staggered wheels ? (on a "gt flared car"), any real benefits? Options

[larryM]

just curious (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

- for those who are running staggered rear/front wheels on flared cars - AND who have also run all-same size - without modifying the other suspension factors ?

what are your comparative experiences & tho'ts about any handling benefits or detriments, given that our cars are quite well F/R weight balanced

street vs AX vs track???? - 3 distinctly different ways we "use" the cars

i know the "le mans" cars used stagger, .... did the rallye cars such as monte-carlo, or many of the other racers back in the 70-73 period (does the Roy Smith "racing 914's" book give us that info??

- iirc the factory FIA spec GT wheel was 15x7 all around (fuchs 8x15 were not made then), and the "gt" cars at RRV all were running 15x8s iirc - historic venue rules being a factor concerning plus sizes

(fwiw imle - staggered sizes limit ability to cross rotate for tire wear for non-directional street tires on my car with competition neg-camber alignment - i did run staggered sizes when racing, but never all-same, so can't say if it might have made any difference - & can't say i can tell any difference when "canyon carving" on street tires either way)

i posted a similar Q on pelican, but those opinions are mostly about 911s which are notoriously in need of such "help" - (i owned a swb 911 - know all about that evil)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911...tire-sizes.html

[jd74914]

I'm not sure there is an issue running the same sizes-until tire temperatures get out of whack. Even street tires have an idea tire temperature for best rubber grip. When the tires are cold, having extra wide stuff in the back probably doesn't make a difference since friction coefficient is overall insensitive to surface area. As you really work the tires (staying at the edges of that friction circle Bill is talking about), you're adding energy to the carcass. A wider tire can handle that energy addition better because it has more mass and more surface area to dissipate energy. There should be a perfect front and rear tire size to keep the tire temperatures acceptable for the compound.

For a street car, you're probably never really working the tires so I bet it doesn't matter. But perhaps if you are really driving for a bit there could be a definitive benefit?