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      06-15-2014, 11:41 AM   #1
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square vs staggered pros and cons need knowledgeable advice

So i'm looking to get a set or wheels for my 2010 e90 335xi, and was looking at going staggered 235/40/18 and 265/35/18 but then reading some of the thread really got me confused. Some say a narrower front tire helps in the driving dynamics as steering response. That a wider rear helps put down more power and etc. While for a square setup they say the car feels neutral, less understeer and better turn in response.

Im not going to track the car but i do appreciate a well handling ride. Now idk what is better, mines an xdrive so ill have enough traction and my front end is heavier than the RWD.

So I'm thinking 255/35/18 all around would be good, id like the rears to poke out more so it gives it that staggered look, but i do want a meatier tire up front and for staggered i need to just 30mm in wide to keep it under 1% diameter difference.

The guys that have done both or either of this set ups what did you notice?
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      06-15-2014, 12:33 PM   #2
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I may be wrong but here's what I have experienced. I have a staggered setup for my summers and square setup for my winters.

With the staggered, you def get more traction since the rears are a lot wider but you can not rotate the tires at all unless you have non directional tires. I believe my PSS are non directional so I can rotate the rears which each other and vice Versa on the fronts.

I may be wrong and hopefully other e90'ers can chime in.
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      06-15-2014, 12:55 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TeinBMW View Post
I may be wrong but here's what I have experienced. I have a staggered setup for my summers and square setup for my winters.

With the staggered, you def get more traction since the rears are a lot wider but you can not rotate the tires at all unless you have non directional tires. I believe my PSS are non directional so I can rotate the rears which each other and vice Versa on the fronts.

I may be wrong and hopefully other e90'ers can chime in.

Yes but im not talking 225 or 235 square. Stock sport is 225 front 255 rear. But if i bump fronts to 255 and keep rear 255.

Well ill only get 10mm more rubber un thr rear but if i go square ill get 30 more up front. So my question is: Is 30mm up front better or 10mm more rubber atfront and rear better.
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      06-15-2014, 03:25 PM   #4
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If your not tracking the car you probably won't notice a difference. What wheels are you looking at? Are you trying to get a flush fitment and are you willing to roll your fenders?
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      06-15-2014, 03:36 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw325i View Post
If your not tracking the car you probably won't notice a difference. What wheels are you looking at? Are you trying to get a flush fitment and are you willing to roll your fenders?
i plan on lowering the car but not slammed or tucking. i want the fenders to be like 1 inch above wheels, yes i want it to be flush and prefer not to roll fenders, but can a little if need be. i was looking at apex arc8 or ec7's. i want to stick with an 18in wheel and like 8.5/9.5 or 9/9.5 square.
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      06-15-2014, 04:01 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by igor_ki View Post
i plan on lowering the car but not slammed or tucking. i want the fenders to be like 1 inch above wheels, yes i want it to be flush and prefer not to roll fenders, but can a little if need be. i was looking at apex arc8 or ec7's. i want to stick with an 18in wheel and like 8.5/9.5 or 9/9.5 square.
9et31 with a 255/35/18 is probably what you're looking for. It will be close to flush and you might be able to get away with not rolling the fenders.
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      06-15-2014, 04:46 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TeinBMW
I may be wrong but here's what I have experienced. I have a staggered setup for my summers and square setup for my winters.

With the staggered, you def get more traction since the rears are a lot wider but you can not rotate the tires at all unless you have non directional tires. I believe my PSS are non directional so I can rotate the rears which each other and vice Versa on the fronts.

I may be wrong and hopefully other e90'ers can chime in.
This is my setup exactly. 19s for summer, 18s for winter (squared).
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      06-15-2014, 07:48 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Knight_335 View Post
This is my setup exactly. 19s for summer, 18s for winter (squared).
but how wide is your square set up? I'm not talking about a 225 square, I'm talking about stuffing the largest tire size i can in front and same in rear.
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      06-15-2014, 09:56 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by igor_ki View Post
but how wide is your square set up? I'm not talking about a 225 square, I'm talking about stuffing the largest tire size i can in front and same in rear.
You can fit a 265/30/19 but that is going to be close. You might need camber plates. You can use 9et31 or 9.5et33. There are 2 setups with a 265 up front on this thread.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...=667301&page=2

If you want to play it safe 9et31 with a 255 is your best bet.
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      06-16-2014, 04:54 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by igor_ki
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Knight_335 View Post
This is my setup exactly. 19s for summer, 18s for winter (squared).
but how wide is your square set up? I'm not talking about a 225 square, I'm talking about stuffing the largest tire size i can in front and same in rear.
Will check when I get home.
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      06-16-2014, 08:50 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by igor_ki View Post
So I'm thinking 255/35/18 all around would be good
Do eet.
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      06-16-2014, 02:14 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw325i View Post
If your not tracking the car you probably won't notice a difference.
To add to this, just going around town, you probably won't see much difference at all, as bmw325i said. If you decide to do a bit more performance driving though, the effects will be a bit more obvious.
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      06-16-2014, 07:38 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VMRWheels View Post
To add to this, just going around town, you probably won't see much difference at all, as bmw325i said. If you decide to do a bit more performance driving though, the effects will be a bit more obvious.
What i meant is i don't track professionally where i would need the last drop of performance i can squeeze from my car as if i did i wouldn't be in a Xdrive (although i didnt want to but i just got a sick deal on the car) but i do drive spiritedly and know a few roads where i can drive my car at 9/10 its full potential. (its all safe without any other cars) That being said, yes, i am looking for the best performance i can get from the car, nothing extreme, but given that i have a e90 xi would a 255 square really benefit me considering its more nose heavy that a 235/265. And will a 9.5in wheel cause too much stretch that it'll degrade performance or no? (stock is 8.5 on 255 and i had a set of rims with 9in rear and 255 and it had no stretch but i had the weird Michelin pilot sport a/s tires)

Random question: what's the best performance tire that won't break the bank? I heard the hankook rs3 is good, is it?
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      06-16-2014, 09:52 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by igor_ki View Post
What i meant is i don't track professionally where i would need the last drop of performance i can squeeze from my car as if i did i wouldn't be in a Xdrive (although i didnt want to but i just got a sick deal on the car) but i do drive spiritedly and know a few roads where i can drive my car at 9/10 its full potential. (its all safe without any other cars) That being said, yes, i am looking for the best performance i can get from the car, nothing extreme, but given that i have a e90 xi would a 255 square really benefit me considering its more nose heavy that a 235/265. And will a 9.5in wheel cause too much stretch that it'll degrade performance or no? (stock is 8.5 on 255 and i had a set of rims with 9in rear and 255 and it had no stretch but i had the weird Michelin pilot sport a/s tires)

Random question: what's the best performance tire that won't break the bank? I heard the hankook rs3 is good, is it?
Honestly I think you're better off with the square setup since you have an e90lci. Since the rear track is 8mm wider than a prelci a square setup will be fairly flush in the front and rear with 9et31. Michelin PSS is a popular tire here.

If you were to do a staggered setup 8.5 et35 would need spacers to be flush up front and 9.5 would need a stretched tire.
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      06-16-2014, 11:02 PM   #15
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That's what I was thinking.

I have a pre-lci 330i and I want square but it doesn't make sense and won't be flush.

So I'm looking at
Front 235/40/18 et40 ( could be square but et40 in rear is sunken?)
Rear 265/40/18 et33

I'm really praying that I don't need roll the guard as I have more room than lci.

That being said I'm 40mm lower than stock on eibach pro street coilovers?

Do you reckon 265 et33 will be ok on pre-lci??
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      06-16-2014, 11:37 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Suntzu View Post
That's what I was thinking.

I have a pre-lci 330i and I want square but it doesn't make sense and won't be flush.

So I'm looking at
Front 235/40/18 et40 ( could be square but et40 in rear is sunken?)
Rear 265/40/18 et33

I'm really praying that I don't need roll the guard as I have more room than lci.

That being said I'm 40mm lower than stock on eibach pro street coilovers?

Do you reckon 265 et33 will be ok on pre-lci??
Front and rear would be sunken in with those specs. If you want a flush fitment youll need to roll the rear fenders.

At stock camber for a flush fitment you need.
Front
8.5et20
9et25
9.5et31

Rear (+8mm for lci)
9.5et20
10et25
10.5et30
11et36
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      06-17-2014, 12:44 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw325i View Post
Front and rear would be sunken in with those specs. If you want a flush fitment youll need to roll the rear fenders.

At stock camber for a flush fitment you need.
Front
8.5et20
9et25
9.5et31

Rear (+8mm for lci)
9.5et20
10et25
10.5et30
11et36
This is very helpful!i appreciate your knowledge bmw325i
So lets say i lower my car so that ill have a two finger gap all around, would 18x9.5 et35 with 255/35/18 work? I'm guessing i don't need too aggressive and for it to poke as it looks funny unless your slammed. I just want it to fill up my wheel weeks nicely.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...35&postcount=1
the first pic is how i would like it to look, i see he has e45 plus 10mm spacer so rear 9.5 et35 is perfect, but his fronts are 8.5 et35 plus 10mm spacer, how would that equal a 9.5 front?
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      06-17-2014, 01:23 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by igor_ki View Post
This is very helpful!i appreciate your knowledge bmw325i
So lets say i lower my car so that ill have a two finger gap all around, would 18x9.5 et35 with 255/35/18 work? I'm guessing i don't need too aggressive and for it to poke as it looks funny unless your slammed. I just want it to fill up my wheel weeks nicely.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...35&postcount=1
the first pic is how i would like it to look, i see he has e45 plus 10mm spacer so rear 9.5 et35 is perfect, but his fronts are 8.5 et35 plus 10mm spacer, how would that equal a 9.5 front?
9.5 is very close to the strut up front, et35 is only a few mm from the strut.

9et31 is about the same as 8.5 et25 or 9.5et37 so if you did 9et31 square the fitment would be very similar to that.
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      06-17-2014, 06:39 AM   #19
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i have a square setup of 18x8.5 advan Tc3 with 255/35/18 Bridgestone S-04 pole positions. 15mm spacer rear, 5mm spacer up front. 2009 335i xdrive coupe. lowered on kw v3 and UUC Front/Rear sway bars about to go in + m3 subframe bushings.

I vote square. You dont need a wide tire on the rear for straight line traction on the awd, and in order to maintain 1% a 255 square setup gives you the most front grip (less front grip leads to more understeer) vs any staggered setup that you could fit.

225/255
235/265
245/275 (start to have rubbing issues in rear, need to run more neg camber, less tire on the road also increased rear grip in turns with more neg camber which causes more understeer)
255/285 - definitely going to rub in the back, probably wont fit at all

Pics of fitment:


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      06-17-2014, 06:51 AM   #20
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i dont really understand why you have to justify having a square setup by going to the track because somehow having a staggered setup on an awd makes so much sense...

A staggered setup on a front engine awd car is for looks. for a lot of people this is their first RWD turbo car so they get so excited to be able to put wide wheels and tires on the back and have a loud BOV. theres literally no benefit to a staggered setup on an AWD car like ours... especially when, in order to get something with a decent tire up front you have to start running retarted amounts of negative camber in the rear to only further ruin the handling... but its all good brah, why do u need a square setup? u tracking bro? if not, then just ruin the handling on your car bc it doesn't matter if you're not tracking bro. check out how wide my rear tires are bro.

OP what you want to do makes complete sense and you shouldn't have to explain yourself. it's more logical than running staggered. you dont have to track your car to justify wanting it. and gimme a break with all the 'if you don't track your car you probably wont notice. With any modification, you can take a step in the right direction or the wrong direction, this is a step in the right direction for the right reasons... not so you can brag about how wide your tires are in the back like half the people who insist on a stagger do.


/end rant
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      06-17-2014, 09:28 AM   #21
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Not to jack OP but i had a question also, I am doing a staggered set up on my '08 335 XI E90 and i am having a hard time choosing a good tire size.

My wheels are 18x9 et25 and i'm lowered on KW v3's i'm still running my stock 17's with 225/45/17 tires. i don't want the stretch look i want a meaty look to my tires like a square tire shoulder. would a 255/40 or /35 be good all around?
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      06-17-2014, 10:26 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe NYCALIVE View Post
Not to jack OP but i had a question also, I am doing a staggered set up on my '08 335 XI E90 and i am having a hard time choosing a good tire size.

My wheels are 18x9 et25 and i'm lowered on KW v3's i'm still running my stock 17's with 225/45/17 tires. i don't want the stretch look i want a meaty look to my tires like a square tire shoulder. would a 255/40 or /35 be good all around?

255/35/18 is perfect for a 18x9.
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