Staggered wheels on an AWD car... a no-no?

[uflnuceng]

I know that running staggered wheels (with larger ones in the back, usually by an inch) will increase understeer. However, I was calling Fikse inquiring about rims for my E24 M6 and they said they had 17x8's for the front, and 17x9's for the rear. Tight... obviously if I wanted the same front and rear they could do that too cause they are custom made. What do you guys feel about running staggered wheels, even with the increase in understeer?

Also, I'm sure they have a similar staggered setup for my E46 with AWD. I know in WRC (yes, I know my car isn't in WRC, I'm just making a point) that those cars are AWD and use varying wheel sizes front and back to help them get traction. Why does the manufacturer say I have to run the same size tire front and back on an AWD car? Porsche's 911 Turbo is AWD and runs different tire sizes.

Anyway... just wondering.

Thanks
Jared

[Rob]

Porsches also have quirky weight distribution, huge power, and aren't low powered commuters.


I wouldnt bother with staggered. for one it'll interfere with tire sizing if you run staggered rubber too. you wont be able to rotate wheels, hurting tire life. Also I dont know what effect it would have on the drivetrain

[uflnuceng]

you wont be able to rotate wheels, hurting tire life.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious stuff... I sometimes forget about the simple stuff.

No staggered for me then.

[kylebes1]

if you wanted 9 inchers in the rear than just install them all the way around!

[Mystikal]

Staggering tires F-R completely ruins some AWD systems (Quattro especially, yet so many aftermarket bling companies do it and encourage dumbasses to follow) as it will constantly spin one axle a little faster than the other. Eventually you'll toast the entire system, and before that you'd have an over-reactive DSC system anyway.

[Rob]

that's sort of what I was getting at jay...

[uflnuceng]

Hmm... I was wondering if it would burn out your system. I guess on race specific systems where you can adjust the center diff (and knew what you were doing) staggered is ok for race situations where your parts are going to die in a few thousand miles anyway.

Daily driver AWD staggered tires is definitely a no-no though. thanks.

Jared

[Rob]

8)

[kylebes1]

Too bad tire companies do not take AWD into cosideration and creat sizing based on overall tire height.

[Mystikal]

Why? AWD cars understeer too much as it is, changing the tire sizing system to please people who want 10" rear wheels on 200hp cars is retarded.

Then again, what do I know. Hamann makes millions more than I do.

[nando]

I would say no, unless you like lots and lots of understeer.

[mikeedler]

running staggered sized rims will not hurt anything from what ive seen so far---- as long as the dire diameter is kept the same. my buddy has had 9.5 rear 8 fronts on his AWD for many years now, and has had no problems as long as the diameter is kept the same. and as far a "rotating" goes, with todays performance tires, who rotates them anyway, you will be just hurting the performance of the tire running it reverse.-- stock BMWs come with staggered wheels factory here in germany, so it must not be too bad.
basically do what you want, it will look really nice with staggered wheels!

[BS87]

It's even funnier on part-time 4wd systems. My idiot cousin blew up the T-case on his jeep, by running not only different sizes, but he also used to run 4hi on dry pavement.

[erik325i]

as far a "rotating" goes, with todays performance tires, who rotates them anyway, you will be just hurting the performance of the tire running it reverse.

That's why you are just supposed to swap front and rear. Don't rotate from side to side. Problem solved, the tires won't be backards. Duh.

[PanamaE30]

as far a "rotating" goes, with todays performance tires, who rotates them anyway, you will be just hurting the performance of the tire running it reverse.

That's why you are just supposed to swap front and rear. Don't rotate from side to side. Problem solved, the tires won't be backards. Duh.

Word. With even the stock rear tire camber you're eating the tires all funny like. the last thing you wanna do is swap em from one side to the other.