need opinions on staggered tires on same size wheels

[billy in slo]

bought 4 hartge type a wheels in 7.5x16 size (8.5's are not avail.) but really wanted to stagger tires. What do you think of 225/55 in rr. and 215/55 in fr.?
Fronts would be .3" narrower and .5" shorter overall. I personally like the rake look. I even ran 14"/15" porsche alloys on my cal-bug back in the day. Just curious what Ya'll thought.

[Craig]

It's fine. It's not "optimal" but one a street driven car who cares? Go with the look you like and I doubt you'll notice much difference. The only problem is that you won't be able to rotate tires front to rear.

I did this on my E28 (for a different reason) and it worked out fine.

[Mr Project]

The PO put 225/60/15s on the back and 215/60/15s in the front on my car. I actually rotate the skinnies to the back in the winter for cutting through snow, and to the front in the winter for the lower RPMs on the highway. :)

It does understeer a bit more with the wide tires in the back, and the steering is a little less sharp (not that it is very sharp anyway!) with the wide tires in the front, as you would expect.

Works fine, though, no big deal. Visually I don't think anybody notices, it doesn't look that different. 10mm is not a lot of difference, and with the same aspect ratio, the height difference is pretty small... barely noticable difference in RPM.

[MTechnik540i]

bought 4 hartge type a wheels in 7.5x16 size (8.5's are not avail.) but really wanted to stagger tires. What do you think of 225/55 in rr. and 215/55 in fr.?
Fronts would be .3" narrower and .5" shorter overall. I personally like the rake look. I even ran 14"/15" porsche alloys on my cal-bug back in the day. Just curious what Ya'll thought.


I don't see the need unless your putting mad #'s down. It's just going to be more likely to push(understeer)...and that's no fun.

The look is too subtle to make any type of visual difference.

[Russell]

What was the logic of the PO on putting slightly smaller tires on one end of the car? Seems as if there is no gain in looks or teaction. Perhaps the tire store was out of the correct size??

I am surprised the ABS did not act up. I wonder if ASC would act up as well.

Anyway, glad it is not a problem



The PO put 225/60/15s on the back and 215/60/15s in the front on my car. I actually rotate the skinnies to the back in the winter for cutting through snow, and to the front in the winter for the lower RPMs on the highway. :)

It does understeer a bit more with the wide tires in the back, and the steering is a little less sharp (not that it is very sharp anyway!) with the wide tires in the front, as you would expect.

Works fine, though, no big deal. Visually I don't think anybody notices, it doesn't look that different. 10mm is not a lot of difference, and with the same aspect ratio, the height difference is pretty small... barely noticable difference in RPM.

[Mr Project]

I suspect the PO did it because that was what the tire place had in stock at the moment. :) They were good about maintenance, but not real picky. I doubt it was done on purpose.

[bahnstormer]

i'm running staggered tires on stag wheels,
235 front 9" wheel 255 rear 10" wheel...
understeered for a long time until i played
with the tire pressures...now i can 4 wheel
drift the on ramps =] its a great setup giving
me a super raked look

[billy in slo]

wow, 255's on 10's, that's impressive, maybe I want to go a little wider on back to make it noticable or else, as Mtechnik said, what is the point. thanks.