215's rear + 205's front combo?
 

Anyone ever put 215's on the rear and 205's on the front?
I'm currently riding on 205/ 45 / R17 on 17" x 7" Mini S-Lites all around. I was considering wrapping the rims with wider tires i.e: 215 /45/ R17... but was also wondering about staying with the 205's up front.
Not sure it makes sense to do so...Just wondering how the Mini would handle.

It does not make sense to me.

The front tires have ~800 pound load.and can be asked to generate over 1,000 pounds in either acceleration OR braking due to axle torque.

The rear tires have about ~500 pounds and no acceleration, and ~20% contribution to braking.

Gollum I ran 225 in the front and 205 out back, the only NON-square tire configuration I have tried and it worked well for several autocross seasons.

The front end is the kite, the back is the tail of the kite.

Kind regards,

Charlie

Fair analogy.

This is my first front whee drive car. All others were pre 70s' & 80s' rear and mid-engines.
Slightly narrower tires in front for ease of steering - wider rears for traction/stability.

Charlie is spot-on. It would look cool but that's about all. A set-up like that would contribute to understeer, something we try to dial out, not dial in.

Thanks for bringing up the cool factor. I guess it would look cool - but that's not what I'm after. I'd prefer to have a well handling car modded with common sense.
I am glad I posted this noob question. You guys have really sighted intelligent reasons for not doing so.
Thanks for the quick response!

A staggered setup on a FWD car would be wider in the front, not the rear. If you really want to run staggered, put the skinny tires in the back.

OK, this question has been asked before.

If a staggered setup was worth anything where the fronts were more narrow than the rear tire width then it would be common and that would be true if the MINI were not front engine and FWD.

In the case of the MINI equal tires and wheels works. You can make the rear wheels wide but it won't help that much since front wheels are doing nearly all the work in handling and performance. Therefore keep all wheels equal and try to get tires that fit the wheels not be too wide or too narrow.

Rear wheels and tires on the MINI are hardly doing much except for being passively rolled along and help balance the car a little on turns. With a stiff suspension the inner rear wheel will lift off the ground easily giving even less traction. In a RWD car you can lift the front inside wheel under power.

It is possible to run wider wheel and tire in the front on a FWD front engine track car, you would be giving up a little grip in the rear but it could work. However it looks apparent that the wheels are mismatched to the untrained eye.