Staggered wheel advice
 

Ok, I have searched and read thread after thread and still confused. Here's the situation: I have aftermarket 22" rims on my 01 X5 and thinking about buying a set of 18" or 20" of the same style rim. I like this style and want to have the staggered look. I will keep the 22 in the rear and the 18 or 20 in the front. Is this a good ideal or no?:dunno:

Only if the rotations per mile are about the same since you have the pre-Xdrive transfer case. Look for the appropriate size tires on tirerack.com and click specs, look at the revs per mile and compare. You want them to be within one or two revs of each other.

Why bother trying to keep the 22s in the back?

Staggered is wider in the back than the front, not taller. Or do you want the 'hot rod' look of taller tires in the back?!

I would say go with 20s and use wider wheels/tires in the back.

Nothing inherently wrong with using 22s in the back. Might look a little funky with thin profile tires in the back.

However, remember what weasel said. Keep the tire diameter/rotations very similar, regardless of which way you go.

Sounds like good advice, thanks.

I contacted Tire Rack and the rep said, if you have 285-35-22 in the rear you would need 255-55-18 or 275-45-20 on the front and there will be an inch difference. Will this be ok?

NO! You will damage your drivetrain! If you explained to them what you're trying to accomplish, I think they didn't understand - otherwise they would not be that far off.

Please use something like this to compare:

Tire size calculator

EDIT: Actually I jumped the gun. The 275/45-20 will only be 2 revs/mile off so it should be okay. Sorry to scare you. :D

However, the 255/55-18 is NOT okay. Its 18 revs/mile different from the 22s.

I still say stick with all 20s but wider wheels in the back or same size wheels but wider tires in the back (just make sure the tires are similar diameters).

1" difference is WAAAY too much! 1mm of difference is likely a few revs per mile... You would actually have to look on tirerack yourself and look for the same brand/style tire available in the 22" and the 20", then compare the revs per mile from each different size. You would want them to be within at least 4 revs per mile of each other... Any more and it will likely cost you a transfer case and front driveshaft.

you need to be really close on the revs, i just put 22's on my 06 and it was kind of a pain to find tires, but found them

Thanks everyone for the valuable advice. Here is what I came up with, what do you think? Am I good to go?

Tire Size Comparison
Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Difference
285/35-22 3.9in 14.9in 29.9in 93.8in 676 0.0%
275/45-20 4.9in 14.9in 29.7in 93.4in 678 -0.4%

Those specs should be plenty good enough to not have any problems. Just make sure to look at the specs for the different sizes for the specific brand/type of tires you decide to go with as michelin tires will have different revs per mile than goodyears of the same exact size etc.