What are the benefits of this? Better handling? Traction? Looks?

Discuss!

I will be getting 19x10 wheels all around. Should I stagger or not? I do not track race but I do find twisties on occasion and mess around there.

 

I'm curious about this too. I can only imagine that it's better since we're talking about a rwd car. It looks better if you have a lip to show it off. The stock 19's don't have a staggered lip, so you can't really tell unless you just know (or you measure with a ruler or something lol)

I read that the zr1, gt500, etc have 20" rears and 19" fronts. That's another cool way to stagger...

 

Nismo Z's are like that too with 19's in the rear and 18's in the front.

I honestly think its not necessary but hey, I'm a near noob on this subject as far as handling goes.

Right now I am running stock 18s 245/45/18 all around and it rides great.. I am really not fond of running a weak 225 up front.

 

go to my350z.com. they have more useful info over there

/thread

 

I did a quick search there.. Not much over there either but I hear you.

 

s b f

 

as you have more room in the rear wheel well for larger wheels and tires it only makes sense to do it, also it just looks right on this car

 

In theory, staggered wheel/tire sizes allows for tuning the handling of the car, ie. better turn-in, more or less understeer/oversteer. Of course there's a lot more to it than just that (shocks, spring rates, sway bars, alignment specs, etc.), but generally speaking, two identical cars, with and without a properly staggered setup, will show a distinct handling difference between them. If you run 245's front and back, you should notice the car has a bit more turn in and is a little more tail happy at the limit (oversteer) than a car with 225's in front and 245's at the rear. Manufacturers nearly always tune their car in stock form to be more on the understeering side of neutral . . . because most people freak when their rear end steps out! IMHO, there are a great many people who never drive in such a manner that they would EVER be able to tell the difference between the two, one way or the other though.

 

I recently researched a bunch on this... and even emailed Nissan Sport Mag Editor in Chief/Race Car Driver, David Muramoto - You can check out Nissan Sports forum for his response...

But I found the following in formation very helpful - posted in this thread I made:
https://g35driver.com/forums/wheels-...heel-base.html

Apparently not a lot of ppl care about handling characteristics from their wheel choice these days (clearly obvious recently)... I guess thats why the thread fell...

The short version is (similar to above) - staggering with wider track in the rear will induce under-steer (something manufactures prefer as a safety precaution)... the opposite holds true with having a front track wider = induces overseer and is typically preferred in performance style driving...

having same width and offset front & rear (on sedan) allows easy rotating (for better tire wear)... but having overly wide front tires does cause more rolling resistance (in case you care about straight line acceleration - drag racing for example)...

Anyway - check out the thread I linked - there are links to a couple really good sources for much more technical info...

 

Thanks OC. I am at work so I'll check it out at home when I have free time to myself.

Edit: Yes I have seen this place REALLY go down hill lately as far as performance.. I wanted to get into the aggressive stretched look because I think it looks very nice and proportionate (sp?) BUT I actually drive this car the way its meant to be driven so that would be kind of unncessesary to do all that crazy wheels stretched look.

I just bought some 19x10 wheels all around. It was either 8's in the front or 10's.. I chose 10's because the wheel itself looks better, no lip but more concave. I also feel the car would be more stable with 10's in the front too.. I am thinking of just doing a neutral 245/40/19 all around so it will have a more balanced feeling as far as handling. I really don't mind of the *** end slides out. I am very used to this and I really know how to control my car in those situations (I like to drift).

 

Correct me if I'm wrong...

Understeer = Loss of traction at the front tires
Oversteer = Loss of traction at the rear tires

And basically, the wider the tires, the better the traction, yea? So it's really just about balance.

 

^^^ it's not necessarily a loss of traction...

 

Understeer is pretty much you're trying to take a corner and you end up in the wall or whatever is straight ahead of you.

Oversteeer is wen you take a turn or corner and you end up sideswiping something or hitting something next to you.. Not really a loss of traction for either of the two.

I can handle oversteer all day long. Understeering is a huge fear for me, I hate it.

 

I just read those links that OC posted and I completely relate to that second one.. I DESPISE understeer. It sucks.

I remembered how beautifully my car handled when I had 285's rear and 255's front.. I want that back! LOL.

I'm going 255/40 all around or 245/40..

 

Staggering tires isn't going to change a whole lot. But a large stagger in the wheels will change.

I wouldn't bother staggering just tires, it's not enough to matter. If you were planning on running 9" fronts and 10" rears then you'd feel the effects of a staggered set up, but a little bit of extra rubber and not wheel width won't matter a whole lot.