Would 255/40 R18 tires fit for front wheels?

[edx1]

Just wondering if anyone could confirm if 255/40 R18 wheels would fit in the front wheel wells without any rubbing or other problems?

[Teutonic]

read this

[Twix]

That was for a 19" wheel though bro. He'd definately have more room with the 18. Still have doubts that it will fit, but it may.

[HotRodW]

Good question. They're technically too wide for the factory 8" wide wheels, so you'll need to go with something at least 8.5" wide. You might be able to get away with it if you use spacers on the wider wheels, but that might push the tires too far beyond the fenders, and you could still have issues when you turn. Maybe check with Tire Rack? Otherwise, your best option would be convince somebody with the staggered set up to swap the rears to the front and see what you got. Had I not already mounted my summer rubber, I might have been willing to check it for you.

Are you looking to go with a square setup with the factory M Sport 9" wide front and rears or something aftermarket? Wheel offsets will dictate if and what size spacers will be required. Be advised that low speed steering effort might increase noticeably with wider front tires. Just something to think about if you have the non-servo hydraulic steering. Keep us posted.

[Teutonic]

Originally Posted by Twix

That was for a 19" wheel though bro. He'd definately have more room with the 18. Still have doubts that it will fit, but it may.

You are right. Sorry.

[edx1]

I'm going no-trim 35 and prefer the honeycomb 323 style to the 4 star 320. Problem is the summer performance option is staggered which I'd rather not have. So I'm debating the idea of getting a second set of 323 for winter tires (I'll be getting a second set of wheels and tires regardless) so I thought about using the 255 wheels all around for summer and 225 wheels for winter since narrow tires and wheels are better for the winter anyway.

[edx1]

To add, I'd actually prefer if on an ED they would allow you to get the summer tires/323 wheel option with 225/45 R18's all around and not go staggered with 225/40's on the rear. I prefer square setups so that tires can be rotated for even wear. I haven't yet found a good reason for staggered setups except to keep people who don't know how to drive correctly from oversteering. I think it would be a PIA if the rear and front wheels don't wear down evenly(can't be rotated) and you end up having to replace front and rear wheels at different times or throwing away front tires with tread left. I'd also expect having, for example, 9/32 left on the front and 2/32 on the rear wouldn't be good for the awd diff and could cause more wear or early failure. Not to mention grip would be different in the front and rear which would really hurt performance in dry and wet.

[Teutonic]

I personally ordered a square setup with 4 8J wheels model 355M. I will buy 4 all weather tires from Nokian ( WRG2 ) non RFT in 225/45/18 and thats it. I will put my original 17 for sale next week and keep only the 18. I hate taking wheels to the dealership, plus you can not fit them all in the trunk, and I don't want under any circumstances to put wheels inside my car especialy when they don' fit behind the front seats.
I was thinking about rotation too, however, it shouldn't be such a big deal in X1, the vehicle is 50/50 weight ratio.

[HotRodW]

Originally Posted by edx1

I haven't yet found a good reason for staggered setups except to keep people who don't know how to drive well from oversteering...

Am I wrong, or did you just insult me, all the other M Sport owners, and especially anybody who added a staggered set up after purchase? You couldn't simply state you don't want staggered wheels because they contribute to understeer?

I totally understand why some prefer square setups, especially if tire rotation is that important. Tracus spelled out some logical reasons doing just that above. But most would argue that there is an aesthetic advantage to a staggered setup along with increased traction under acceleration. With all the electronic nannies, oversteer is hard to accomplish in the X1 anyway. And anybody driving an X1 hard enough to experience real oversteer on a regular basis probably bought the wrong car (and possibly shouldn't be trusted on public roads).

[edx1]

Originally Posted by HottRodW

Am I wrong, or did you just insult me, all the other M Sport owners, and especially anybody who added a staggered set up after purchase? You couldn't simply state you don't want staggered wheels because they contribute to understeer?

I totally understand why some prefer square setups, especially if tire rotation is that important. Tracus spelled out some logical reasons doing just that above. But most would argue that there is an aesthetic advantage to a staggered setup along with increased traction under acceleration. With all the electronic nannies, oversteer is hard to accomplish in the X1 anyway. And anybody driving an X1 hard enough to experience real oversteer on a regular basis probably bought the wrong car (and possibly shouldn't be trusted on public roads).

No insult meant! I can't state enough that my comment about oversteer was directed at manufacturers and not at the drivers themselves. If you check around the forums most threads talk that for actual handling, square setups are usually better for 50/50 weight distribution cars. They go on to say that staggered became more of an appearance and liability protection for manufacturers (rather than performance oriented for cornering and acceleration on awd cars like that aren't really capable of spinning the rear tires on a square setup) when people were buying a Porsche and wrecking it on the way home from the dealer due to oversteer and manufacturers started using staggered as a way to reduce that from happening. Wider tires = harder to oversteer as the front tires break grip before the rear in most situations.

Staggered setups on the X1 I agree look better but come at the cost of higher maintenance and might not be as ideal for some specific hard cornering. I'm looking to avoid staggered for the cost reason alone. There's no reason anyone with the sport package or staggered setups should not do them unless they fit in one of the two categories.

[HotRodW]

Originally Posted by edx1

No insult meant! I can't state enough that my comment about oversteer was directed at manufacturers and not at the drivers themselves.

Gotcha! I didn't think you intended to offend, but you can see how it could be misinterpreted? Plus I tend to be a little more defensive than most. No harm, no foul.

[nospam]

Originally Posted by edx1

Staggered setups on the X1 I agree look better but come at the cost of higher maintenance and might not be as ideal for some specific hard cornering. I'm looking to avoid staggered for the cost reason alone. There's no reason anyone with the sport package or staggered setups should not do them unless they fit in one of the two categories.

I just wish BMW offered wider than the 225/45/18 for the square setup. Understeer has not been noticeable to me with the staggered setup but I don't corner at the extreme limits either. I admit I am not a good enough driver to drive a high powered RWD super car without a staggered setup since I have gotten myself into oversteering trouble a few times in just my S2000 turbo (no stability or traction control, just LSD).

[edx1]

To me the whole staggered option seems to have more questions than answers. I went and looked up a couple of the threads I had read before and it just leaves me bewildered.

I like the staggered 323 wheels design over the standard xDrive35i's 320 style. The wider rear tire look appeals to me as well. The handling difference for square vs staggered is probably something that I'll rarely ever drive near the line to make a big difference for one vs the other, besides, DSC also gets involved so this just adds more mud to the water.

The information that I'm stuck with about staggered is potentially outdated, BMW was very specific about tread variance in xi models. Over the last few years the warnings about different tread wear, let alone different profile sizes, seems to have gone away without an explanation. BMW used to say having more than about 4/32 difference in tread would cause excessive wear on the awd system. They went on to say that if the tread was more than 4/32 you should get new tires or have the tires with more tread shaved to bring them to the lowest tread wear.

If you look up tread wear reports of staggered setups on BMW's you see everything from rears wearing out 2x as on rwd and fronts 2x as fast on awd. There's also the inside wear quirk with BMW's negative camber so people who don't corner fast enough have uneven wear on the rear and rotating greatly helps in this situation, if you don't have staggered. There are also reports that rotating tires increased tire noise during driving and can potentially change the handling after rotation or never reach their optimum handling if rotated too often as each tire has to readjust to the axle and specific alignment of each suspension.

Then when it comes to buying tires, most tire manufacturers don't give you any tread warranty if you have a staggered setup or at least not on the rear tires. There are some reports that Bridgestone does make exceptions but they're the only manufacturer and I couldn't find any recent reports of this (mainly threads pre 2008).

I'm not one to complain about a couple hundred dollars here and there but considering I want to keep the car until I've driven it into the ground in 10+ years, I don't want to get less than 10k-15k miles on the rear tires while the front are only half used, yet I have to replace or shave the front tires at the same time as I get new rear tires to stay within a 4/32 difference to avoid awd problems down the road.

I wish I could also just trust BMW in that offering staggered on AWD means I have nothing to worry about but I'm not convinced I can do that safely. Hence why I'm wondering what options I have for wanting the 323 style that's limited to the staggered option. :/

[HotRodW]

With freshly mounted staggered rubber (non-rft/all seasons) with wheel spacers, I will be keeping a close eye on things like tread wear as the miles pile up. As I've stated in another post, I am thus far very pleased with the much improved ride quality and slightly reduced low speed steering effort. It drives me crazy that BMW fails to see the shortcomings of the runflat tires.

[Teutonic]

Originally Posted by HottRodW

With freshly mounted staggered rubber (non-rft/all seasons) ...

You will run these tires all year around?

Edit: I have read you post in my thread. Now I see that you have a winter set as well.
Enjoy them!

[DeepseaX1]

Temporary thread derail, but nice to see another deep sea blue. According to the color poll on this site, it's tied as the least popular.

[HotRodW]

Originally Posted by DeepseaX1

Temporary thread derail, but nice to see another deep sea blue. According to the color poll on this site, it's tied as the least popular.

It's actually Le Mans Blue. Sunlight and angles really affect the tone of the paint.

[DeepseaX1]

Originally Posted by HottRodW

It's actually Le Mans Blue. Sunlight and angles really affect the tone of the paint.

Hah, figures. It seemed "dark" for a Lemans....dang sunlight. My second favorite blue.

[kychungkevin]

I am the one who have that 19" running 255.
Because the offset of my aftermarket wheels the spacing between my tire and the suspension is 8mm less than OEM; it is close but still have room. For 255 on OEM 18" wheels the clearance is 15mm less and that may touch the suspension in some extreme situation.
You should be fine with the fender.

[HBWT]

Originally Posted by HotRodW

...I tend to be a little more defensive than most.

Yeah...don't poke the bear!

:-)

[peter123]

Originally Posted by edx1

Just wondering if anyone could confirm if 255/40 R18 wheels would fit ...?

If you'll forgive a slight change in question, would 235/50 R18 fit? They are 0.5" wider than OEM, 0.63 larger radius (5% difference in speedometer), but most interestingly (to me) is that Michelin makes a run-flat in this size, the Pilot HX MXM4 ZP Grand Touring All-Season. Anyone given this a thought? I've always been happy with Michelin all seasons...

[nospam]

Originally Posted by peter123

If you'll forgive a slight change in question, would 235/50 R18 fit? They are 0.5" wider than OEM, 0.63 larger radius (5% difference in speedometer), but most interestingly (to me) is that Michelin makes a run-flat in this size, the Pilot HX MXM4 ZP Grand Touring All-Season. Anyone given this a thought? I've always been happy with Michelin all seasons...

235/50/18 will likely rub due to the larger radius. 235/45/18 is the best upsized fit for the 18x8 wheels.