LWS10

Has anyone tried staggered wheels on these HHR's or on a front wheel drive vehicle? Would like to go slightly bigger on the rear and use a 225/45-18 on the front. Maybe some lowering along with this.
Possible or does it affect handling adversely? Really would like to get a little rake to mine similar to this SSR.



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Blue_SS

I have a friend that autocrossed a first-gen Neon with 275s on the FRONT and and 195s on the rear. It had other modifications (10" wide wheels, for one), too, but the biggest issue was stopping fender rub. The front springs ended up allowing almost no travel to get the job done. The result was a really fast car with much more grip than any other Neon (or other FSP car around). I think low-speed turns were probably tougher, too, but you should have seen it take transitions and slaloms.

Anyway, that is the opposite of what you propose... I don't think wider tires in the rear would make much difference in handling. The rears are doing neither steering nor driving. They are along for the ride. If you went a lot wider, or with wider rear rims, then you will get into clearance issues and such.

Another idea to maybe help with the rake is air shocks in back. If you don't go too high with them, they might work with little fuss. Avoid putting springs with different rates in the front and rear, though. That will change the handling, and could make it unpredictable.

db/sb

It probably makes a difference on the vehicle you pictured since it's RWD, our Benz and GTO both have larger tires on the rear, but on an HHR about the only difference it would make would be looks

firemangeorge

If the stagger between the front and back is too much, then it will probably mess up the ABS system. The speed sensors readings between front and back would not be the same.
Not sure how much stagger you could go, but I'll bet it's not much before the computer senses something is wrong.

fastsuv

The reason the wider tires in front worked for autocross is due to understeer issues. Most FWD cars are slanted heavily toward understeer, partly for safety reasons. So when a driver on the street goes into a turn too fast the car will plow straight instead of spinning out. In other words, the front breaks loose first before the rear. The wider tires in front produce more grip up front than at the rear, and if you pick them right you can get a neutral balance. The tires will "cancel" the built-in understeer.

Our HHRs understeer, and I got a more neutral balance by installing a rear sway bar. When I replaced the struts recently, one of the sway bar brackets welded to the strut broke off. I had to wait a week to get new struts, and in that time the car was in the "way oversteer" category because the front sway bar was disconnected temporarily. It was exciting to drive it, because you could feel the rear trying to come around! I wouldn't let any other family member drive it until it was fixed.

Adding the larger tires (which would be wider also) to the rear would probably add more rear grip, making it understeer even more. It might look better but handling would degrade slightly.

Steve

Slide_Rite

I run staggered wheels on my HHR right now. Granted, it isn't much...but staggered nonetheless. I currently have the stock 16's (16x6?) on the front with 225/50/16 and 17x7's in the back with 235/45/17. It still has an aggressive stance with my GL lowering springs & FE5 setup. I ran the staggered setup for a while before lowering, and had zero complaints...dry, wet, or vacation snow. Still handles like FWD, but looks much better IMO.

I haven't gotten to upgrade my rear sway bar yet, so can't speak to how it might affect her handling.

As others may point out, it could affect your Speedo depending on the sizes you choose...but you can also + size them using a tire size calculator & get pretty close to the same overall diameter in F & R to adjust for the difference.

Honestly, if you are pushing it to the limits of oversteer & understeer while on the street...you might want to ease up on the accelerator...

You can click the link in my sig. to view my thread with pics, both pre & post lowering.