

Thanks

 

Sorry maybe I did not make myself clear, my question is are the OEM wheels from a 07/08 sedan S the same width in the front as the back ..7.5, I know the tires are different widths but are the wheels the same

 

Your absolutely correct that the 07 Sport wheels were staggered as you noted. You could run a 225/50 on both front and rear, but it's usually spec'd for a rim width in the 6-8" range, with 7" being it's 'natural' width. Putting that on the rear will be a slight stretch, nothing dangerous, but not optimal for performance either. Likewise, running a 245/45 on front and rear will fit (7.5 - 9.5"rim range, with 8" natural width), yet will be a little muffin-topped on the narrower fronts. Going with a 235/50 (6.5 - 8.5 range, with 7.5 natural width) may worth considering too.

In an ideal situation, if you're stuck on the OEM Sport wheels, I would want to get a either two pairs of fronts, or two pair of rears, and make a full set that way. Then you have no compromises to deal with.

 

Thanks VQ, called Grubbs and Riverside and they said its all the same size 7.5, guess these guys don't know everything.

 

Would this be a good possibility running 225/50/18 up front and 245/45/18 rear??

 

Well, that IS the OEM staggered sizes, but I guess to offer you the best answer, you need to answer my earlier questions about what you're trying to accomplish. One way of looking at it is: the 7.5" size all around is actually an advantage because you can run a complete set of the same tire sizes optimized for that size wheel, be able to rotate them for greater tread-life, and keep your transmission/xfer case perfectly happy, not to mention your VDC and speedo.

Running 245/45's on narrower 7.5 rims mounted in the rear will be somewhat counterproductive for performance. Any perceived performance gain from the added width will be compromised by squeezing it onto the narrower wheel, mitigating it's potential. You'll have more sidewall flex than if you just went with a properly sized narrower tire.


IMHO, people get too hung up about having a 'staggered" set of wheels/tires; like it's the cool, must have set-up, but they really don't know why they do (or don't) need it. In so many ways, it is a pain in the a$$, to be perfectly honest.


.02

 

Thanks VQ, seems like I have been reading and searching all day, I wish I could find a non staggered 18 OEM but it seems like thats all that is out there, I agree a royal PIA.
With that said I took a look at the owners manual and they say for AWD all 4 corners MUST be the same, thread, width, everything so guess this won't work as 225 on 8.5 rear is no good and 235/45/18 on 7.5 front is no good either, again thanks for your input.

 

The factory is going to go with the most conservative specs, so keep that in mind. People do run staggered sizes on their X models without issue, so apparently the system will tolerate some variation without causing a problem. That being said, I wouldn't go into a dealer with a wildly staggered set and complain about tranny problems. Running the stock OEM Sport sizes of 225/50 in front and 245/45 in the rear nets out to a very small diameter difference. I think the diameter difference is equivalent to running a brand new pair of tires (full tread thickness) on the front and a worn out set (very little tread thickness) on the rears with a stock 17 tire and wheel combo. They don't recommend running worn and unworn tires together either, but you know it happens all the time.

SO...You might give some serious consideration to either the OEM 18" Sport tire sizes, or going with the 235/50's on all four corners, even though the rims would be different widths in the front and the rear. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, you can try and pick up two pairs of the 18" Sport wheels in either the 7.5 or the 8.5 size and make a custom set that way. They do come up now and then.

 

Was thinking of going 235/45/18 on all 4 corners as the height is 26.32 and the OEM is 26.71 while the 235/50/18 is 27.24, does this make sense?

 

Yeah, you're right, that will work better. I was (erroneously) targeting the OEM Sport front size which is 27", rather than the X's smaller size.

 

Thanks again VQ for all your input, will retrhink this and possibly hunt for same size wheels to make life easier.