335xi rim widths

Devin022

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Mar 15, 2020
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Hello ive got a 2008 335xi, awd. Through research I see most people stagger even with the awd bmw’s. I’m wondering what’s the widest I can go with rims having no issues. I misty see people saying 8.5 front, 9.5 rear. I’m trying to stay away from staggering. On top of that, what’s most ideal with these cars, 18”s or 19”s?
 

doublespaces

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Oct 18, 2016
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Hello ive got a 2008 335xi, awd. Through research I see most people stagger even with the awd bmw’s. I’m wondering what’s the widest I can go with rims having no issues. I misty see people saying 8.5 front, 9.5 rear. I’m trying to stay away from staggering. On top of that, what’s most ideal with these cars, 18”s or 19”s?

Whats the reason you want to avoid staggering? If you've got an xi I suspect you live in an area with poor weather and like to do a cross rotation?

I can't say for sure with the xi but maybe 245's on 19x8.5?

Personally I run 19's so I can use larger calipers but they are also more prone to bending. I think its mostly your preference that dictates this aspect.
 

Devin022

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Mar 15, 2020
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The
Whats the reason you want to avoid staggering? If you've got an xi I suspect you live in an area with poor weather and like to do a cross rotation?

I can't say for sure with the xi but maybe 245's on 19x8.5?

Personally I run 19's so I can use larger calipers but they are also more prone to bending. I think its mostly your preference that dictates this aspect.
reason I want to avoid staggering is because I’ve heard with wrx and other awd cars, it can like mess with the differentials or soemthing having like different rotational diameter I’m not even sure. Like I feel having different width rims and tires is slightly eh, and the reason I’d wanna go wider than 8.5 is I have a focus at as well with 8.5 all around and just wanted to try to Go wide w the bmw. My
Gf has had a wrx 2012, and got like 9 or 9.5 all around and how she’s got an evo and we just got 10 or 10.5 to go all around👀
 

doublespaces

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Having staggered wheels has to do with the width of the barrel and not the diameter of the wheel. It is normal to have wider rear wheels, you get more traction there, in fact I'm pretty almost all RWD 335i's choose the staggered setup for that reason. You won't be able to do tire rotations from the rear to the front but that hardly matters in my opinion. A square setup is more of an OCD thing. If you want a wider wheel, do something staggered.

AWD systems don't like when the front axles are turning at different speed than the rear axles and yes this can cause issues with the drive train. Not to mention, if you have really big rear wheels the car might think the wheels are sliding and your traction control will probably kick in a lot easier. This could (although unlikely) create problems with rev matching as the wheel speed sensors will be reporting unexpected values.