Going to need new tires next spring and was thinking about this. I have 16x7 fuchs up front and 16x8s in the back, I think, or are the 8 and 9? I don't know, I just put 225s all around when I bought it. Anyway, since the wheels are staggered I get no benefit from 'rotating' the square setup.

On the track, pre2056, I destroyed my rears yet the fronts look great. The car handles great (as far as I can tell without a comparison to other setups), steering is of course a little heavier due to the 225s but not annoying at all.

Knowing that the 914 has a (1 inch?) difference in width at front vs back....

And mine is also 14 inches wider than stock but maintains the width difference front and back.

Is their anything to be gained going down to a 205 or something up front beyond lighter steering? I would assume understeer would follow. Can't go any wider in back. The difference in wear made me wonder whether I needed 225 up front. There were two of us in the car on the track and I am a pretty big guy.
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You nailed it. Stagger will increase understeer assuming that’s the only thing that changes.

When you say rears are destroyed what do you mean? Assumption is that you dont have enough camber back there. Nice shot at the glen

The rears will be used up twice as fast as the fronts, regardless of the setup you choose.

I kept my narrow body 2.1L on 15x7 square setup on 205s, i set up rear fenders to fit 225s but never ran. IIRC the 205s wore pretty evenly, but with the square setup you can swap front to rear and get longer life on them if your wearing out rears first…

My flared 6 came staggered on 16x8&9s, i like the look, it handles well, so I haven’t deviated - it’s also the same setup on my 930, so I can swap wheels as needed.

By destroyed I mean melted all the tread down to nearly nothing. Evenly though. About 2.5 hrs on track. If the wear is 'expected' to be like this I will just continue with my current setup. I thought the difference might be a sign of something.

Pat, on your flared 6 what is the difference in front to back sizes?

I run 9" 255/50/16's on therear and 8" 225/50/16's front. rears wear fast even with a good alignment. I wear a set of rear's in a year. Three times I have tried to just purchase rears only to find out the tire I was running was discontinued. Ended up having to purchase a set of 4 in a different brand.

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Yeah thats good. Means you are using the skinny pedal!

I use 8's and 9's or all 8s with 245 rear and 225 front. Handles awesome and better for higher horsepower cars in terms of grip out of corners. The 9s are a benefit in terms of a more square and supported sidewall versus the 8s for the rear.

^ Same; 8's and 9's for track but currently using a square 8" setup for street/show use. The added rear contact patch and sidewall support with the 9's really help with a higher-powered car.

Not to thread-jack the post, but:

Random crazy thought...would it work to use a set of 16x6/7 with the 7" on the front (since a set of 16x6/7 is easier to come by than a set of 4 16x6)? On a lower hp car would it help with turn-in on a skinny fender car?

Running 205 rear and 205 or 215 fronts...

Dude you ARE crazy!!! Hehe

Still a rear wheel drive car where you would want more contact patch there if given the option. CG will move to rear and either opposing corner with steering input so you need the grip for at limit cornering speeds. The front is normally for turn in angle then throttle control to manage radius thereafter primarily working the rear contact patch.

Oh and yes at turn in (assuming decel or braking) the front contact patch will grow due to CG movement to front and thus providing greater turn in capability

My setup is the same as @BillJ

My flared 6 has 225 fronts and 245 rears (95%) track use.

My turbo used to have 205 fronts and 245 rears, I’ve always felt the steering felt a bit light, so this time i did 225s at the front only have about 20 miles on the new setup. But that’s a totally different animal. Yes i burn the rears 3x as fast as the fronts on the 930, no track, just street.

Sounds like keeping it square is probably best. I would go wider in back but I am at the limit. Maybe I will be responsible and just get two new rears. I wanted to buy a more aggressive compound but I hate to waste the two good tires up front.

That makes total sense!

Brake less . . . less weight transfer to front . . . Carry momentum . . . Write a check your front tires can’t cash. You’ll push the fronts a bit more and those fronts will be worn out in no time.

I don't remember much understeer so maybe that is my problem... Too conservative.

I know Chris and bill have a lot more horsepower than me

But since 2003 I have always had even tire wear on both front and back axles.

Car has extremely low tire wear
And equal front/back
I heat cycle out all tires rather than wear out
Have practice sets of A7 with 35-40 heat cycles and no cords

True for A7, bias ply TDR’s. speedsters R7’s , Toyo , etc
225/50 square on 7’s (class rules) with one inch spacers on the rear

I do go through rear brake pads twice as fast as fronts. But not tires


At around 200 hp I’m underpowered to most of you
Perhaps my light weight helps a little. But still a Porsche 6 hanging out back


Odd

I would love to get some real tires under it, that is why I am waffling about just replacing the rears. I was probably rocking 75 hp at the glen on my tired old 2.0. Much improved now with the rebuild and 2056. I guess I could save the fronts for the mustang at some point but I think they will age out by the time I would need them.

I had problems with snap oversteer with 205s all the way around. Haven’t had that since I went 225s in the rear.

A 914 will be happier on track with more tire on the back. As evidenced by the faster wear you saw. I'm running much wider tires than you - 10.5" in the front and 12" in the back. I still wear out the rears 2x the fronts.

At the end of the day, a key point is whether the car is balanced and handling well. More tire in the back (or less in front) will balance tire wear. You might need to adjust swaybar balance if you decide to switch to a staggered setup.

I don't think I saw what tires you're using? 2.5 hrs is fast to wear out tires.

Agree, would not run stagger for a auto-cross unless you have gobs of power. Mine at track speed has easy turn-in, no understeer. Best, Mark