I'm getting a set of 16" Rota Slipstreams in about a month. I want to have all four wheels the same size, and use the same tire size on the wheels.

I'm not sure how wide of a wheel to get, and I was wondering what would work that would allow me to have all the wheels and tires the same (without rubbing) so I can rotate them.

Please don't flame. I know rota's are cheap knockoffs. And I know our car had staggered sizes for a reason. I don't care that I'll be losing handeling and safety by not staggering. My car is a dd, not a track car.

Thanks

 

First, read the sticky about wheel offsets and tire sizes vs. rubbing. It should answer all of your "will it rub" questions. Just pick the size of tire you want (225, 235, 245, 255, etc.), find the offset you'll need, and run with it. (wheel width will be relative to tire size)

Second, either get a stiffer/adjustable front sway bar, or get used to spinning out a lot.

I'm not kidding, either. Your car will become very unstable with zero stagger unless you alter the suspension/stiffness.

Of course, a new sway bar isn't exactly expensive or difficult, so by all means go for it.


If you just slap equal-width tires on all four corners without changing the suspension tune, I really hope you're a skilled driver. Just taking a corner on the highway is hazardous if you follow this route. I hope your "daily driving" is comprised of only 25mph city streets.

Best of luck to ya.

(bootnote: the tires on my S have around half the stagger (1") as OEM, and the difference is rather extreme.)


EDIT: I'm not flaming, or trying to treat anybody in a condescending way. I'm genuinely concerned. If you go with equal-size tires all around (not a bad idea, from an economy standpoint), you really need to use a stiffer front sway bar for some dialed-in understeer.

 

So I'm guessing I need either 7.5" wide wheels with 235 or 245 tires, or 8.5" wide wheels with 235 tires.

Not knocking what you just wrote...but I doubt my car will do a barrel roll by using the same size tires and wheels.

 

He is correct about the handling. I would recommend to rethink your strategy. With a 16X7.5 wheel you can still stagger the tires.

 

The whole point of getting all wheels and tires the same is so I can rotate them. My car is a dd and I commute 120 miles a day. My current Yokohama Avid rear tires last 10k miles, whereas I've had my front ones on for about two years and they still have good tread left.

I dunno. I'm just tired of going to discount every 4 months.

 

Just a thought but maybe buying a beater will be a good alternative, doing tires 3 times a yr could easily justify a 2000$ beater purchase.

 

but I <3 driving my s2k...hence my 150k miles.

 

I drive around 175 miles per day as well, so I feel your pain.

The idea of using the same tire at all four corners for rotation purposes isn't a bad one, but you will *need* a stiffer/adjustable front sway bar. Just dropping from the stock stagger down to about half as much stagger makes a crazy amount of difference (I've done back-to-back tests on this using both my AP1 and my g/f's AP2). Going from stock stagger down to no stagger at all will upset the car's handling so much that any corner at all, even gentle curves on the highway can send you spinning if you aren't careful to the point of paranoia. AP1s suffer from a very aggressive suspension tune, so if you aren't very careful about tire choice vs. your driving skill you can run into very real trouble.

Especially if it ever rains where you're at.

One thing you can also do to reduce tire wear is to find a competant alignment shop and have them align your suspension a bit more conservatively. You'll lose some handling, but it's far safer than putting same-size tires all around (without the appropriate suspension mods, of course).


Feel free to get the same-size tires and wheels, but please be sure to update the front sway bar accordingly. Your car was engineered to have pretty generous stagger and reducing that stagger can have disastrous consequences, even on surface roads.

I wish I could let you drive my car to see what I mean. Just cutting the stagger in half shifts the car's balance way way WAY back. I personally like it that way (feels more neutral to me), but it forces me to pay serious attention to throttle pressure when doing such simple things as taking a highway crossover ramp or winding my way up and down I-5's curvier sections. Lift oversteer is a very real issue.

 

Disconnecting the rear bar is also an option, rather than going with a stiffer front. Probably not a bad idea for most street-driving-oriented AP1's anyway.

 

The opinions here are more correct than you may realize. I would think about keeping some stagger but reducing the camber in the rears. This should improve your wear although it will slightly reduce your handeling.

I think it is the safer option to zero stagger.