I'm planning on putting either 20mm spacers in the back or swapping my rims for a pair w different offsets in the back, that will effectively bring out the wheels 23mm's outward each. Front wheels are staying as they are stock. I have an Xi car with sport pack and a stick shift. What would be the implications of widening the rear track by that much?

I'm assuming that oversteer will increase, but I don't think it is "criminal" to widen the track by 40-46mm - am I wrong? Are there dangers to suspension components and could handling be affected to the point of car becoming a lot more dangerous in wet/snow/ice? I drive all year round, so the setup must be weather-proof.

 

I found this article for you: Managing front and rear stagger
I hope it helps at least a bit!

 

Thanks brother Very helpful article. Basically proves what I've already known - increased rear track (stagger) will result in increased oversteer. Now, my 530Xi has near neutral handling at the limit with a slight bias toward understeer. I rather prefer oversteer to understeer (as probably most drivers do), so I'm thinking that increasing the rear track is just what I actually need. Now the problem is to figure out how much difference will 46mm increase in rear track make? Or should I go for a more conservative setup with 12-15mm spacers and not increase rear track more than 30mm?

 

oh hell with all that crap! v if it makes your wheels look more aggressive and nicer.. just get em.. no technical stuff my coffees not working yet

 

Anzafin, you are "the man" - I was kind of wondering the same thing as our buddy Vlad here, my wheels have a nice DEEP lip, but they are tucked in a little too much for me. I was thinking of adding 10mm spacers to the rear to help bring them out more, I was just waiting to see how they are after I drop the car, I do not want to roll my fenders.

 

Reviving this thread because I was recently told that there is a possibility that widening the rear track without an equivalent widening up front may result in long-term mechanical damage to the car. It sounds like BS to me, but I wanted to ask everyone's opinion just to be on the safe side: can I extend rear wheels by 23mm each (widen the rear track by 46mm total) without widening the front track at all?

In my mind the only effect that this might have is rear tires' tread wearing unevenly, which it already does on all BMWs anyway due to the cambers in the rear.

BTW I'm not getting staggered rims - the same exact rims, but with different offsets that are 23mm more "out"

EDIT: There is one more potential issue I can maaaaaaybe see how it gets affected by widened rear track: traction/DCT/stability control may start to think that the car is sliding in turns, because the widened rear track with effectively net a smaller turning radius and more oversteer with a decrease in understeer. This may skew the handling characteristics of the car enough to cause the "brain" of the car to start thinking that something is wrong and start applying countermeasures, when none are necessary. Stretched over a long enough period of time, this might lead to error codes and possibly even damaged hardware and unnecessary wear on brakes and suspension components. I seriously doubt this is the case, but if anyone knows for a fact what the situation is, I will very much appreciate any and all input.

AND if the widened rear track will affect the car long-term, is that anything I can fix by bringing the front wheels out a little more - like 10-12mm. So the rears would be 23mm out each and fronts 12mm out each vs the stock.

 

your thinking too hard again Vlad, its too damm early for me, so just get em dammit. . put smaller ones on the fronts.. and go for it. pm calton, although hes partying right now in vegas, but he had an xi, maybe he can tell you more. on a deeper level.. either that or hell tell you to shut up and get em already.lol

 

can someone confirm that if Vald has an xi, adding spacers to JUST the back is bad?? That's what I thought. I am not 100% sure.

 

I don't know about that, but 23mm sounds very thick! I think that wide spacer might stress the wheel bearing a bit too much...

Oh! Vlad, contact member Seip??nreik?! He tried my 8,5x17 ET20 winter wheels on rear axel of his 530Xd and I can remember he said he had some serious problems at high speeds! As you know ET20 is about the same as putting thick spacers on X model...

 

Hello hello
Yeah I tried those rims and it felt weird.
I had my original 18" M-sport wheels in front and I put those 17" in the back and it changed all the geometrics... it felt like you had a 3 times faster powersteering in your car.

When I left the parking lot and accelerated to 60km/h the steering wheel felt quite "sensitive". Then over 100km/h if I just touched the steering wheel I almost lost the control. The car was ridiculously oversteering If you turn the steering wheel just a bit it has huge effect on a car.

These are my experiences, but I bet here are a lot of people having better knowledge about this issue.