I just got a 06 coupe with the sports package and i am planning for the long winter in the Chicago area. i found someone selling the stock coupe 17's and i wanted to use them for the winter. But the guy forgot to tell me that he has 4 rear wheels. i know that the rears a bit wider and i would not mind being able to rotate them, but what do you guys think of how it would look with the wider tires and a diff offset being used in the fronts. i am trying to stay away from that go cart look. any ideas?

 

you can stagger the tires on unstaggered width wheels, just like the OEM 18's are all 18x8

 

It's fine. But I'd probably run all the same sized tires so you can rotate them. Going wider is a big no no in the winter.

You should be less worried about looks and concentrate on survival! Really, rwd cars need everything they can get for winter traction. That means no all seasons. Dedicated winter tires only

 

i got a pretty good deal on these wheels so i wanna get them. I am planning on running a 235/50/17 winter tire. i know that in winter the wider tires are not the best, but it would be a plus if i could rotate them since i drive so much and i want to get the most out of them. basically i just want to know if the fronts will look OK with a wider rim in the front.

 

it will look fine

 

I would recommend AGAINST going non-staggered in the winter. If you go non-staggered, the VDC will go crazy. I had a hard enough time on dry pavement trying to prevent the VDC from braking the front wheel... On snow, the VDC could easily throw your car into a spin when it brakes the front corner when it shouldn't.

245 tires in the winter is not that wide. I've driven on 255 and 275 in the snow just fine.

As far as all-season tires go... Not all A/S tires are the same. I've run Continental ContiExtremeContact and Michelin Pilot Sport A/S in the snow without problems. Michelin Energy MXV4 and Michelin Pilot MXM4 tires however... The car would always slide around and got my wife stuck many times. And that was on a FWD car.

 

I'm planning on doing the exact same thing except with 225/50/17 all around. In my case I don't expect any issues at all as I'm only going down just slightly on the rear, however the rear rim is 1/2 inch wider to give the tire a slightly wider spread. My difference in height is less than 1" over the stock tire. I'm not sure about your wider tire for the fronts. Good luck and please let us know how it works out.

 

I highly doubt the VDC will "go crazy" lots of people run aftermarket rims here with all kinds of sizes and widths and I don't see any posts about VDC going haywire. Moreover, VDC operates some sort of control loop, so while it won't work ideally for a different setup, once the wheel locks up or the other sensors detect the slide, the brakes will modulate on and off based on the feedback. The difference in traction between the widths will be much less than the traction change from dry to rain to snow so the VDC will have to accomodate varying levels of grip from each tire and be able to work with each tire having different amounts of grip.

 

It is a possibility that the VDC can be an issue. The smaller the change, the less likely you will have a problem. Unfortunately, the only way to know for certain is by trial.

 

Yes it WILL go crazy... The VDC is programmed thinking the front tires are 2% smaller in circumference than the rear tires... If you replace your tires such that all 4 tires are the same size, the ECU is going to think your front tires are slipping becuase they are spinning too fast compared to the rear tires.

Yes, many here run aftermarket rims, such as myself... But almost everyone maintains the 2% stagger front to back.... For example, I have 245/40-18 on the fronts, and 275/40-18 on the back... So as far as tire circumference is concerned, I'm still basically stock.

I'm not talking about traction differences between widths... All I'm talking about is the difference in tire circumference front to back... Whatever tire you get, you just need to make sure the rear tire circumference is 2% greater than the front. Otherwise, the VDC will think one of your tires are slipping, because it's spinning too fast/slow based on it's calculations.

So you can run 245/40-18 on the front and 245/45-18 on the back. Same width, but you still maintain the 2% stagger. Of course, you won't be able to rotate with this setup, which is what my original point was. As soon as you make all 4 tires have the same size circumference, you screw up the VDC's calculations because it assumes a 2% difference front to back.

 

What about brand new tires in the front and extremely worn tires in the rear? The VDC needs to keep into account certain variables in the specs. If a new tire starts with 11/32 depth and ends up with 2/32nds, should that set off the VDC as well? I don't think so. Again, these variables are most likely built into the VDC. Slight changes should not make much difference here. Big differences might.

 

No that is not true either. The VDC needs to be sensitive, if it is going to be worth a damn. It needs to be able to detect slight changes in traction between the 4 tires.

If it needs to be so vague as to allow such discrepencies, it is going to be about as useful as indirect tire pressure monitoring... In the owners manual for my other car which has this type of monitoring... It says that if the pressure is low, but not flat, it could take from 1 up to ONE HUNDRED MILES for the ECU to set the warning light depending on how low it is....

Look, when I bought Bridgestone RE960AS tires, I put them on the rear... I bought the exact same size tire as the tire that was on there previously. (Michelin Pilot Sport A/S). My VDC kept tripping out on me, even on mild curves... A couple times, it almost threw me into a spin, when I was taking the curve more aggressively. (But still mildly, as I was only going 40mph, when I normally take those curves at 70+).

The only discrepancy I found was that the Bridgestones, (even tho they are the same size) are 1/10" bigger than the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S.

If what you say is true, than my VDC should not have stepped in, in my situation. And I'm talking about a tire that was supposed to be the same size as the one it replaced. You are talking about replacing the tires with completely different sized tires.

Also, you aren't supposed to put new tires on only one axle if the other axle's tires are 2/32". That is retarded. It may be the ECU is programmed to take into account the wear rate of the rears vs the fronts. I had 7/32" left on my fronts when I put new RE960AS on the rear, but the VDC kept tripping out. (Even tho it was fine when the rear Pilot Sport A/S were shot... When I swapped out the fronts, all was well again, and I could take those corners at 70+ again without the VDC stepping in.

Besides, it may very well be acceptable for the VDC to kick in if you have new tires on front, and 2/32" tires on the rear, becuase you are legally required to replace your tires when they are at 2/32". I also don't think anybody expects their car to handle "ok" with new tires on one axle and bald tires on another.

 

VDC only detects slippage, it has no idea what sized tires are on it. Its all dependant on the particular combo used that causes the slippage. Its not just size, or brand, but a combination of both usually.
avs007, in you case, it was likely caused by the summer tires in the front and the A/S in the rear. Lots of people have gotten away with nonstaggered setups, some people even have shorter tires in the rear when using a setup like 245/35/19 and 275/30/19. Some people even get away with different tires front and rear. Whether a particular setup is going to work or not is totally variable and dependant on how those tires are comparable in terms of grip.

 

Yeah, I understand that... But how does it detect slippage? By the tire spinning faster than it's supposed to... If you play around with the stagger, you can trick the ECU into thinking the tire is slipping.

I don't have summer tires... My fronts were Pilot Sport All/Season. I doubt the VDC was detecting actual slippage or was able to tell the traction differences...

One spot VDC stepped in, I was only going 50, on a slight curve on an interstate, and the VDC braked one of my front tires, causing my back end to squirel. I've drive my daily-driver/beater through there at 80+ before.

When I took the exit ramp, I was only going 35-40mph on a banked turn that I normally take at 70-80 in my G. I can drive a prius on that curve at 40 on skinnies, and still have stability.

Like I said... The Pilot Sport All/Season and Potenza RE960AS Pole Position are supposed to be neck and neck in terms of grip. The only disparity I found was that the Potenzas are actually bigger, even though both tires were 275/40-18.

Otherwise I agree with you... There are a lot of variables... But running the same size tires on all four increasing your odds of VDC stepping in, because you are purposely messing with the VDCs calibrations.

 

Guys, what about running a staggered set of 20"s on a 35x sedan until winter then back to stock wheels in order to use AWD. The Intelligent AWD only kicks in when needed (like 5% of time according to infiniti tech), and I live in the city, where it's almost never needed except in the winter. What do you guys think? I really like staggered look with big lip on rear wheel and ok sized lip on front. Not planning on lowering by the way.