I don't plan on doing this, but I have noticed a number of other people who have the same width wheels front and rear. How much does this degrade handling? Any other adverse effects?

 

I wouldn't know, but I've heard somewhere that it causes understeer. In this months isssue of Honda Tuning, the Powerhouse Amuse S2000 "Touge Monster" uses Volk wheels in 17"X9" front and rear. http://hondatuningmagazine.com/toc/

 

If it causes understeer then I'm surprised its a bad thing on our cars. I would think that a bit of understeer induced by same width front to rear might help cancel out the tendency toward oversteer that's already there and make handling a bit more neutral.

I also noticed that the amuse car is running the same width front and rear.

EDIT: I just took a closer look at the pics of the amuse s2000 in the magazine; you can clearly see that the front fender has been modified to fit the wheels. It almost looks like they cut everything out of the inside of the wheel well.

Can anyone comment on what suspension changes might need to be made in order to make same width f/r workable?

 

Having gone for a drive and thought about that ^^ for a little while, wouldn't the bigger front wheels induce oversteer, not under? I thought that the reasoning behind the current setup of larger rears was to give a larger rear contact patch and therefore keep the back end planted more. If you increase the front end contact patch, then doesn't that amplify the tendency for the rear end to come out by essentially "anchoring" the front end with more traction?

Can anyone offer some more insight on this thread?

 

There's no way this would add understeer. It would add oversteer for the reasons munckee points out -- widening the front wheel relative to the rear wheel will mean more front contact patch, which leads to more front grip, which leads to more oversteer.

You'd address the same way you'd normally address oversteer -- installing a stiffer front swaybar, wider rear tires, etc. Or, better yet, don't install equal-sized wheels front and rear.

Steve

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by munckee
Having gone for a drive and thought about that ^^ for a little while, wouldn't the bigger front wheels induce oversteer, not under?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PedalFaster

You'd address the same way you'd normally address oversteer -- installing a stiffer front swaybar, wider rear tires, etc.

 

Can anyone else throw some thoughts into the mix?

 

Some more info on this topic if anyone is interested:

http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=168849

 

Munckee is correct. When I bought my car it had same f/r size wheels and it did indeed cause the rear end to be very lose. I've since put the OEM wheels back on my car and she handles much much better.