tonyb635

I have the staggered wheels on my car, well, staggered tires. Fronts are 245/40/18 and rears are 275/35/18. I don't know if the rims are all the same or if the rears are actually wider. Anyway, my question is, I will be replacing the tires soon and was curious what the benefits are having larger rear tires. I am considering putting the 245's in all four position this way I can rotate and get better wear. At the moment, I'm not sure if it?s even possible since I don't know what the rim size is in the rear... What are the thoughts on this?

Stephen Max

Better traction in the rear, and looks. The consensus among E36 drivers (in bimmerforums, at least) is that cornering is improved with a non-staggered setup, however, but I don't know why, exactly.

rctmthouse

if you remove the rims, the wheel size and offset is stamped inside somewhere. If not you can use a ruler to measure the width to get an idea on how you to want to proceed.

Euronuts

You have two diffeerent size rims...
18x8 front
18x9 rear
You cant run the same tire setup.
Most tire shops will offer free rotation on staggered setups where
they will take your tires off and swap inside to outside for optimal wear!
Deffinetly keep the staggered setup for best performance
GL with new tire purchase

pjinca

I would beg to differ with the E36 drivers. Ever seen a race car without a staggered setup? Cars built for extreme handling always use a staggered setup. The only race cars that I know of to use a non-staggered setup are rally cars, that's it.

rctmthouse

wow those are nice shops there. Where I live, it's around $ 25-30 to take off and mount each tire. TBH, I'm not sure if it's something I want to do often since some tire shops will end up scratching the wheels while trying to remove and installing the tire.

If there is excessive wear pattern, then an alignment is needed. If not, just ride with it until it gets worn out.

GL OP

aharper

Great advice! I never thought about this but am sure that Discount Tire would be happy to do this for free for me.

Stephen Max

Yeah, I hear you. But the consensus among the E36 people who track their cars regularly and would know is that a symmetric setup is better. Just sayin'.

ProMed

link?

Bimmer32

The rears have a negative camber. But I would not trust Discount Tires to do it. I have been burned several times with scratched rims. Now, I make sure the manager sees my rims' condition before and after installation. It's the only way.