FWD and staggered tires

"yitznewton" (yitznewton) 01/15/2016 at 09:50 • Filed to: front-wheel drive

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What with The Smoking Tire’s recent videos with modified Golfs and GTIs, and the talk about maximum FWD power, it occurred to me that I hadn’t heard much about staggered tires on FWD vehicles, i.e. putting wider tires up front. In theory the added grip would increase the car’s ability to put down power, as well as reducing the tendency to understeer.

Apparently the Pontiac Grand Prix GXP came with this sort of setup (hat-tip TireRack.com).

Have any of you had a front-driver with wide tires up front?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 09:54

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I think the Honda Insight first gen had narrower tires in rear, but that wasn’t about putting down more power. As such.

crowmolly > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 09:55

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nvm

Ash78, voting early and often > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 09:55

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I proposed this for YEARS on the Passat forums as I watched FWD owners go to great lengths to flare their fenders and putting wider tires in the rear.

It makes sense to me, but the limitations/problems with steering clearance are probably the bigger issue. Even if you roll your fenders, that’s just so you can get an extra 5mm or whatever.

Bman76s-ws6OtherAccount > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 09:57

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FWD drag cars FTW... it looks silly. The NISMO LMP1 had this setup too.

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 09:58

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Well why not widen the rears as well to improve overall grip, then fiddle with the suspension on the front to minimize oversteer.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 09:59

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It’s not worth it financially for me to experiment and find out. I rather run square and be able to rotate my tires instead of having to buy tires twice as fast and possibly two other wheels.

wiffleballtony > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 09:59

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I had a co worker who had a RWD car (Infiniti G37) with staggered tires, the front wider than the back. He claimed it helped him drift.

KirkyV > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 10:00

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Well, drawing on my extensive experience as... Someone who plays Forza... Yeah, it works great!

Needmoargarage > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 10:06

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As mentioned, probably the biggest limitation is the inherent lack of room on a FWD vehicle due to engine and transaxle packaging. Most platforms would require you to increase the track width of the front which can seriously mess with the vehicle’s front roll center and will require major suspension geometry changes to compensate. You also have to account for changes to the rear suspension and tires in order to prevent a car prone to serious oversteer.

Patrick Nichols > wiffleballtony 01/15/2016 at 10:16

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Maybe it was secretly an Altima coupe that he swapped grills on and was hoping no one would notice...

wiffleballtony > Patrick Nichols 01/15/2016 at 10:23

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This dude was not nearly savvy enough to do something that manual labor inducing.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. 01/15/2016 at 10:52

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This is what I’ve done. I my stock tire was 215/45/18 and on track I run a 245/40/18 racing slick, which is more like a 255 street. I've had my fenders rolled and also had to take out the fender liners. Worth it for me.

Smoggi - powered by 3 cylinders > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 11:09

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Both generations of the Audi RS3 have wider tires up front and that thing isn’t even FWD.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > yitznewton 01/15/2016 at 11:24

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I've often thought about this. Would make a lot of sense, certainly in the higher powered hot hatches, or nutso-tuned Saabs and the like...