Square wheel set-up worth it?

[Fly320s]

I'd like to get a square set-up for my 2020 M2C, but the options are a bit slim for wheels that will work at all four corners. Much of that problem is my personal preference on how the wheels look, but there are fewer options when looking for wheels that work.

Ideally, I'd buy four wheels and just slap them on, but that doesn't work on the M2C. I'll need to change the wheel width from stock, or add spacers, or change camber, or change the suspension, or all of that. All of those changes will affect handling and/or performance to some degree.

For those of you that have set-up your car with four matching wheel sizes, are you happy with the result vs any extra effort needed to get "square?"

If you tried the square set-up and didn't like it, tell me those thoughts, too.

Thanks.

[Murf993]

What are you hoping to achieve. I suspect the factory sets it up the way they do to optimize comfort/handling/performance.

[eljay]

RWD cars have a staggered setup to reduce front grip relative to the rear driven wheels. i.e. introduce safe amounts of understeer.

If you are just going for looks, add a couple of spacers in the front. I don't know how wide you can go on M2C before affecting handling with an increased track width.

Here's a good website to play around with what fits: https://www.willtheyfit.com/

[Fly320s]

Originally Posted by Murf993

What are you hoping to achieve.

Simplify tire rotation and reduce tire costs. I doubt the front and rear tires will wear at the same rate.

Maybe get better performance/balance/handling overall, but I certainly don't want to make it worse.

[yco]

if you re track focused its not necessary but can be.. since its not a mid-engine car square wont be a life saver thing.. its purely a preference but i believe wider rear tire setup looks better..

if you decide to change as long as you can find a set of rims with right ET's along with your taste it might not be a big headache as you expected.. it can increase your lateral G and a bit better braking distance.. but since its 50/50 car rear of the car can get a bit edgy and only guessing probably it will.. then you might need to soften rears to compensate that probably lower tire pressures wont be enough.. actually this can cause some other adjustments like ride height as well for sure..

does it worth it? in my opinion no.. cause as the way it is it handles and looks better already..

[5.M0NSTER]

so 3 points:
1) Square setup on a front heavy RWD will introduce more oversteer. Be ready to catch the tail on acceleration, cornering, and during trail braking particularly so
2) Unless you track and go through a set of tires in 1 year, your break even point on cost will be after many years of ownership. More cost savings in buying more sets of OE sized tires. But perhaps a less expensive brand.
3) To balance out the M2C you'd need even wider rear tire than front, so going in the wrong direction for handling for sure.

[No one]

BMW suggests square setup for winter. "Slim" for M2C (the rims differ) but still: "Front 8 1/2Jx19 235/35R19, Rear 9Jx19 235/35R19".

Originally Posted by Fly320s

Simplify tire rotation and reduce tire costs. I doubt the front and rear tires will wear at the same rate.

I have "mixed" factory summer wheels and square (OEM) winter wheels (winter rear rims are the same size as the summer/winter front ones in my case).

After a few seasons of following BMW's suggestion of never changing a wheel/tire position on the car I ended up with summer tires worn reasonably evenly (no front/rear swap possible due to sizing anyway) but my winter (square) rears critically worn while the fronts quite new still. I always drive in "Sport+" mode which allows some wheelspin. Otherwise it should be the brake pads wear I suppose. No escape(?).

Originally Posted by Fly320s

Maybe get better performance/balance/handling overall, but I certainly don't want to make it worse.

We have a square setup enthusiast ovekvam on the second generation 1 Series forum. He advocated his views there. He does track days as well.

[aBMWfan]

I have a square 18x10.5 Volk TE37 set-up available if you would like to purchase. Let me know if interested. Currently used on my M4

[_X]

I considered going with a square set up but decided against it after reading all the spacer/press in horror stories and maintenance requirements.

It would be nice to get some extra mileage/track days out of a set of tires but the piece of mind and better handling was worth it to me.

[0w40X1]

I have a X1 s28i M sport with staggered 8x18 and 9 x18 wheels.

I assumed that the rear 255/40r18 excessive wear was from the 258 ft # of torque hitting only rears.

I put on some ceramic pads, and the dynamic cornering thing was slowed.

I didn't like the grabby stock brakes, and it appears the ediff setup jerks the rear tires to send the power to other side.

I think the jerk to stop and instant power to other side wore tires nearly twice as fast.

I checked my Michelin PS4s tires tread depth, and it's showing even wear now at 9k miles.

I also put 12mm BMS spacers on front only, and it corners more neutral with even wear.

[Mach550]

I've been thinking about doing this for a while on my car. Can find a used set of the rears regularly for my car. The most I push my car is on one turn during my commute. Only issue I can foresee is even more inner tire wear on the fronts due to the camber and being slightly closer (2-3cm/1in) to the struts. Can get more life out of them from rotations though which could negate the front inner wear.

[Vivek.]

Originally Posted by Fly320s

Simplify tire rotation and reduce tire costs. I doubt the front and rear tires will wear at the same rate.

Maybe get better performance/balance/handling overall, but I certainly don't want to make it worse.

You're not overall going to save money after spending +/-$2k on a proper set of wheels...depending on how you drive the RWD bmws/cars in general tend to go thru 2x rear tires for every pair of fronts (based on my experience). So say you drive the car 50k and rears need to be changed every 10k fronts every 20k. You'll have replaced 5 pairs of rears and two pairs of fronts.

If they were regularly rotated you're not going to get 20k out of each set, maybe 15k, using the average of replacement interval between F/R. So after 50k you'll have saved yourself 1 pair of tires ($500ish depending on what you get), and spent around 4x that savings on a set of square wheels.

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by _X

I considered going with a square set up but decided against it after reading all the spacer/press in horror stories and maintenance requirements...

If the OEM give you staggered, so be it....
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[Fly320s]

Thanks for all the replies.

Sounds like getting square isn't worth it.

[GenXer]

Staggered seems to be better for RWD performance car but squared set up are more economical by allowing you to rotate your tires to get a more even wear.

But when I think of square wheel, this is what I imagined.

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by Fly320s

Thanks for all the replies.

Sounds like getting square isn't worth it.

Glad you selected "do nothing" option. Unless you have very specific suspension behavior requirements (well beyond daily driving), OEM staggered setup works very well. Most high performance tires don't last long enough to see the benefits of tire rotation.