Square tire setup on staggered rims?
 

What is some of your opinions on this guys? To run a square tire size setup while still running staggered rims. Any benefits? disadvantages? Pointless? I'm currently running 18x9.5 and 18x10.5 255/45 and 275/40 staggered setup. Just wondering if doing a 275/40 square setup for some RE-11's would be beneficial at all or if I should just stick with the same staggered setup. I'm looking into Direzza II's, Hankook RS-3's or the new BFG Rivals also.

What the... You're the tire guy...
April fools?

Are you trying to correct some handling problem by doing this?
On my car with the stock 19" I would go through a progression through a session where at first I would have oversteer as the rears came up to temp slower, then the car would be neutral for a while and then towards the end of the session I would get understeer as the fronts started to give up.
I would guess with a square setup on my same suspension settings it would have been scary oversteer for a couple laps, then just some oversteer for a while and then getting neutral towards the end of a session.
If you have enough adjustablility in your suspension then you might get it to work fine though so it really comes down to how you like your car to feel.

Well I'm in search of a new set of tires for next season in AutoX. Yesterdays event was pretty bad as my rear tires didn't have the grip my front tires did so I was having ridiculous oversteer issues. I'm basically just trying to decide whether or not it would be beneficial for me to keep a staggered tire setup or for me to do a square tire set up other then rotation. (I work in a tire shop so I could remount my tires whenever I wanted.) I'm basically looking for best handling characteristics. My tires are my issue now but since I'm in the market to buy new ones before next season, I'd like to know if there is any benefit to going square tire setup even on staggered rims.

Yes it helps a lot. I would never run stagger tires on this car again. My snow tires are the same

I'd never run square in ax. You need as much tire as you can get back there. Min 295 ideally 315. I run 335 rear and 315 fronts now.

If your car isn't turning with stagger its more of a suspension setup issue than tire size.

My car is turning plenty. Right now I'm set up at 255 in front and 275 in rear. I was just trying to see if there was any real benefit to doing a square setup. My car does fine, just about to order a set of tires for dedicated autoX so I wanted to see which would help me the most. If staggered I'm looking at the BFG Rivals at a 295 in the rear and a 275 in front. Or I guess I could run a 315 in the rear and a 275 in front. The Direzzas, the RE-11's, and the RS-3's only come in 275's or 285's for 18's. I don't plan on Hoosiers yet.

You want responsiveness in AutoX (and all tracking) and while wider is generally better, putting rear-appropriate tire sizes on the front won't allow for the slight stretch that gives you that responsiveness. The moment of inertia will be higher as the sidewall waits to stretch and react each time you turn. To maximize grip go with the sticky RS3's @265 front 285 rear since you have that much whp.

Response is overrated, you want grip in the front with the car being so nose heavy

LOL.. OK Cossie. I agree to disagree, again.

265

http://imageshack.us/a/img543/2470/dsc5645w.th.jpg 265

http://imageshack.us/a/img812/3802/dsc5644f.th.jpg 285

http://imageshack.us/a/img812/527/dsc6018.th.jpg

I have multiple sets of the same tire sitting in the basement, welcome to try them and compare them yourself

I run 285 square on road courses. I dont autox though

Yeah Clint I remember how you had to have 10.5's up front to properly stretch the 285's.. so much so that you ran those staggered front Enkei 9.5's once.. twice maybe before you sold them cheap.. lol.. Why do you think Chris is getting so much oversteer? I personally think he's got way more whp than anything under 305 will comfortably handle.. hard to find that in 18" with trackable tires.. Chris you've got super-soft rear sways right? Hotchkis is known for uber stiff hardware.. ok up front but maybe even run stock swaybar out back when you autoX so the tires will hook up properly and not skate..

I actually need to update my WHP as I'm now at 324whp and 269tq but that is probably what causes even more of a problem lol. I do have Hotchkis and they are set on the softest settings. I also have Powertrix coilovers that I also tried to set much softer with only about 4 clicks out of 15. The fronts I run at about 10 clicks and I've been trying to experiment on a road out here that is pretty curvy to see what feels better. Upcoming season with new tires I know that I will need to readjust my configuration yet again anyways would rather get the tires right the first time and adjust suspension as needed. I feel my tires are my biggest issue at the moment which is why I'm gettin a new set for next season. I noticed you said you recommend the RS-3's over the other tires I mentioned. According to tirerack, their tests say both the Direzza and the RE-11's have better cornering, dry traction and steering response. Do you have first hand experience with all of them? Just wondering as I'm caught up trying to decide between all 3! Thanks in advance!

I had the Z1s also. I think the RE11 grip slightly better, but the Z1 has a much more progressive breaking point. If you push the RE11 over its edge, it will lose its grip fairly quickly. On the Z1, you can actually slide a little bit before it lets go completely. I like the Z1 more, they just don't come in a size I would run.