Staggered wheels front/rear? (18"/19")

Has anyone done this?

18" in front and 19" in rear.

I think it would look pretty good, with the ride/pothole deflecting/weight advantages of the 18's in front.

Also very interested to know if this has been done (i know its common on vette's, but havent seen it on an E9x).

I've wanted to do this (although with 19's up front and 20's in the rear), but am too afraid of not being able to sell them down the road when I want to switch up my wheels.

If you like the way it looks, do it. If you care about how it handles, then don't.

.Lindsay. wrote

Also very interested to know if this has been done (i know its common on vette's, but havent seen it on an E9x).

I've wanted to do this (although with 19's up front and 20's in the rear), but am too afraid of not being able to sell them down the road when I want to switch up my wheels.

you could have 2 sets of wheel. i have 18 and 19s with same outside diameter so could run 18 front and 19 rear if i really wanted to. almost same look ec-7 and vmr 710. both hre p40 reps basically.

1MOREMOD wrote

you could have 2 sets of wheel.

Haha true, although i couldnt afford two sets of the wheels i want, or at least i wouldnt WANT to spend that kind of money. Trying to justify spending $5-6k on one set of wheels while trying to save for a wedding is hard enough... Trying to get away with spending double that for TWO sets of the same wheels? Not gunna happen

.Lindsay. wrote

Haha true, although i couldnt afford two sets of the wheels i want, or at least i wouldnt WANT to spend that kind of money. Trying to justify spending $5-6k on one set of wheels while trying to save for a wedding is hard enough... Trying to get away with spending double that for TWO sets of the same wheels? Not gunna happen

Newly married here. Bought new house, wedding and honeymoon all at once. Wife doesn't seem to understand the car comes first?

Court house = more mods

Moxie wrote

Court house = more mods

i will keep that in mind. might throw a few mods on the wife!

Best way to do this for handling would be with an 18" rear and 19" front

1MOREMOD wrote

Wife doesn't seem to understand the car comes first?

i AM the wife

And yes, my soon-to-be husband understands cars can come first though. Between the two of us, there are 5 cars and one boat, and all 6 are highly modified (well, the M3 isnt really modified yet - just exhaust so far). But in terms of having two sets of identical wheels, I'd do it if the wheels I bought were cheap, but thats not the route I go. And when it comes to having custom wheels made, i wouldnt want to pay to have two sets made. A) thats a ton of money, and B) it would make them less special! Part of the fun of having wheels made is knowing that there aren't many others out there alike (if any at all).

Nice, custom wheels. I can't go that route as I often damage wheels with track use and want something strong and relatively cheap.

MikeBlaszczak wrote

If you like the way it looks, do it. If you care about how it handles, then don't.

And why would it negatively affect handling? Corvette's have 18" front and 19" rear on all models, including Z06. Lotus Elise/Exige are 15"/16" rear or 16"/17".

mkiv808 wrote

And why would it negatively affect handling? Corvette's have 18" front and 19" rear on all models, including Z06. Lotus Elise/Exige are 15"/16" rear or 16"/17".

Exactly its tire diameter and widths that matter. Size of the wheel is invisible to the car as far as handling except for weight differences.

The only thing I can think of is sidewall height differences. Though technically the 18" wheels up front should be lighter than 19" equivalents.

mkiv808 wrote

And why would it negatively affect handling? Corvette's have 18" front and 19" rear on all models, including Z06. Lotus Elise/Exige are 15"/16" rear or 16"/17".

They're designed to have staggered sizes while your BMW was not. The different sizing affects weight distribution, caster, and dynamic camber.

MikeBlaszczak wrote

They're designed to have staggered sizes while your BMW was not. The different sizing affects weight distribution, caster, and dynamic camber.

I'm sorry, that doesn't make sense. If overall diameter is not changed, it would not affect any alignment issues.

In other words, as long as the 18"/19" combo has the same overall diameter and width as either the 18"/18" or 19"/19" OEM setup, the alignment knows not the difference.

As far as weight, again - little differences. The tires will be heavier and the wheels lighter on the 18" setup.

I wouldn't do this for two reasons:

1 - The relationship between the front and rear sidewall height will differ significantly more than stock which will impact how the front and rear tires behave. The car was designed for a certain relationship between the front and rear side-wall heights which I believe is best to maintain as much as possible.

2 - It will look horrible.

I think some of the C6 Corvettes have different sized wheels, the front ones are one size smaller than the rear ones. I think it's 18 and 19 or 19 and 20, can't really remember, but the Corvettes may be designed to use that kind of setup from the factory.

Staggered 18" on front and 19" on rear seems to work fine on my E92. Not sure the tire size off the top of my head, but will look.

Alot of narrow minded people in this thread.
Ignore them and 'Just do it'

I think it would look great, I always thought the stock 19s looked too stretched/thin on the ZCP wheels. Stock wheels are not all the same weight, width or have the same sidewall height, so some people don't know what they are talking about.

The more important question is what wheel widths would you go with? and what tire sizes do you plan to fit?

rrparker21 wrote

Staggered 18" on front and 19" on rear seems to work fine on my E92. Not sure the tire size off the top of my head, but will look.

Do you have any pictures? I would love to see it.

W12x wrote

I think some of the C6 Corvettes have different sized wheels, the front ones are one size smaller than the rear ones. I think it's 18 and 19 or 19 and 20, can't really remember, but the Corvettes may be designed to use that kind of setup from the factory.

They are definitely staggered. I had a C5 Z06 (17"/18") and a C6 (18"/19"). Also had a Lotus Elise (15"/16").

I can't imagine what they would do differently in the factory setup. Sidewall characteristics would be the only difference. But to be quite honest, the moment we go to non-OEM wheels or tires, I don't care what the size - we're changing the characteristics of the handling. I can't see how a staggered setup would change things.

I'm for sure going this route. Loved it on my F82 CS. More rubber up front where the action happens while still emphasizing the RWD aesthetic proportions where 18" all around makes the shoes look a wee bit undersized. Black wheels give it the right amount of stealth to pull it off perfectly imho.

18x10 ET25, 275/35/18 PS4S
19x10.5 ET27, 295/30/19 PS4S

Here we go!