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I'm in the process of playing around with widening wheels and tire selection right now. The goal is to have a great handling car that will see mostly street use, but the occasional fun track day (road course).
Option1 275/35R18 Front with 295/35R18 Rear setup.
I found out the tires I was looking for (Michelin PSS) are ridiculously back-ordered in the 295 size...
I also don't want to upset the balance of the car too much with going smaller and wider wheel/tire combo.
Does anybody have any experience running a combo like this? Do you notice more understeer?
I would be going to 9" front wheel and 9.75-10" Rear wheel depending on final underbody measurements.
Option2 275/35R18 Front with 285/35R18 Rear setup.
I'd do 9" front wheel and 9.5-9.75" rear wheel for this setup. Obviously i woudn't be able to rotate, but that's not a huge concern.
Option3 275/35R18 ALL Around on 9" Wheel
Square setup (usually ideal). I've seen a few people run this combo without too many complaints. I'm wondering if it's enough tire in the rear though. It's obviously better than the 245's I'm currently running.
Has anybody run 285/35R18's all around? Will they fit up front or is that just a pipe dream? Keeping in mind I'm not modifying my fenders and don't plan on going widebody.
I'm currently running -2° Front and -2.25° Rear Camber.
If you are serious about track use (and like to save money) I say go square, the ability to rotate tires from all 4 corners really extends the tire life out.
If you are serious about track use (and like to save money) I say go square, the ability to rotate tires from all 4 corners really extends the tire life out.
Agreed but saying that the stance is nicer with a wider one out back.....
I assume you are going to mod the fenders to accommodate these widths. Otherwise you are going to cut some tires.
No body mods planned. Widening wheels and adjusting for new offsets with spacers. Shouldn't run into any rub issues with the size sidewall tires I'm looking at.
No body mods planned. Widening wheels and adjusting for new offsets with spacers. Shouldn't run into any rub issues with the size sidewall tires I'm looking at.
Im.......thinking you will need to roll the fenders at a min. But, good luck!
You'll have to roll the fenders but that's not too big of a deal. With LG coilovers and 285s in the rear on TD wheels I rubbed in the rear on the street.
I would go square if you're planning on using the same tires/wheels for street and track.
My fenders are pretty flush as is, maybe the previous owner had them rolled? That could be why I haven't had any rub issues with the low ride height that I'm at using the 245/45R18's. Regardless, Fender rolling is pretty easy and not really a concern. I was talking more along the lines about cutting/widening the fenders which I don't have any interest in doing on this car.
I went ahead and bought 275/35R18 Michelin Pilot Super Sports yesterday. My GM Accessory wheels are being widened to 9" All around and I plan on running a thin spacer to make up the offset difference to mimic the TD wheels 18"x9" +38 as there doesn't seem to be very many complaints about rubbing conditions with that setup.
I'm continually impressed by the handling on the 245's I'm looking forward to having even more grip now.
My fenders are pretty flush as is, maybe the previous owner had them rolled? That could be why I haven't had any rub issues with the low ride height that I'm at using the 245/45R18's. Regardless, Fender rolling is pretty easy and not really a concern. I was talking more along the lines about cutting/widening the fenders which I don't have any interest in doing on this car.
I went ahead and bought 275/35R18 Michelin Pilot Super Sports yesterday. My GM Accessory wheels are being widened to 9" All around and I plan on running a thin spacer to make up the offset difference to mimic the TD wheels 18"x9" +38 as there doesn't seem to be very many complaints about rubbing conditions with that setup.
I'm continually impressed by the handling on the 245's I'm looking forward to having even more grip now.
They are good enough to make me want to replace the front Hankook Ventus Sport v12 Evo 2s even though they have 50% tread left. They are even better than the RS3s. Won't have the treadlife of the Michs though.
They are good enough to make me want to replace the front Hankook Ventus Sport v12 Evo 2s even though they have 50% tread left. They are even better than the RS3s. Won't have the treadlife of the Michs though.
Just remember one thing.. Widening wheels with the kind of offset we have is going to add to the inner width not outer.. So if you add and inch that inch will go inward. If you use spacers then you will take that side wall and push it closer to the fender.
A 9-9.5 wheel should fit with the wheel still dead on the hub but you will need the cs trailing arms for clearance.
As far as grip.. The pilot sports and a good alignment will be night and day against a wider tire and poor alignment due to bad geometry. Food for thought... Our cars dont give us much room for alignment adjustment from my experience
Just remember one thing.. Widening wheels with the kind of offset we have is going to add to the inner width not outer.. So if you add and inch that inch will go inward. If you use spacers then you will take that side wall and push it closer to the fender.
A 9-9.5 wheel should fit with the wheel still dead on the hub but you will need the cs trailing arms for clearance.
As far as grip.. The pilot sports and a good alignment will be night and day against a wider tire and poor alignment due to bad geometry. Food for thought... Our cars dont give us much room for alignment adjustment from my experience
there's a few guys running 10" widened stock wheels and they ran into the trailing arms with those, but just barely (and lowered). if you stick with an inch wider (9.5" width) i think you'd be more than fine. and because of how wheels work you only can add half the offset. they'd be:
18x9 +58mm
18x9.5 +55mm
18x10 +61mm
all of those sizes will work, but the 18x10 is going to be very tight with the stock trailing arms. i'd personally stick with 18x9.5 if i was going to limit myself to the stock wheels, but i chose the more involved method of the 5 lug swap so i'd have a much larger variety of wheels to choose from.
They are good enough to make me want to replace the front Hankook Ventus Sport v12 Evo 2s even though they have 50% tread left. They are even better than the RS3s. Won't have the treadlife of the Michs though.
Nice. I'm interested to read more reviews about those tires. I really liked their RE-11's on my autoX car but I decided to do the PSS for drivability/comfort reasons on the V.
I never understand why people put hankook v12's on their car. It's such a junk tire, the only thing appealing about it is the price i guess. But if everybody is worried so much about price, go buy a focus. lol
So i just picked up the rubber...still another 3 weeks out on getting the wheels back from widening.
Originally Posted by punishmentcycle
Just remember one thing.. Widening wheels with the kind of offset we have is going to add to the inner width not outer.. So if you add and inch that inch will go inward. If you use spacers then you will take that side wall and push it closer to the fender.
A 9-9.5 wheel should fit with the wheel still dead on the hub but you will need the cs trailing arms for clearance.
As far as grip.. The pilot sports and a good alignment will be night and day against a wider tire and poor alignment due to bad geometry. Food for thought... Our cars dont give us much room for alignment adjustment from my experience
The maths have all been done. I have CS trailing arms already and shouldn't have any issues running 9" even without them, just like the team dynamics guys do. I only need to run a 6mm spacer to have an equivalent widened 9" GM accessory wheel which will be identical to a TD wheel.
As far as alignment goes I found that there was plenty of options with the factory slots and KW V3 suspension. I have the car dialed in right now on the PSS 245's and it handles great, turn in is smooth and predictable and the car is stable at high speed.
When I had the car on the rack I had the tech's do a camber sweep, front and rear and there was lots of room to play with. I can run close to -4° in the rear and over -2° up front if I ever needed to. I'm running -2° camber up front with 0.02 toe out and -2.25° rear camber with 0.01 toe in. The car is a handling beast on the street now. A good/bad alignment will make or break a car.
My biggest concern right now is traction and going to the wider tire will alleviate that. Keeping with the factory square setup will improve overall latG and grip all around with the wider tires. It should also improve some of the turn-in oversteer conditions the car can get into (mine is supercharged). I'm not expecting a miracle, but it should be improved.
Last edited by barrok69; 07-12-2015 at 10:45 AM.
Reason: updated toe spec
Barrok, I'd like to apologize in advance for taking your thread a little off topic but your comments on your alignment have me curious. I have just installed a set of PSS in the factory 245/45 size and need to align. I'm lowered a little (don't know exactly how much as I'm away at work and away from my car) !"-1.5"? and would really like to know what your alignment specs are if you don't mind. Attached is a pic of the stance the day the new rubber was installed. Sounds like you have yours dialed and are pleased with it. Thanks, Brad.
07-03-2015, 08:08 AM
Square or not Square....That is the question. 
