ALaS

Thread resurrection;

What are the steering feel changes by going to a square set up? Do you get less feedback from the road? One of my favorite aspects of the s2000 is the steering feel and overall connection with the road. I would like to preserve this.

w35t_ap1

In for more info on this as well. I'd like to stick with staggered setups because that's what the oem recommends, but there are a lot of tempting square setups out there.

s2000Junky

To answer the questions above.

If anything the "feel" improves with a wider footprint aka feeler gage) However that depends on what your definition of the general term "feel" is. The steering will no doubt feel heavier, some prefer that, I certainly do. But a lot more influences the feel of the steering over just the tire width. Camber and toe alignment can have quite a noticeable influence on road "feel" as in heavy/light and turn in sharpness. Also the tire itself(its grip level and sidewall construction) plays a huge roll and last but not least the width of the rim in relation to the width choice of the tire. If your running a wide tire on a narrow rim, the sensation will be more vague with more sidewall deflection/movement relative to what the car and steering wheel is doing, so more of a disconnect will be present. If you size the tire to the max recommended rim width the feel will retain much more responsiveness and precision, which I think is what most s2k owners are accustom too when driving the stock S.

But this is all true regardless of running staggered or not. Running a square tire on this car has a place, and influences other handling attributes of the car beyond the intricacies of steering feel I articulated above. For example, im running a 255 up front on a 10" rim which is pretty substantial over stock, and so everything I mentioned above could apply to this, but it has nothing to do with running a square set up, im running a 295 in the back so my overall handling and grip character will differ from running 255 square. Personally I think a square set up is only good part of the time when you consider everything that is being accomplished by doing so, its really become more of a overrated trend in a lot of cases it seems.

ALaS

Thanks for the detailed response, Junky. - I realize my response is very late.

I know feel is a subjective topic, so it's hard to explain and also answer.

I love the way the stock set up feels and I feel totally confident throwing the vehicle into corners at pretty high speeds. My concern is that the steering responsiveness and feedback will be altered to a more "dull" feel. I don't want that. I want to feel confident, and know what the road feels like, so to speak, through the wheel (and all other feeler points, of course).

When you say the steering feels "heavier" when you put 255's up front, how "heavy" did it get? I realize this is hard to quantify, but you seem pretty well versed in describing things. Do you feel like the vehicle steers or is as nimble as it was stock? Do you get the same or better feedback as before from the road?

Thanks in advance.

s2ka

The stock RE050 have a crisper steering feel than my RE11's. Overall grip is higher with the RE11, but they feel a little dull & muted compared to the stock RE050 tires.

s2000Junky

The tire brand/construction, tire pressure, camber, toe and caster as well as if the tire is pinched on too narrow of a rim ie: 255 on a 8-9" rim vs a 9.5-10" all play a roll in how precise and how alive or dull the steering feel is. But its still electronic steering, and none of this you do can change that. With more tire surface on the road, the steering has more resistance when turning, I like this myself. But it’s not to an extreme amount, Id say maybe 20% heavier. I run my 255 on a 10" to maximize the available contact patch of the tire and offer the best most precise handling feedback from that tire choice with less sidewall deflection that wider rim provides.

I don’t like non staggered set up's because they require more suspension tuning to get the car to provide you with balanced traction, and if you want to maximize the traction of the car, you will end up with a staggered set up because of what the body has room to accommodate. The factory suspension/sways are balanced this way from the factory to start with anyway.

ALaS

So, 20% heavier feel from 215 to 255. This, a jump to 225 shouldn't be such a big increase in heaviness. I agree with your logic in staggered vs. square and I don't plan to make my S square. I'd like to keep the same stagger: so 215/245 or 225/255. For the wheels I want, my options are 17x8 and 17x9.5. So I need to research wth my tire of choice (currently Mich. Pilot pro) how they fill out the 215/245 or 225/255. I'll keep in mind the sidewall deflection in relation to steering feel.

Thanks for all of your clarification!

s2ka

It's more accurate to use Tire Racks tread width measurement than sidewall numbers. The stock AP2 215/45/17 fronts are something like 6.7" wide. Most other 215/45/17 tires are 7" to 8" wide.

ALaS

I'll have to find that information out through the tire manufacturer.

deepbluejh

I would imagine you could also get better braking performance from a square setup. Wider front tires = more braking grip.