Agreed. We all put things on the car that are not optimal. I did say that I would not personally put staggered rims on a FWD but I also don't see such strong objections as warranted. We put 20s on our GS. Some would say that is stupid and laugh. The size is out of spec. The performance is degraded. There are rubbing issues. You get the idea. Why do we do it? It looks damn good. Still, because it comes with some concensus status on CL, 20s are acceptable and even applauded mod despite all its shortcomings.

For me, this is borderline a pot-kettle relationship. No, I would not do it to a FWD BUT I don't see a problem with it either. I think it LOOKS good, just like it LOOKS good on the GS. Neither car comes stock with staggered wheels and adding the staggered setup makes both types of car VISUALLY appealing to me. I don't have a problem getting past the WD setup.

 

Well looking at the GS, in L-tuned form, it did offer a staggered setup, 235 front and 265 rear. This was due to the car being a sportier/tuned version of the GS.

Pontiac DOES have a staggered wheel for FWD, the front wheels are indeed wider than the rear b/c it is putting more power to the front wheels.

On the TL A-Spec, the sportier TL, the wheels are wider but the same size all around!

So its NOT the pot/kettle since the execution is totally different when its for function. Staggered on FWD is for looks ONLY. I have never seen a staggered setup on a RWD car where the front wheels are wider!

 

L-Tuned was a very mild attempt by Lexus for a sport-tuned version. I had it. It was not enough for me. Still, this is not stock form. You cannot get an L-Tuned version from the factory.

Visually, I do not like this setup. Yes it is functional for a FWD but it is not the same as saying I like the look of wider tires in the back so I am configuring the car that way. If I had a FWD, functional or not, I would NOT do this because I just don't think it will look good.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this. Like I said earlier, I would not do larger wheels in front because it looks bad TO ME so it has nothing to do with RWD or FWD. Conversely, I don't mind FWD cars having wider because it is an aesthetically motivated mod.

Mike, I think you are stuck on the staggered wheels issue whereas I am talking in general terms of modding for the visuals. We both agree that the staggered rims on FWD cars is a purely visual mod. You believe it is dumb but I used putting on 20s on our cars (with all of the issues) as an example of a mod that would be dumb to others who are coming form a purely performance/functional point-of-view. Another example would be slamming cars low. To some, it is visually appealing but to others, it is not. It does not add to performance to be THAT low and serves no function other than aesthetics for the owner.

Remember, some are condemning the FWDs guys for doing visual mods. Although it is functional for us, it is only visual for them so we have to bring in visual only mods on our end to get a fair comparison.