anyone running staggered steup 17x8 17x10?

[RallyCulture]

i want to get some new wheels for my 02 wrx and was thinking of going with a 17x8 or 9 up front and a 17x10 in the rear. I assume i would have to roll and pull my fenders since the rears arent real wide. if anyone does have a staggered setup, what ever the size maybe, could you show me some pix of how it looks? thanks, i was also thinking of maybe going with 16's to keep weight down for track days.

[Ruh Roh]

no. your differentials will thank you. keep all 4 same size wheels on an AWD vehicle. if u want staggered make it RWD or go buy a RWD car. 17x8 will be good for a bugeye.

[Ruh Roh]

your username is Rallyculture but you want 17x10 staggered stance wheels with rolled fenders...? Im confused..

[Heide264]

Good bye center differential!

...Can't run a staggered setup on our cars. Your differential will be thinking that the rear end of your car is constantly spinning it's tires... even on the highway.

Related to this, be careful when dealing with new tires. You should always replace all four at the same time - it's important that they all have the same diameter due to the same issue. If you spare is a different size than what you are running, get a flat bed.

[11blackSTi]

i want to get some new wheels for my 02 wrx and was thinking of going with a 17x8 or 9 up front and a 17x10 in the rear. I assume i would have to roll and pull my fenders since the rears arent real wide. if anyone does have a staggered setup, what ever the size maybe, could you show me some pix of how it looks? thanks, i was also thinking of maybe going with 16's to keep weight down for track days.

Yeah a staggered set up is really only for rear wheel drive cars.

[gregroot198521]

your username is Rallyculture but you want 17x10 staggered stance wheels with rolled fenders...? Im confused..

Yeah, about that..... What part of rally culture is this supposed to be now?

[SD_GR]

Wait.

The centre diff would care about differences in circumference. Why would it care about differences in width?

I've followed rallying since before it became irrelevant. Staggered AWD setups are not new, nor are they uncommon. If/when I get to a desktop I can post pics I suppose, but in any case staggering in and of itself isn't novel in AWD cars.

I've been saying "no" for a long time but I think I'm wrong.

In fact I've seen staggered Imprezas. In autox, a wider front is useful to prevent understeer.

If the OP can guarantee sustained equal circumference is there a diff issue?

[mcdbrendan]

Wait.

The centre diff would care about differences in circumference. Why would it care about differences in width?

My thoughts exactly. Sure there would be an issue if the front lost traction and the rears maintained it, but otherwise the diff shouldn't be effected.

EDIT: I guess differences in weight could have an effect.

[SD_GR]

OK so I was wrong and am reconsidering. Here's my new stance:

The Impreza is a silly car with a fundamental flaw: Subaru have put the motor in the wrong place. This suits me because I like understeer. Everyone should like understeer but not everyone does, because some think they can drive better than they can drive. This is why spare parts are so abundant but I digress.

Anyway, one ought to be able to do anything they want with width if circumference is identical and if grip is consistent enough. By this I mean an issue could arise in sustained low grip situations where one end would grip much better than the other; that would result in the same issue from the diff's perspective as noted above. Lets assume that'll be rare though.

So, I'd be interested to see how a 17X10 front and 17X8 rear helps the car.

Notes:

1. The front stagger is likely not what the OP wanted to hear, but then again Subaru aren't alone in making mistakes. Front stagger seems to be what the car needs to keep it following steering input. Rear grip is not limiting; front grip is. Wider front is the way.

2. How does one gauge the effects on diffs? My feeling is by installing temp probes and sending fluid samples to a lab for used oil analysis. Before/after data should do the trick. Temp data will be useful real time too.

3. What will I do if a diff fails or something else goes wrong? Nothing. It's not my car. The OP will pay to fix it.

Very interested in this; let us know!

[Heide264]

...Can't run a staggered setup on our cars. Your differential will be thinking that the rear end of your car is constantly spinning it's tires... even on the highway

The centre diff would care about differences in circumference. Why would it care about differences in width?

My apologies - I still have not learned to read properly. I had assumed that the OP was interested in a "raked" setup, with a larger diameter rear wheel.

That being said, I take back my statement.

It will be counter-productive to handling, as SD pointed out, but I don't believe it would cause disastrous failure as I stated above.

[SD_GR]

Hi!

I think it will improve handling if the front is wider than the rear though. I've seen it done on Inprezas a long time ago for autox. I'm trying to see if there is any reason that guy back then could not have simply driven to work the next five years that way.

The diff will care about slip or turning. This probably translates to Φ (diameter rather than circumference as I've misstated) and revs on each end. If Φ is as identical as can be and revs are reasonable (one end isn't slipping in a sustained manner), and the OP monitors temps in real time plus gets wear metal data from analyses, could this all work? I do wonder.

[Heide264]

Hi!

I think it will improve handling if the front is wider than the rear though. I've seen it done on Inprezas a long time ago for autox. I'm trying to see if there is any reason that guy back then could not have simply driven to work the next five years that way.

The diff will care about slip or turning. This probably translates to Φ (diameter rather than circumference as I've misstated) and revs on each end. If Φ is as identical as can be and revs are reasonable (one end isn't slipping in a sustained manner), and the OP monitors temps in real time plus gets wear metal data from analyses, could this all work? I do wonder.

To help with handling reasons (if you are going to go about changing wheel widths or whatnot)... I'd actually recommend some small (5mm) wheel spacers up front on the newer models. I know the front track is actually smaller than the rear on the newer models by about 20mm.

Changing wheel widths is a grey area. I wouldn't suspect the stock suspension to play nicely with 10" wheels. Also, staggering these may give you some funky differential reactions as the car turns (that whole dynamic camber ordeal). Nothing unreasonable, but personally, I wouldn't go down this route for solely performance based reasons.

[SD_GR]

Hmm... I haven't thought about what happens when the car turns and dips at the same time. Still if 10 is too wide up front there might be another width that's wider than the rear but not too wide to be up there. Maybe 9 or something.

I wonder if the added track can't be done more permanently with OEM axles and hubs from another model.

[Heide264]

Hmm... I haven't thought about what happens when the car turns and dips at the same time. Still if 10 is too wide up front there might be another width that's wider than the rear but not too wide to be up there. Maybe 9 or something.

I wonder if the added track can't be done more permanently with OEM axles and hubs from another model.

I'm not sure. I don't know that it would be worth it still. I think you may be exceeding the designed suspension geometry at that point. It would be interesting, regardless.

[SD_GR]

I'd be interested in seeing lap times before/after on a tight course.