Staggered vs. Squared
 

Hello all, I currently drive a 2011 E350 with a staggered factory set-up (265/35-R18 rear; 245/40-R18 front). I was wanting to know if it is possible to switch my set-up from staggered to square in order to rotate my tires for longer life span? I am sure this has been done before, but I am just asking so that I do not mess anything up. Any comments on this move from staggered to square set-up?

I did that last year. I had gotten a set of 17" OEM takeoffs and when the staggered tires finally wore down I swapped out all for wheels and tires. I put new TPMS sensors in the 17" wheels and managed to sell the old wheels and tires for 400 on CL to boot. I never cared for the staggered setup just for not be able to rotate them normally. HTH

Strange huh.
For all your driving life- tire companies, auto manufacturers, service stations and what nots have always said:
"ROTATE your tires Rotate"

Now get staggered and it is ok not to...

Because the tires are different sizes, with the wider ones in the rear, you can only rotate them front to back, not from side to side.

And I like your sig line, I always thought I was a thread killer, guess there's a few of us out there.

No you cannot. They are not rotatable at all

You can if you want to run reverse staggered set up :rolf:

But this is probably only recommended on certain FWD drag cars.

http://www.grs-motorsports.com/notic...2/honda/54.jpg

when you go to square set up, do you understeer less?

possibly yes depends on so much more though.

no rotating with staggered tires unless you like the sound of rubbing in the front...

Tires do have pretty good mounting flexibility, so chances are certain size of tires can be mounted of both staggered rims.
Can you even notice 20 mm difference?

^ Ok, so this is true but you don't often see this happen in the real world where someone will mount up the same size tire on a slightly different size wheel. Racers will sometimes do this for a square setup, but even they opt for wheels of the same size. It's just not recommended.

My bad, I meant you can go side to side as long as the tires are not directional.

Not recommended by who? If tire manufacturers puts different rim sizes in specification, who can know better?

The problem is wider rear rims. I'm not sure if the rims fit in front. You can mount the same size tire on the wider rear rims and I actually did this but the tires/rims at rear did not look good though there is only 20 mm difference in the tire width.

I currently have a set of 17" rims under my car with 245/45 R17all same around and can rotate as normal..

When searching for my car and reading a bunch of car fax.
one issue seemed to be prevelent on E400

"ROTATE TIRES" "Check tire" or similar - lots of tire issueswith low mileage cars (under 20K)
So I asked my dealer what was up with that...told me the car came with staggered tire set up and owners did not know that and would rotate or have someone rotate the tires.
Then they would visit dealer claiming some sort of front end noise when the turned sharp at low speeds.

Sure enough rear tires on front.

Big problem is trying to buy new tires online as most websites not set up for staggered tires and only list the front when the rears determine which tires will work since less in that size.
Tire rack works ok but others not so much.

^ good to know!

In Europe the car has so called technical passport where for each axle it specifies what rims and tires are allowed, including details like tire offset. E.g., for my car I can have legally 255/35 R19 front and 285/30 R 19 rear. For the rear I can also have 285/30 R20. So there is no way that I would put rear tires up front or go for a square setup.

I could do it, but if there is an accident I'd risk that insurance company will not cover me. Even in case of no accident, I have to go for technical inspection every 2 years where they check this (as well as depth of thread).

And the last reason, perhaps the most important one, the riding capabilities of the car would be compromised. I frequently drive in Bavaria where I would typically go at speeds 100 to 130 mph in winter (on dry surface) and faster in summer. I prefer my tires to stick to the autobahn.