another discussion about wheels and tires.

[DeXteR]

ok, we were getting a bit off topic in the gas mileage thread, so i thought we should start a new thread rather than whore up that one.

Your staggered setup is too much. There's no way you feel neutral with that setup. Did it work okay for you? 255 is pretty wide for s13 rear. I would go up to 245.

i don't understand what you're saying aboug neutral. the car felt amazing - it gripped so much better with the wheel/tire package i have.

i'll review - i've got sportmax 962's with hancook ventus rubbers. 17x7 with 205/45 in front and 17x9 with 255/40 in the rear. the rears are absolutley perfect - they fit great and look amazing. i really wish the fronts had a deeper offset or that i could have gotten the wheels in an 8" width. they don't fill in the front wells quite as well and the lip difference between the front and rear is a bit extreme.

the reason i selected those tire sizes is because 1: the diameter is close to stock and 2: i've got an inch of extra rubber pushing out the sides to help avoid curbing the wheels. sure, 255 is pretty wide, but it fits just fine and i haven't had any clearance issues... i don't recall the offset on the rears, but i'll look that up. 245 is only 10mm narrower than mine. that's .394" difference which is less than a 1/4" less on each side of the wheel... hardly a noticeable difference.

[94_240sx]

Thanks for the info. What I meant was you have more grip in the rear than the front, so it could cause underseer. I wonder what's going to happen when you take the corners really hard. Is it pretty much predictable? Actually, first I bought 245 tires, felt like they were little too big and didn't like the bulge, so went with 235/40 17 RT-615s all around. My wheels are 17x8 with +33 offset. It was +38, but I installed 5mm spacers. I have auto trans, so thought 235 would help and they should still be good after I swap the trans. They look pretty square too. With that setup, rear and front won't loose the grip when I take the corners hard. Car feels very neutral and predictable. I felt like it's on a rail or something. Tires are sticky as hell. I can't wait to install sway bars. I've heard they will improve handling even better and you can fine tune handling of your car.

Yeah, tell us your rear offset. Don't you have to roll the rear fenders? 255 is a huge size for s13 and I've always thought camber won't take care of them and fenders need to be rolled. I know KA-Te has huge rear tires with staggered setup, so I want to hear from her too. I guess we can keep this thread here since it's VERT specific wheels and tires discussion. I'm still learning all these and have found suspension/wheels/tires tuning is very attractive and fun.

[DeXteR]

i found the rest of the details on my wheels.

fronts have a +38 offset and weigh in at 23.5#rears have a +35 offset and weigh in at 25.2#

i'd like to put a spacer in the front to widen the stance and to fill the wheel wells a little better. here's a picture:

i didn't roll the fenders at all. i'm telling you the rears fit perfect. there is a tiny bit of negative camber. here's a picture:

[94_240sx]

Those are massive. If you drop your car, it looks like you'll have to roll rear fenders. If you drop bit more and put spacers in front, your car will look better. Well, just tuck those bad boys under the fenders, relocate wiring up front and roll rear fenders. It has a potential. I've also heard many people saying that get wheels under 20LB each. How did you take these pictures? Cars are moving front and back and you are in the middle of the road.

[ca18datsun510]

i have 17x9 +35's on the rear of my car with 245's and i didnt roll the fenders at all. they tuck. there is a bit of neg camber though.

[DeXteR]

this is the car that got wrecked by the deer, so it's not getting dropped. the new vert (whenever we get it) will definitely get some spacers up front and a drop. definately going to need to roll the rear fender for the drop though.

yeah, it'd be great to get some lighter wheels, but i'm not going to complain. i like the 962's and that's what matters for a non-racing car.

i took those pictures from inside the car. i basically just stuck the camera out, pointed and clicked. those are action shots and we are moving down the road. i was suprised how well they actually came out. i was hoping the exposure was long enough for the spokes to blur so i could see what the wheels looked like when they're spinning, but it didn't work. the pictures turned out pretty cool though.

[ishkabibble]

I'm amazed that 255s fit. I just ordered 225s for the rear at +38 offset and was pretty worried about rubbing.

[Invalid Zero]

Here's my setup. No rubbing here. 255/40 is perfect on a 9.

17x8 +32 225/45-1717x9 +38 255/40-17

[94_240sx]

Here's my setup. No rubbing here. 255/40 is perfect on a 9.17x8 +32 225/45-1717x9 +38 255/40-17

Nice 240 from Canada! Love the OEM Canadian side skirts.How's your staggered setup working out for you?