anyone try it?
i was reading on how audi did it on some of their older sports cars to combat understeer...

 

I did it in the ITR for autocross. 225 up front with a spacer, 205 in the rear.

 

I think it's more of a band-aid fix for cars that can't touch the suspension (like SCCA SoloII Stock class).

Or, the JDM guys do the smaller rear wheels/tires, but they also use the heavy front springrates.

 

yeah, I have a full set of 13x8 on the car with rubber...

but when I bought that set, they came with a pair of 13x9s for the front, without rubber. I haven't put rubber on them yet. But I was planning on putting them in the front if I did..

 

Many front drive EP autox cars that I have seen run bigger up front than back. Considering how much they can change suspension design and geometry, I would not say it's just for stock class cars.

Mid and rear engine cars run much wider tires on the back and no one says it's a bandaid for poor geometry. It's just a case of putting the rubber where the weight is. I don't do it on my DSP car, but I like to be able to swap front to rear and haven't been brave enough to try it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by travis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I did it in the ITR for autocross. 225 up front with a spacer, 205 in the rear.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Can you give any details on this? Like offset and spacer size?

I have a set of Kosei K1's, 15x7, +38. I haven't put any rubber on yet, but I would like to put 225's on for the front, 205's for the rear. The car is an EG with ITR brakes.


Modified by ChiBoy at 10:39 PM 11/2/2003

 

EP cars are their own breed, and many (ok, maybe all) nationally competitive EP Hondas are the strut/live axle 84-87 cars. They also have severe wheel size restriction rules, which may dictate why they do what they do.

 

I was not specifically referring to Hondas. Most of the people I know running front drive in EP are running VW. That includes the people in Colorado last year with the Rabbit with the custom control arm front suspension.

Tire width differential is common in stock class and I've seen it in SM. I have not seen it much in SP, not sure exactly why. It could be interesting to get a few cars together with different tire sizes and mix and match between them and see what happens. Would a narrower rear really reduce rear grip or not due to the wider tire not getting as hot?

 

That was what I had also heard about the good Ep cars--they run a narrower rear tire to build heat quicker and increase grip. Those slicks really need the heat to work well. The front tires of a FWD car obviously don't have any problems building heat

But the JDM setup, also from what I have heard, have been staggered to decrease rear grip. Same goes for Stock class SCCA cars. For instance, a DS Type R just doesn't rotate as well with 225 tires on the rear as it does with 205's.

 

i run a 225/45/15 in the front and a 205/50/15 in the rear of a 96 civic
autocrossing.

tony
sm 140

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ChiBoy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Can you give any details on this? Like offset and spacer size?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

These were OEM ITR wheels with a 5mm H&R spacer in the front.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Todd00 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think it's more of a band-aid fix for cars that can't touch the suspension.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i run wider in the front, although with the same tire size. a 225/45-15 hoosier on a 8.5" wheel puts almost an inch more rubber on the road than a 7" wheel. i am actually contemplating running a 205/50 in the rear of the car to increase grip in the colder months.

 

I have seen SP cars run smaller wheels/tires on the rear or ones with less offset so the rear of the car is more narrow. Less likely to clip a cone. Mark Pilson and Rob Carpenter were running a combo like this on Mark's Scirocco this season. I have also talked to Grady Wood about this. He is a BIG believer in this. I have not run a car set up for this myself, so I can not comment on how well it works.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Crosser &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I can not comment on how well it works.</TD></TR></TABLE>

it works exremely well.