Staggered or Square?

[Skrapmetal]

I am ordering my new wheels tomorrow. I had my head set on 19x9.5 and a square setup, even had the dealership that installed the track key punch in the tire size I planned for that when they were in the computer. But now that it is time to order, I am second guessing myself.

The wheel I am getting also comes in a 19x10.5 for only $10 more. I know the stock suspension is dialed in using the stock stagger, but they intentionally set them up for understeer.

My use for the car is mostly street with ambitions of autocross/road course. Not interested in drag racing with it.

 

[KBBoss302]

Short answer: get what you want because going square isn't going to turn your car into an uncontrollable oversteering mess if that is your concern.

Long answer: I have tried both staggered and square on my Laguna. I went from the stock setup (255/285) to a square 19x10 setup (285/35 RE11s) and now have 20x10.5 at all 4 corners with 285/30 Front and 295/30 Rear Michelin PSS (the 295 actually has a 1.3" wider treadwidth than the 285 per tirerack specs, so way more than the 10mm difference suggests). My car is street-driven with plenty of backroads and urban corner hunting.

When it was the square setup, that was with P springs, stock dampers (5 clicks front, 3 clicks rear usually), LCAs, relos, UCA and bracket, PHB and PH brace and I really enjoyed the way it handled. Maybe a touch more likely to step out exiting 2nd through 4th gear corners than OE but it was not dangerous or sketchy in any way.

It is currently on KW V3 coilovers (with same other components as before) and those KWs made the rear more planted overall and especially at corner exit. The current setup has even sharper steering and the KWs really help keep the chassis under control so it's quite a bit better overall, at least as far as driver confidence, and it is slightly less prone to oversteer but a little more throttle helps in that regard.

Sorry for the long post and good luck!

 

[Skrapmetal]

Appreciate the advice. I know there have been other posts on this, but there never seems to be a concensus.

I am leaning toward staggered the more I read, will just be more expensive for the tires.

 

[KBBoss302]

Nothing wrong with staggered at all. Before I went square, I had some people basically tell me that my car would fly spin off the road backwards at the very first corner because of the grip imbalance. Didn't happen!

What wheels and tires are you considering?

 

[Skrapmetal]

Rtr tech 7's. If I go 9.5 square I'm gonna do 285/35 continental extremecontact dw's.

Wife made a good point; if I go square, I can afford an mgw shifter sooner.

 

[KBBoss302]

Hah well those wheels look superb and are lightweight so that is a great selection.

I'd be tempted to see if the 10.5 could be run up front and buy 4 of those. Maximizes your future tire options (like a GT350-spec 295/35 F and 305/35 R). Up front I run a 3mm spacer with my 10.5s to clear the Brembos and it's perfect. And yes, you can run 285/35s on a 10.5 and will have razor sharp steering.

 

[boomstick33]

I was in the same boat too for my Laguna & decided on the staggered set up. I ordered 18x9's for the front & 18x10's for the rear just because of the greater amount of tire choices & difference in prices for tires too. I'm putting Nitto NT01 275/35 for the front & 305/35 for the rear. Got them just to track the car. Good luck on your set up bud!

 

[Skrapmetal]

Alright, I slept on it... gonna go square.

May need to do something with the rear swaybar and drop the back an inch with new springs eventually, but gonna toy around with the damper settings a bit until then to compensate. Maybe 3 in front 2 in rear for street?

 

[noldevin]

Changing the swaybars is a good idea. You could use the ones from a track pack mustang, or just go with adjustable. For now I'd just soften up the rear a bit, though I'm not sure that will override the bar. You'd probably only notice it if you're really pushing the car anyway.

 

[KBBoss302]

I think you'll be just fine square and with those settings. If you notice it not handling to your liking, then you can play with the damper settings or even change the swaybars. Like I mentioned earlier, in my experience the car isn't going to become some dangerous spinning deathtrap just because you increased the front grip a bit.

 

[blacksheep-1]

We've run both we've also run 315s all the way around in the scca, 275 in imsa and 305x ? whatever and 305x ? bigger in PWC. It just depends on how your car is set up, if you do a lot of track use, then square makes more sense since you can rotate the tires and get more life out of them.

 

[2013Boss302]

I am running 18 x 10 3 pc Trueforged wheels with -3 degrees of camber up front on 295/30/18 Toyo Tires R888

 

[2012 Boss 302]

It just depends on how your car is set up, if you do a lot of track use, then square makes more sense since you can rotate the tires and get more life out of them.

Is this the main reason for going square ???

 

[noldevin]

Is this the main reason for going square ???

Tire rotation and balanced grip for handling.

 

[BADBOSS]

Yep that is why I went square...

 

[Skrapmetal]

Tire rotation and balanced grip for handling.

Mostly this, with tire rotation being a bonus.

I am really happy with the square setup I went with.