Staggered or square setup?
 

I know some members go to track often. I am about to buy a new set of rims, and just wondering how many of people prefer staggered over square setup.

I would like to run a square setup as I do on all of my other cars, but the sizes just aren't flattering in the front or the rear on the Z. At least, in my opinion.

I run staggered, mainly because wheels fit the car much better this way.

I know Mike and a few other guys run the square setups though, so maybe they would share some insight.

i like staggered for the simple fact that it looks much more aggressive.

I prefer a square setup for handling, although some cars benefit from a staggered setup (think Porsche 911s which need stagger to help control oversteer).

I feel like the Z has a lot of factory understeer, so I'd definitely avoid increasing the stagger if you choose to stay with a staggered setup.

He's talking about track wheels here, looks are secondary.

Square has the advantage that it is easier to rotate the car and easy to rotate the tires for equalizing wear. You are giving up a small amount of grip potential to make this compromise but your tires will last a heck of a lot longer. I would probably go with a +30 offset 10" or 10.5" rim.

I have a 30mm stagger on both my track wheels and the street wheels and I have no issue rotating the car the way it is setup currently even with slicks. Some of this is driving style and some of it is suspension setup.

Increase negative camber in the front to -1.6 to -2.5. That will eliminate understeer with our staggered setup. That of course means you need to get a SPC front camber kit to be able to make those adjustments.

Yeah, there are a lot of ways to do it. I felt like it's more a combination of the stagger and soft bars, though.

Yep, this is a must. I run about -3.5 in the front, -2.0 rear. I would actually like -1.8 in the rear but I'm maxed out with the current adjusters.

You don't DD your car, do you Chris?

Not really. My commute is 3 miles at 35 mph, and half the time I take the truck :) Yes, all that front camber would kill tires if you do a lot of DD miles, but toe is the real killer. I run zero front toe.

Gotcha. I'm not a big fan of lots of camber on a street setup, and definitely zero toe.

How is zero toe gonna kill your tires?

He didn't say it would. He said the -3.5* of camber would wear the inside of the tires out quickly, but added that toe is the real tire killer. Because of this he does not run any toe. :tup:

No zero toe saves your tires. Too much toe was what I was talking about, some people (especially auto-x folk) run aggressive toe to improve steering response and initial turn-in. Even with zero toe my car turns in like a beast, I've let quite a few people drive it and they all make the same comment. Even with all the camber I still tend to kill the outside edge of the tire long before the rest is worn out.

:tup: