can I get rid of staggered wheel setup?and go for same size on rear and front?

[omodos]

Hola again, right got a staggered setup on my 3.0d sport 2004, 285/45 r19 rear and 255/50 r19 front, what options if any do I have in changing :

a.the alloys (ideally to a smaller SAME size all round)

b.the tire sizes to fit new alloys (ideally fat tires but within spec)

Just want to confirm what I can and cannot do? can I do what Freasder says below? and what the implications of going to smaller 17inch for example maybe with higher tire wall would mean for the x5?and if the sensors would pickup a problem as I have a self levelling rear axle according to the spec and that may sense the change and start to throw error codes???



Fraser in an old post on 'fat' tires said I could : The best you can do is fit 17s with anything from the stock 235/65s up to 265/70 in a ATR or MTR pattern

[Naz24]

you can definitely get rid of the staggered, and go as small as 17. The stock for the 3.0i is 17inch, so they should fit your diesel

Why would you want to? Weather reasons?

[rlabair]

I don't know about the X5 but I did so on my M3 without issue

[Repoman]

Any other same-size set-ups should bolt up to yours without any issue, if we're only talking about E53's.

I suspect any side effects in driveability on the X by going with a fatter sidewall tire and a smaller rim would be:

1. A softer ride (with a descent tire) because of a more flexible sidewall.

2. Longer tire life as taller tires are not quite as vulerable to the negative rear camber as a lower profile tire and taller tires are usually rated to go higher mileages than lower profile tires and of course they can be rotated.

3. Reduction in handling, especially in evasive type manuvers. Maybe more of a top heavy, less roll resistant, SUV type feel. Not like driving a Suburban however.

4. Slightly less gas mileage but not enough to make a noticable difference, especially with a diesel.

5. Lastly, they don't look as cool as the staggared set-up but this is only opinion and doesn't seem to be a concern of yours.

I don't know by reading your post what exactly your concern is with the staggareds but if it is having the same size all the way around so they can be rotated, I would just change your rear rims to the same size as the fronts and go with the front tire size on the backs too. They would be rotatable, handle great and look good.

[StanF18]

I bought my X with 18" non-staggered 235 all-around. I was so happy when I finally upgraded to a 19" 255 front-285 rear staggered setup.
Meanwhile, looks like you're going in the reverse direction. To each their own....BTW, if it's a tire wear issue I'm still running the same Michelin all-seasons I first put on the staggered setup. That was 55,000 miles ago and I'm still not down to the wear bars.

[omodos]

Thanks for all the replies, Repoman Naz cheers, ok yeah would like a winter setup, and be able to swap all the way round to maximize tire life, question is does changing from staggered 19” cause issues? will it throw my sensors out due to different alloy/tire size compared to the standard that came on the car? and will it be a bad idea to fit 17 or 18” if I have sport suspension which is my case?

Also to confuse myself and everyone else further if I put 17” on all round what is the highest aspect ratio I can stick on without any problem e.g…a 235/65 as Fraser said?, and will the rolling circumference change(not done the math yet) and make my odometer etc be out as I have changed this? Questions questions

[LPMM]

Originally Posted by omodos

will it throw my sensors out due to different alloy/tire size compared to the standard that came on the car? and will it be a bad idea to fit 17 or 18” if I have sport suspension which is my case?

Also to confuse myself and everyone else further if I put 17” on all round what is the highest aspect ratio I can stick on without any problem e.g…a 235/65 as Fraser said?, and will the rolling circumference change(not done the math yet) and make my odometer etc be out as I have changed this? Questions questions

Tire size calculator

[FSETH]

Originally Posted by omodos

Thanks for all the replies, Repoman Naz cheers, ok yeah would like a winter setup, and be able to swap all the way round to maximize tire life, question is does changing from staggered 19” cause issues? will it throw my sensors out due to different alloy/tire size compared to the standard that came on the car? and will it be a bad idea to fit 17 or 18” if I have sport suspension which is my case?

Also to confuse myself and everyone else further if I put 17” on all round what is the highest aspect ratio I can stick on without any problem e.g…a 235/65 as Fraser said?, and will the rolling circumference change(not done the math yet) and make my odometer etc be out as I have changed this? Questions questions

You could check the tire size calculator that LPMM supplied, but I don't see you having any issues with using a 17 inch rim with 235/65/17 tires. That is a standard BMW size wheel and tire combo for the e53 X5 and should have a very similar overall diameter to the larger wheels/lower profile tires you are running now. Shouldn't throw any codes or warning that I am aware of (not sure about TPMS). Speedometer should be OK as rolling diameter should stay close to the same. If you do go with smaller rims, I would use whatever size tire BMW recommends for that particular size rim.

From past threads, I know your main goal is longer tire life for cost reasons, so once again I will recommend geting rid of your current, quick wearing "summer" tire set up and just switching to a longer life tire like the all-season Toyo Proxes S/T II's. Now you are going to be spending money on new rims just to get about 10k more miles out of those tires than you could the Toyo's... I have 40k miles on my 19 inch Toyo S/T's right now and there is still life in them. How much more life do you think you are going to get out of any tire on a vehicle as heavy as the X? 10-15k more than I can get? Is that worth it to spend more money on new, tiny rims and make your X look silly?

[omodos]

FSETH true true but I plan on some winter snow driving, it has started snowing here in the mountains, so summer alloys/tires off and will get some taller tires with smaller rim, you are right the difference between the current rear 285/45 r19" (diameter 73.91cm) and 235/65 17" (diameter 73.73cm) is minimal but according to the url kindly added it means when the speedometer reads 100km per hour I am on doing 96 in reality, hmmm

[FSETH]

Originally Posted by omodos

FSETH true true but I plan on some winter snow driving, it has started snowing here in the mountains, so summer alloys/tires off and will get some taller tires with smaller rim, you are right the difference between the current rear 285/45 r19" (diameter 73.91cm) and 235/65 17" (diameter 73.73cm) is 0.18cm if I have done my maths right......so that is peanuts......ok thanks again to all

Got ya. 17's should work great for a snow tire set up.