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[muppetman]

Right,

Fist question so pls go easy on me..... I have seacrhed for this but can't seem to find a defnitive answer so apologies if this has been asked...

I have a 325i M Sport with the 18" staggered setup (255/35/18 on rear and 225/40/18 on the front).

I'm looking at getting a set of winter wheels and am thinking of picking up some cheaper 17" BMW rims off ebay and having some winter tyres fitted (non RFT) - but do I need to go for a staggered setup or can I get away with four 17" rims of the same width - this will make it easier for tyre replacement. If so, do I need any spacers or anything to make it fit (sorry for the newbie question).

From research (reading posts and measuring) it seems as though the 17" rims will fit over the brake discs OK...

Thanks for any help!

[MassBimmer]

17" rims are fine and you can put the same size rim all around. Spacers would really only be used for looks so that the rears don't look too tucked under the fenders. It all depends on what the wheel offsets are to determine whether spacers would be required or preferred.

[muppetman]

Thank you for replying!

I was planning on just buying some genuine 17" E90 rims off Ebay - so I didn't have to worry about offsets etc - so I guess the spacers are just for looks, then I might get hold of a set of wheels/tyres and see how they look!

Muppetman.

[MassBimmer]

If they're OEM, spacers would be purely for looks

[PYSpeed.com]

Originally Posted by MassBimmer

If they're OEM, spacers would be purely for looks

Not entirely..... Widen stance help the handling of the car as well. =)

[Delta0311]

Originally Posted by Eric@PYSpeed.com

Not entirely..... Widen stance help the handling of the car as well. =)

The difference is night and day. I had 17in non-staggered before and the car did not handle nearly as well as it does with the 18in staggered setup. I can turn on a dime now.

[muppetman]

Originally Posted by Delta0311

The difference is night and day. I had 17in non-staggered before and the car did not handle nearly as well as it does with the 18in staggered setup. I can turn on a dime now.

That's probably a good thing - I'll only be using the non-staggered setup in Winter, so it might help me calm down on the fast cornering

Thanks for your help, guys...much appreciated! Off to look for some 17" OEM wheels now - will decide on spacers if it looks too dodgy.

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by Eric@PYSpeed.com

Not entirely..... Widen stance help the handling of the car as well. =)

...no. Our cars naturally understeer a bit, and widening the stance of the rear, if anything, is going to make the car handle more with more understeer. More likely though, no difference will be noticed.