Torque Steer Discussion

[obsole]

Hello friends,

I recently got ahold of a type R, and this discussion of torque steer has been on my mind. It's been said that deviating from OEM wheel and tire size will facilitate torque steer since Honda Engineers designed the set up to eliminate/almost eliminate torque steer.

I see everyone on the forums get all these crazy different tire and wheel set ups, but nobody seems to talk about the torque steer. Anyone have an "ideal"
wheel and tire set up?

My goals are to use the car on canyon drives, both cruising and fast. I live in a mountain area with very little traffic, so its easy for me to "shred" the streets.

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[GGinMP]

IMO "ideal" is stock specs, unless you have bad roads and are worried about (or have experienced) rim damage.

I do plan to change from stock Conti's to Michelin Sport 4S once the Conti's are worn. I had Pilot Sports on my Si and I loved the grip in wet or dry conditions, and the 4S should also last longer than the Continentals.

 

[ForeverCar]

I’d say there isn’t a universal ideal setup. There are trade offs involved and the stock setup is great at most things. The short sidewall gives a pretty harsh ride relatively speaking.

I was committed to getting a custom 18x8.5 +60mm (stock offset) setup. Long story short, that didn’t work out. While I was waiting for it to be resolved, I put 18x9.5 +45 with 265/35/18 on the car. Did it change the torque steer behavior? Yes. However, I don’t find it to be too much of a compromise. So much so that I even went with 18x8.5 +35 for another set of wheels to run 245/40/18 (my rain setup

 

[davemarco]

I switched to 265/35R18 Michelin Sport Cup 2's on 18" +45 Titan 7 wheels. I'm also running a custom tune putting out 383 whp/400+ wtq. On the stock wheels/tires with that power output, my torque steer was very minimal. Once I switched to the 18's, I don't know if it's the sticky nature of the tires or the difference in offset, but stepping down hard my torque steer can be significant.

 

[tinyman392]

Hello friends,

I recently got ahold of a type R, and this discussion of torque steer has been on my mind. It's been said that deviating from OEM wheel and tire size will facilitate torque steer since Honda Engineers designed the set up to eliminate/almost eliminate torque steer.

I see everyone on the forums get all these crazy different tire and wheel set ups, but nobody seems to talk about the torque steer. Anyone have an "ideal"
wheel and tire set up?

My goals are to use the car on canyon drives, both cruising and fast. I live in a mountain area with very little traffic, so its easy for me to "shred" the streets.

Ideal would be getting as close to that +60 offset that Honda uses. As you go further from there you will begin to induce a little bit of torque steer. I’m running an 18x8 +42 and to be honest, the torque steer isn’t that bad. I did notice it it reduce a little after I put on a strut bar as well, though there wasn’t much to reduce to begin with.

 

[shadow]

I'm on 18 x 8.5 +40. Torque steer is negligible.

 

[MEK]

Ideal would match OEM Scrub radius. Depending on wheel diameter and tire size, that may not be OEM offset. For example the Motegi MR924 53mm offset from tire rack with a 255/35/19 is very close. That being said, after dealing with tire rack and waiting for many weeks to get a refund for a damaged wheel I received, I will never, ever, ever spend money with them again.

It is given that as far as the science goes, as soon as you deviate from OEM Scrub radius, the geometry is not as good as what Honda designed it to be. The dual axis front suspension is a major tech differentiator for the CTR and by removing a bunch of offset you are effectively undoing that and switching steering geometry back to mirror that of any other old school strut FWD car. You can search for the effects of taking away offset but the big ones are tramlining, torque steer, hunting when on uneven surfaces etc. The trick with reading reports online from people with big offset changes (no offense to anyone) is that different reviewers have different tolerance levels for these things, and some reviewers may not even know how to identify what they're feeling. Further complicated by different tire brands and models having a huge impact on these qualities as well. You will find some guys saying they did not notice a difference with their big offset change, and other guys reporting near death experiences when the car changes lanes on its own on the highway.

Best bet, make some friends local to you and see if you can drive someone else's car with a wheel setup that you like, to feel it for yourself before spending the money.

 

[AlphaDigital]

My car has Intake, Intercooler, Exhaust, Tuned by Mike at Kinetic. I have experienced zero torque steer with the following setups

18x9.5 +35 - 255-35-18 Federal 595 RS PRO tires
18x9.5 +45 - same tires as above
18x9.5 +38 265-35-18 Yokohama Advan Apex

My brothers car had minimal torque steer with this setup: FBO + Rampage Inlet + Hondata FSU + E50 + FK8 Clinic Tuned with

18x9.5 +44 - 265-35-18 Yokohama Advan Apex


I think everyones experiences will vary based on setup, but I figured I would give you input on what I have experienced so far.

Ive previously owned a handful of Hondas including a 62mm Turbo GSR which had some insane torque steer with only 430hp 300tq. The first time I did a pull with it, the torque steer pulled me into the adjacent lane since I was caught off guard by it. Afterwards id just have to put in some moderate effort to ensure I stayed within my lane when doing a pull. So with that being said, Honda engineered the CTR amazingly.

 

[boosted180sx]

im on 18x10 +41 w/ 275s and have very minimal torque steer (its there but negligible) given the road is flat and smooth.
its nothing like my supercharged 9th gen which would dart me one way when i go WOT.

 

[Eugene_Fk8]

Recently got myself a 19x8.5 et +53 motegi wheels. It is literally no difference compares to OEM feel.

the other +45 et wheel will feels some torque but very minimal.

 

[obsole]

Ideal would match OEM Scrub radius. Depending on wheel diameter and tire size, that may not be OEM offset. For example the Motegi MR924 53mm offset from tire rack with a 255/35/19 is very close. That being said, after dealing with tire rack and waiting for many weeks to get a refund for a damaged wheel I received, I will never, ever, ever spend money with them again.

It is given that as far as the science goes, as soon as you deviate from OEM Scrub radius, the geometry is not as good as what Honda designed it to be. The dual axis front suspension is a major tech differentiator for the CTR and by removing a bunch of offset you are effectively undoing that and switching steering geometry back to mirror that of any other old school strut FWD car. You can search for the effects of taking away offset but the big ones are tramlining, torque steer, hunting when on uneven surfaces etc. The trick with reading reports online from people with big offset changes (no offense to anyone) is that different reviewers have different tolerance levels for these things, and some reviewers may not even know how to identify what they're feeling. Further complicated by different tire brands and models having a huge impact on these qualities as well. You will find some guys saying they did not notice a difference with their big offset change, and other guys reporting near death experiences when the car changes lanes on its own on the highway.

Best bet, make some friends local to you and see if you can drive someone else's car with a wheel setup that you like, to feel it for yourself before spending the money.

This is well written, and for what its worth I just want thicker tires so I don't have to worry about shitty road conditions. The roads leading to my house are not the best, and I felt it with my Si (stock tire size) and now feel it even more with the type R (stock size). That's why I'm curious about different wheel and tire set up.

 

[Night Fury]

Hello friends,

I recently got ahold of a type R, and this discussion of torque steer has been on my mind. It's been said that deviating from OEM wheel and tire size will facilitate torque steer since Honda Engineers designed the set up to eliminate/almost eliminate torque steer.

I see everyone on the forums get all these crazy different tire and wheel set ups, but nobody seems to talk about the torque steer. Anyone have an "ideal"
wheel and tire set up?

My goals are to use the car on canyon drives, both cruising and fast. I live in a mountain area with very little traffic, so its easy for me to "shred" the streets.

Stick to the OEM, you get always grip & less hassle, I find hard to believe ETs from 30 to 53 bring less TQ steering to the driving experience than the EOM ET60 rim - just me. Just get a good tire and forget about about compromising estimations of aftermarket set ups. My 2 cents.

 

[obsole]

Stick to the OEM, you get always grip & less hassle, I find hard to believe ETs from 30 to 53 bring less TQ steering to the driving experience than the EOM ET60 rim - just me. Just get a good tire and forget about about compromising estimations of aftermarket set ups. My 2 cents.

Would it be even possible to get a smaller rim but in turn get a thicker/wider tire to compensate for the deviation? I seen people here post about NSX wheels.

 

[tinyman392]

Would it be even possible to get a smaller rim but in turn get a thicker/wider tire to compensate for the deviation? I seen people here post about NSX wheels.

So the reason why the NSX wheels are popular is because of the offset, weight, and partially the price. There really isn't a compensation for offset with width, someone described why above somewhere I think.

 

[Jimmyjambo_fk8]

Hello friends,

I recently got ahold of a type R, and this discussion of torque steer has been on my mind. It's been said that deviating from OEM wheel and tire size will facilitate torque steer since Honda Engineers designed the set up to eliminate/almost eliminate torque steer.

I see everyone on the forums get all these crazy different tire and wheel set ups, but nobody seems to talk about the torque steer. Anyone have an "ideal"
wheel and tire set up?

My goals are to use the car on canyon drives, both cruising and fast. I live in a mountain area with very little traffic, so it's easy for me to "shred" the streets.

I've done some research on this topic. I found a few places discussing using 19" wheels, with a bigger (meaty) tire would be the best move if you plan on changing out the wheels.

I figure the weight of the wheels, can cause the torque steer to happen. The reason for most to change the OEM wheel, is they don't want to drive on rubber bands. lol. Honda had a purpose for this setup.

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