Wider tires with spacers handling

So my saturn project is far from done but that doesn't stop me from thinking of every aspect of the car after my motor swap is complete and one of the things I've been thinking is how to get all of tbat turbo 3800 power to the ground. I want to swap out my 205/35/17 tires with 275/55/17 tires and wider wheels but to do that i would also need to run 2" wheel spacers and I'm wondering how that would affect the handling, stability and reliability of the car?

I would suspect slightly more stress on the front wheel bearings and suspension in general, but not enough to worry about, and better lateral grip and traction. Can you fit that much meat without rubbing?

The only thing I'm worried about rubbing is the tires on the struts and according to online calculator it should fit with the spacers. They would rub on the fenders but a little trimming and some ricer flares should fix that

That much added grip and wheel offset WILL lead to more stress on the axles and the wheel bearings.

That offset could lead to some weird handling issues too I would think. Torque steer jumps to mind but I’m not sure if that’s how that works... 

You should also expect increased steering effort with an increase in scrub radius.

Saturnguy said:

So my saturn project is far from done but that doesn't stop me from thinking of every aspect of the car after my motor swap is complete and one of the things I've been thinking is how to get all of tbat turbo 3800 power to the ground. I want to swap out my 205/35/17 tires with 275/55/17 tires and wider wheels but to do that i would also need to run 2" wheel spacers and I'm wondering how that would affect the handling, stability and reliability of the car?

How much power do you expect to make? 300....350? i only ask because unless drag racing is the goal, 275's seem a bit excessive, especially if you have an LSD. I would think 245s (which are pretty typical on 300+hp FWD cars today) in a performance tire would be fine for most types of driving, assuming you're not going to be dropping the clutch at every stoplight. Not to mention the weight of a tire that size, and possible handling issues.

Also, why do 2" spacers? Why not just get wheels with the appropriate offset/backspacing?

Do you understand how tall a 275/55 tire is compared to a 205/35?

I just put 255/40/17s on a Mustang. Picturing something a lot bigger than that under the front of my Saturn isn't working.

Not going to fit.  So tall.

There isn't any room inboard, so almost all tire has to go outboard.  8-9" / 225 combo is going to the maximum you can comfortably fit under the fenders.  Actually the 9" will probably run into the fender at maximum compression.  If you are doing flares, consider the 15x10/245 combo miata guys are running now.

There isn't much caster.  Don't expect great things from the steering when you do this.

We're running a 275 on the Civic for One Lap. Only street testing so far but all is well as far and handling and such. Durability of suspension components to be determined. 

Don’t forget, steering effort goes up. Even with PS rack. 

I plan to be in the 350-400 range and want the tallest tires I can possibly get under the car because the transmission isn't geared ideally for a 3800. I really don't want to run spacers but finding rims in the exact measurements I want is proving difficult 

Those tires are way way way too tall.  The car has a 24" tire from the factory.  You are talking about a 29" tire.   25" is pushing the limit.

Also, are you keeping the 4x100 pattern?  Because there is no way you'll find a wheel to fit that tire.

I don't see why a 23" tire wont work.  Plenty of honda guys are making lots more power than that through 23" tires with reasonable luck.

In reply to Patrick :

6" diameter larger

The diameter isnt about the power it's for gearing I know I can fit at least a 26.3" tire before I got the 17s I was running 205/70r15 on the stock wheels and the car on 2" lowering springs 

These are the wheels I'm thinking of getting https://www.customwheeloffset.com/buy-wheel-offset/52779087/xxr-527-17x975-25-custom-wheels?bolt_patterns=4x3.94%2C4x100

The taller tire will reduce the acceleration.

That 26.3" tire on the stock wheels was probably tucked way inside the stock fender.  There is no way it would clear once it hits fender width.  It might clear if you are talking about cutting off everything outside of the frame rails... fuse box, washer reservoir, coolant reservoir, etc.  But even then, you probably wouldn't be able to turn the wheel.

I'm all for the 3800 swap, but a 29" 275 tire on a 9.75" wheel is not going to work.  Do you already have the lowest final drive for that trans?  Because the ratios don't seem that bad to me.  

I was just down in the garage doing a workout, so I decided to measure my daily real quick (98 SL2).  On stock sized tires with a <2" drop, the top of the fender is 23 7/8" high.

Measuring from the hub center up 14.5" cuts well into the fender.  By the time you remove anything to account for bump travel, you'll be attaching the center of your flare to the hood.

All this said, the thread title is about handling.  How will the car handle with this?  Poorly.  It will have no bump travel and a higher CG than stock.  Also remember that by increasing diameter to change your gear ratio, you are also negatively impacting your braking ability by the same amount.

*edit.  Also, do they even make decent sticky tires in that size?

Oh so my suspicious were correct. We are in fact looking at a full size truck size tire here.

I appreciate all the honest input I don't want to waist money and time on wheels and tires that are going to make the car handle worse. I do have another option for gearing a transmission out of a 2010 cobalt I would have to combine the bellhousing half I have now with the other half of the other transmission but the rpm drop would be small. I plan on doing that later on as it would also give me a chance to add a lsd. I might see if I can get a 245 or 255 under the car without too much trouble...

The type of setup you’re describing works great for autos setups with far shorter combinations than stock.  My Rabbit an example is 185/60/14 stock but “fits” the 255/40/13 although they are sandblasters when driven on the street.

I did increase diameter a few % for my street setup and it bought me a few hundred rpms decrease which was nice.

I could be wrong on this but I seem to remember that most sanctioning body’s do not allow wheel spacers. Even open track days you may have an issue.

2” is a huge amount for a spacer. I would be looking at getting that kind of increase with changes to the suspension components if it was me.  You are going to be changing so many perimeters of the suspension with that I would suspect any marginal gains it gets you would be off set with all kinds of handling weirdness. For starters you have effectively moved your pickup points for your shocks and sway bars and springs in two inches so the increased force applied to them due to the lever action being increased I could see doing weird things. I would bet you would need much stiffer springs and shocks/struts and bars and with the amount of travel probably being reduced it is going to put the handling more on a knife edge if you can get the balance correct because the working area of travel that the suspension components have will be smaller for the same amount of tire travel.