So I'm in the market for new wheels and tires this year and I'm at a crossroad on doing either a square or staggered setup for my 1993 Civic Coupe. I'm not altogether confused but would like some advice on which of these would be best for handling characteristics.


15x8 w/ 225/45 in all four corners.

15x8 w/ 225/45 Front - 15x7 205/50 Rear.

15x9 w/ 225/45 Front - 15x8 205/50 Rear.

All tires being R888's.

 

Kind of impossible to rubber stamp an answer. Find some folks with wheels and tires you can try on your car. I have had all you listed. The 225 front on 8" Hoosier and 205 rear 7" with R888 was a handful. Was great to chuck low-med corners. However I had some big opposite lock offs on high speed sweepers. Currently I have 225 toyo rr on 9" in front with scrubbed 205 Hoosier SM7 ( which really is the same width as the 225 Toyo) on 8" in the rear. You need to just find another honda guy and swaps wheel tire set ups all day.

Also if you have not run a few alignment changes try that. Want it to rotate? Try a tiny bit of toe out in the rear.

 

A lot of guys in SoCal were running a 225/45/15 front and 205/50/15 rear set up on a 15x8 wheel. I was considering this until a friend brought up the fact that you are limiting yourself on tire rotation to maximize usage of your tire.

I typically run the tire until it cords or is about to cord, so i ended up going with a 225 on all 4 corners on a 15x8 just so i can maximize usage on all of the tires. Just my 2 cents.

 

I'd go with 15x9 front and 15x7 to 15x8 rear if peak performance is the goal. Then again, if performance is a factor I wouldn't be running R888's so...