bmw tech says staggered wheel is okay on xi and has been running it on his.

he runs 18 oem zhp rims on his 2004 330xi.

he has 225/40/18 tires on the front 18.8 and 255/35/18 on his rear 18.8.5 rims.

he has run this setup for over 20,000 miles and his car is dropped with blistien shocks/h&r springs.

he told me the difference between the front and rear is .1 which will harm nothing on the driveshaft.

he also gave me his link to check out on a audi forum.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123289

im planning to buy a 02 325xi from the dealership he works at for dd and keep my 03 zhp for summer.

when i happen to noticed the 330xi with the zhp rims and asked whos car it was. the salesman got the tech and he explained to me it was okay.

just figured i share with you guys since this has been debated a few times.

woooohooooo i fvkn love u man, no ****!!!!!
i always wanted to run staggered on my xi but ppl said no and ****
thanks alot dude

its all about the diameter. keep it close and you should be ok.

I've been running 235/35/19" at the front and 265/30/19" at the back for many years on my 330XI.
That dim. gives less than 1% difference in rolling diameter.

ive actually been talking to a user on here who is running a staggered setup just like the bmw tech for 2 summers now with no problem.

he actually gave me the same link.

im going with zhp rims on my xi.

wow figure more xi users would chime in.

Staggerd is pointless for performance on any 3 except maybe the M3. Even more pointless on an xi.

^^ but looks 1000000000x better!!!

I run staggered on my car as well. no problems here. I think the difference in tire diameter is really only important on awd cars with lsd's.

Also, rims with a lip will be much deeper in the back

You can run a staggered setup on an Xi, it's not an issue. However, if this is a DD, it may make sense to run non-staggered so you can maximize treadlife by rotating your tires.

i would think you couldnt run wider tires/wheels in the back with an xi because the power would be going to your front smaller wheels.. doesnt it make sense? eh i dono

My wheels are staggered and I've had no issues as of yet......BTW staggered looks sweet on an XI!
(235/35/19" at the front and 265/30/19" in the back ) ONE PROBLEM THOUGH! Currently she isn't dropped and looks like an SUV!

I know this is totally irrelevant, but I learned recently that the MB C300 4matics run a staggered setup from the factory. 225 fronts and 245 rear. After reading about all the questions about running staggered on the xi's, I was very surprised.

have 5,000 miles on my xi with oem zhp rims and no problems! figure i would check back in and bump this topic back up.

Originally Posted by DaripperE46

My wheels are staggered and I've had no issues as of yet......BTW staggered looks sweet on an XI!
(235/35/19" at the front and 265/30/19" in the back ) ONE PROBLEM THOUGH! Currently she isn't dropped and looks like an SUV!

Any pics? Mines not an xi but I have staggered wheels with 225 fronts and 255 rears. I've thought about going to 235/265 te get rid of the ugly and curb hungry stretch.



It seems like 265's would put the tread outside the fenders though but I may have less offset than others are running

Originally Posted by shadow 2

Staggerd is pointless for performance on any 3 except maybe the M3. Even more pointless on an xi.

I don't know if I agree with this statement. Granted, on an xi its kind of unnecessary, but I think staggered benefits my 330.

i always got sick of this noo staggered on a xi nonsense so i said hey let me try it out, 18x8.5 in the front 18x9.5 in the back all tires are 225 45 stretchedddddd in the back but i havent had no problems !

Originally Posted by iansanderson

I don't know if I agree with this statement. Granted, on an xi its kind of unnecessary, but I think staggered benefits my 330.

+1 BMW wouldn't do it from the factory if it were not beneficial to performance. A wider tire will yield more grip and on a rear wheel drive car, it makes sense to have a wider rear tire to take advantage of this.

My 2005 330Cic has the sport suspense, which has 225/45-17 in the front and 245/40-17 in the back from factory. So I assume it is beneficial to have staggered wheels/tires for performance reasons.

BTW, the front wheels are 17x8 and the rears are 17x8.5, I think.