I run 245/45/17's on 17x9 FNO1R-C rims for autox. I've never had the VDC act unusual on the streets for several thousand miles last year. I usually change wheels before and after each autox, however, I've driven my G around for an entire month with the non-staggered setup and had nothing unusual happen with the VDC. I turn the VDC off during the actual events, and have no problems there either. Definately less understeer than the staggered setup I used to have.

You could go non-staggered for daily driving IMHO, however, the rear wheels don't fill up the rear wheel-well as much; that might bother some people. That will be the case for 245/45/17 or 275/40/17 as they're the same diameter.

 

GOMO, I'd run 245/40/18 front and rear on touring wheels if I were you.

I ran that setup on Kumho MX tires and won my club's Solo2 championship. Ran the exact same setup on the street (with VDC on) and no issues.

I've run over 2 years with non-stagger and zero issues.

I run 215/65/16 winter tires with no stagger and I'll use the VDC daily with no ill effects.

As for the gap, I use H&R 1" bolt-on rear wheel spacers and it *nicely* fills up the gap. Combined with Hotchkis springs, which has a 1/4" more drop in the rear versus the front and the car looks great.

knight_white99 is correct with the benefits of non-stagger and rotation. With the MXs (NOT the Azenis) you can even dismount the tires and remount then on the opposite side wheel for even longer duration.

 

Since I am running on the track wheels and they are staggered, would it be better to keep the 245/40/18 (18x8) in the front and run the 255/40/18 (18x8.5) in the rear. I want to maintain sharp turn in.

 

how would running staggered tires increase your turn in?

 

Actually, the Azenis can be swapped DIRECTLY side to side, since they are non-directional (but you will still wear the same portions of the tire). The MX's, you would have to remove the tire from the wheel and re-mount on the wheel in the opposite direction.

 

Cool! I thought they were directional.

 

nope. If you're like me and have the rears wear WAY faster than the front, then with non-staggered you have the advantage of swapping the fronts and rears to legnthen your tire life considerabally.

 

That's the beauty of the Azenis. Swap front to rear, side to side, diagonally - whatever you want.

 

which azenis are you talking about? I just got my RT 615s and they are without a doubt not interchangable from side to side....

 

They are not DIRECTIONAL. That means that you can take a wheel/tire off the passenger side of the vehicle and use it on the drivers side. It can turn in either direction on the wheel, but there is an INSIDE and an OUTSIDE to the tire.

 

Well, in the case of assymetrical tires (like the Azenis) it doesn't do anything to swap fronts to rears. You're still buying 2 tires at a time.

Unless you have uneven wear accross the tire section? Do you still have feathering issues front?

My tires wear pretty uniformely ('05 OEM suspension) but I go through 2 sets of rears for one set of fronts.

 

That's what I have on my track wheels and I just got back from the track and it worked very well. I was worried that I would need some more tire, but I am happy with it. I passed quite a few cars with R's and even more in the wet.

 

The insides of my rears wear faster than my fronts, and the rears wear faster in general. By switching front and rear, I can maximize the life of all the tires so that I'm buying four tires at a time, not two sets of rears for one set of fronts.

 

The only problem is that since the Azenis are asymetrical you can't run the 'outside' portion on the 'inside'. Regardless of the direction/side they're running, you're still only using the same side as the inside.

If you've got a car with lots of camber/toe and are using asymetrical tires, the inside wear will dictate the lifespan of the tires, even before the outside is done.

That's the nice thing about the MXs being symetrical. Once the inside portion gets worn, you can have the tires remounted so that the previous outside portion now becomes the inside. I did that to two sets of MXs and it certainly help improve the lifespan.

 

Ahh nevermind I just saw what your talking about, this is def. a bonus

 

Being there is less flex on the walls of the front tires.
The way I see it, since the front wheels are only 8" going too wide with the tires is going to cause more give and delay turnin.

 

Believe me, the turn in is PLENTY fine with 275/40/R17. I wouldn't sacrifice your overall grip and balance of the car for a marginally better steering feel.

 

I'll add that the Falkens have very stiff sidewalls so the flex is minimized in either case.

Like Mr.Jadkowski said, overall grip will win over steering response on an AutoX circuit.