jared219

Hi everyone. Finally joined here today after stalking these forums for years to get all my info. I've looked everywhere but i haven't seem to have found a topic that quite covered this. I have an 08 RWD IS350 with the stock staggered 18" setup but i'm looking into buying the 18" "snowflake" ISF replicas that are not available staggered. After reading all the pros and cons of switching to non-staggered, it just doesnt seem like the best idea. However, would a staggered tire setup (with non staggered wheels) mimic the stock setup enough to minimize any differences caused by this change? Any advice would be super appreciated!

VTsuckah

iTrader: (1)

Essentially you can gain about an inch of width depending on the size tire you buy. Your wheel will be sunk in the tire, you may notice a bit of lateral bounce (sidewall flex) during cornering since the side wall likely will be convex shaped rather than straight vertical.

I recommend looking for different wheels. There's a reason why the car came with a staggered setup.

AJ@TireRack.com

Good advice here!

If you go with a 'square' wheel set up (meaning all of the wheels are the same) you would want to run a complete square tire set up as well.

Jeff Lange

iTrader: (1)

The RWD 2IS actually comes from the factory with a staggered tire/non-staggered wheel setup on the models equipped with 17" tires. (225/45R17 front, 245/45R17 rear on 17x8.0" all around). That said, I wouldn't go with much more than 20mm difference front/rear or they end up looking a bit goofy to me with the bulge on the sidewall. Also I would recommend checking the manufacturer specs on rim width to make sure the size of tire you are looking at getting have proper bead fitment on the wheels.

Jeff

AJ@TireRack.com

Edit; it is not common to see such a fitment but they are out there. I generally wouldn't recommend it.

jared219

thanks everyone!