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      11-06-2012, 10:54 AM   #16
edx1
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Drives: X1 xDrive35i
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Wasatch front

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I spent the last few nights digging through forums about staggered setups on non X1's and it's been interesting.

A lot of it seems to come down to preference and driving style. Many people who've owned M3's, M5's and other high performance BMW's that came with staggered often are changed to square setups by people who run track. Apparently even with rwd cars having staggered causes too much understeer for the best times.

Some common points for staggered are:
* Often found on performance rwd cars with enough HP that it's easy to spin the rear out and crash so the manufacturers put bigger tires on the back to lessen the chance of people oversteering without the skill to correct from it.
* Staggered is easy to correct from problems when cornering too fast, just let off the gas.
* Most all cars, including BMW's, are setup already with understeer so adding more isn't a good idea.
* Many people say if you like cornering then staggered will let you down for enjoyment.
* Tread warranty is half or not honored at all for rear wheels on a staggered setup.
* Hard to find tires for some staggered (X1's 323 option isn't too bad though)
* If running staggered and you want a neutral performing car you need to add sway bars to counter the extra understeer.
* Staggered "looks" more aggressive and sells.
* Several models of xi's (540, 740) have come with staggered and it's a mixed bag of nuts if it will cause differentials to go bad early. Seems like people say it's bad if the xi didn't have it as an option and okay if it did even though the cars differentials and computers are similar).
* The ABS and traction control shouldn't get confused if the wheels sizes are within about 3% of the same circumference as this is what some xi models came with.

For me I've decided to stick with the standard xDrive35 wheels. I think I'll like the handling better and that staggered is mainly for looks and marketing which isn't the reason I'm getting a BMW -- I want safety and a bit of performance fun and looks comes last (aka wheels). I did like the fact though that the 323 wheels were different in terms of official BMW looks but it's almost too loud I think for a BMW of my liking. I think I would be completely on the fence though for wheel choice if the 323 style was offered in a non staggered option. I will be buying a separate winter wheel set so maybe I'll put the winters on the stock wheels and maybe watch for the 323 or other style of BMW wheels with some more character to pop up on closeout somewhere.

A final note, after my research I do side with the group that a staggered wheel option on cars and especially an AWD is more of a move by manufacturers to offer a "performance" marketing point as it's a $0 cost option on the 35 and it doesn't do much, if anything or possible reverse, for handling performance and it's not like you put down 11's on an X1 automatic anyway to warrant more rear traction, I think? Some people jokingly say staggered options are there so people who want performance car but don't know what they're doing can buy a less performancing and more safe car yet think it's better because it "looks" like it.

I found a site that showed all wheels BMW had ever made. It's pretty obvious that BMW has been trying their hand in wheels that are more loud, and I actually would say the 323 wheel is possibly their most aggressive looking wheel design yet. There are some 4xx wheels though found on the X5 that are pretty aggressive as well.

It's too bad that BMW doesn't allow you to order any wheel style that fits the X1 and let people have a wider selection for their preferences in both handling and looks. I don't think having a check box for "staggered wheels" would add too much buyer confusion. I'd more likely opt for the 323 wheels if they were not staggered, and it was out of luck I noticed they were staggered while digging through third party xDrive35 docs since it's not stated anywhere on the BMW website. I'm sure there will be a number of buyers who regret the 323 option when it comes time to rotate or buy new summer or buy new winter tires.

Last edited by edx1; 11-06-2012 at 11:00 AM..
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