Aside from looking sweet, so what's the pros and cons of having a staggered setup on the E60. How does it compare in handling compare to the E39 or other BMW models or even front wheel drive cars for that matter?

BTW, I know I can do a search...but this is my favorite car forum, and I'd like to hear first opinions from the awesome members we have here, as well as use them as my first source.

 

Your car is RWD, having wider tires in the rear means more traction and therefore can mean better control. That's part of the reason.

 

Yo Michael what's up?! So how does the skinnier front tire come to play in this? And also what\how would a staggered setup do on a FWD car?

 

Taken to the extreme:

 

The staggered setup is for both looks and to ensure that to the extent that the car does lose traction, it is more likely to lose traction in the front - i.e., understeer. Carmakers all build understeer into their vehicles for safety reasons, as compared to oversteer, the average uneducated driver is more likely to react properly to understeer than to oversteer (it is fairly natural to lift off the throttle and steer where you want to go, and if the driver did do something silly like stomp on the brakes, the effect of doing so, particularly with ABS, during a bout of understeer isn't as dramatic). Generally an understeering car is going to lose traction at a lower rate of speed than a car set up to be "loose" - or oversteer.

Watch "Days of Thunder" and hear it all from Robert Duvall.

Today's cars "need" the staggered setups more than yesterday's, is that the power-weight/power-traction ratios are so much higher today than before, and it's pretty easy without 4wd to break the rear wheels loose with just engine power even in the dry. By comparison, before they started putting V-8's in 5 series - say the 1992 535i, which was the top of the line 5 series except for the M5, at least with the automatic you'd have a relatively hard time breaking the rear wheels loose in the dry, whereas today's 535i (which has more torque than an E34 M5, which did not come standard in the US with a staggered setup), without the electronics engaged, with all that torque you can easily overpower the rear tires (even staggered setups) and spin the car if you floor the throttle in a tight turn. On the V-8's of course it's even easier.

 

The only con I can think of is that you cannot rotate your tires. Pros definitely out weight the cons.

Just my two cents

 

Only part of the reason. The small tire up front is 'the largest' size the factory can put up there. Because there is more room in the rear, that space is taken advantaged of by putting a larger tire there.

Would putting a larger tire in the front help?

Yes, the car will push less when pushed to the limits.

Now the question is, can you put a larger tire in the front?

I had 275s (stock is 245s) in the front of my Mercedes 'E' series with good results. Less push in extreme cornering. I also put larger tires in the rear in that car 295s Putting the larger tire in the rear just made the car meaner looking. It did not help it much performance wise in the turns..

Unfortunately I had this set up going in to the mountains when it snowed a while back. Wide tires in mountains and in the heavy snow do not work. That was a big no no

Big tire looks nicer IMHO but it certainly is not better performing when the conditions are bad. It is easier to hydroplane with a wider tire.

 

I like the staggered set up for the increased traction. The staggered setup reduces oversteer during cornering. As stated above, oversteer is more dangerous than understeer. As a car oversteers, it accelerates into the corner more quickly causing even more oversteer when you get to exited with the throttle. Oversteer happens when the rear tires begin to lose traction during a turn, thus bigger rear tires would equate to less lose of traction.

While on the other hand, understeer occurs when the front tires start to lose traction. However, with understeer, you begin to make a wide turn which reduces the understeer and you regain control.

 

Sweet! Thanks for schooling me guys!

 

So if the staggered setup improves handling, why does the M Sport package come with the same size tires on all four corners? The main reason I got the M Sport package was for looks but the fact that I could rotated the tires and get considerably more life out of them was definitely a plus (and yes, I know BMW doesn't recommend rotating the tires -- not sure why though).