What's the point of having wider rear wheels than the front wheels? I'm about to get new wheels on my 2004 and have heard recommendations to stagger the widths like the stock wheels are - larger in the rear than in the front. I've heard that handling is affected negatively if all the wheels are the same width. I'm having a hard time believing that.

When I put wheels of the same width on my 2000 model year it definitely felt different but I did not perceive a degradation in the handling. I think the difference in the feel was due mostly to the width increase over stock - not from all the wheels being the same width.

Also, what is the effect of putting narrower wheels, compared to stock, on the rear? I've found a wheel I like but it only comes in 7.5" width which is a full 1" narrower than stock. I know I'll lose tire contact but how will that affect performance and handling?

Thanks for any info and sorry if this has been discussed. I'll appreciate any links to past discussions too.

 

The S2000 is known to oversteer. Using wider wheels in the rear will help keep the rear planted and reduce oversteer.

If you run the same size wheels and tires all around the car will oversteer more then stock and the rear end will be easier to break lose when driving hard.

 

suppostly wider mean more traction. more trackion in back less over

 

All it means is that when you hit the limit, the rear tires will give way first. The rear tires have more "work" to do than the fronts in the sense that they are subject to the power from the drivetrain, and have to do cornering work, whereas the fronts do mostly only cornering and braking.

If you change the stagger bias, and put say 275 R, and 235 F then, it is expected you will get understeer, in other words, the front tires will lose traction before the rears. This is because you have now added more rubber to the rear, which translates to more grip.

The oversteer issue is only a problem if you hit the limit often (which you shouldn't be doing on the street).

This topic is much more complicated than this, but this is the basic concept. This is why you'll sometimes see front wheel drive cars stagger their wheels the other way around, in order to induce some oversteer.

Sri

 

If you don't push it hard, it won't matter. I wouldn't do it, but it's your car.

 

i don't have stagger set up. i have 17 by 9 all around it it runs pretty neutral. maybe at the track i'll spent out crazy

 

I read someplace once, that at least one of the reasons for the stagger is somehow the stagger provides stability at high speeds. (Don't ask me how.) GM engineers accidently discovered the improved high speed stability while developing the C5.

Supposedly the little "spats" that are just in front of the rear wheels and behind the front wheels on the S2000 are there for the same reason. I'm still searching for my sources on this and if I find it, I'll update the thread.

 

some of the posts here just make my laugh silly. like people claiming that putting 225/50/16 non oem tires made their car get twitchy and unstable on the street.. or having staggered tire setup provides greater stability at speed...

Honda puts staggered tires on the S to reduce oversteer. They are thinking understeer is safer than oversteer in the hands of dumb American drivers.

 

The car is setup pretty neutral. If you are getting to much understeer your corner entry is too fast. Porper driving tecnique with the S2000 leads to moderate, easily controlable oversteer. You want to see understeer, try driving any FWD Honda through an autoX course. They have silly levels of understeer. A non staggered setup just throws the balance off some (and not the way I like it).

 

The S is pretty easy to oversteer, it comes out of the box that way. A non-staggered setup would change the balance to much to the oversteer side.

Again, if you're just driving normally on the street, you'll never notice these characterestics. It's only when you push it. Take it to the track and find out yourself.