It is always nice to only have one size of wheel/tire on the car as well. That makes rotating and having spares, as well as ordering new tires much easier.

 

Non staggered and staggered wheel cars will have two distinctly different setups and really arent comparable - the question of which one is better - non staggered period.

Look at the upper tier of super cars all staggered, this gives sharper turn in and better handling from lower rolling resistance and weight. Alot of people jumped on the LMP Acura non staggered bandwagon but totally missed that now when the other teams jumped on it Michelin stepped up and made so called turning tires specifically for the front and they are now again running a staggered size. High end supercars also have this benefit of tires designed in tandem not just one tire for all things.

With the s2000 people are trying to fight against the very premise of the car nimble low and mid speed handling in lieu of ultimate high speed grip which is kinda pointless in some ways but they do with high camber stiff springs and ridiculous toe and and caster settings that really narrows the usable range for the car quite a bit.

the "it feels like a go kart" bit is old the stock car feels like a go kart.

The good thing is you can fun a non staggered setup tune it well and it will be almost as fast well within most peoples limits and cheaper and easier than offset sizing.

I happen to think a low camber 245 square 17x9 setup is perfect for most peoples aspirations but it's not the ultimate best possible for that a 280+ front and a 310 + slick rear is ultimately the fastest.

I recently ditched my 215 f 245 rear 17inch setup for a 225 16 f and rear and its alot more over steer prone and ultimately slower but fun to drive and plenty of sidewall to keep the rims safe from debris so I don't mind the tradeoff since I'd rather have a fun car than a fast car even though I still have both currently.

 

Everything works as a system. Whether it be staggered or non-staggered, you need to setup the car according to the type and size of tires used. Man you must be blazing fast with 225F/R on a 16" wheel.

 

I think rubber should be placed proportional to weight bias. IE if you have 60% of the weight on the rear axle, then 60% of the total rubber used to hold the car on the road should be in the rear if within reason. Ultimately, fit as much rubber under the car as you can.

So...

In my case of 49%F/51% rear, I think 255 on all four fits well.

 

We can talk theory all day long but all of the fastest S2000s on track in the Mid-Atlantic run non-staggered. It just works. A normally aspirated S2000 doesn't generate enough power to benefit from a larger rear tire on a road racing circuit.

 

I can verify that all of the fastest s2000s on the west coast (except perhaps Rylan's car, but he puts down a crapload of power) run non-staggered.

 

One thing I would like to experiment with is a larger rear tire just because I do kill the rears about 2-3/32 sooner than the fronts in current trim.

 

The fastest Autox S2000's run non staggered as well... Weather it be squeazing huge Hoosierts on the skinny OEM front rims in Stock or 255 on 17x9 street tires square in STR

 

Unless your running forced induction your problem is probably an alignment issue. My fronts wear quicker for me, always have.

 

^Or if you're doing a lot of street driving.