[mdputnam]

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

Do you have a picture of how the wheels look? I'm considering running the stock 8" rears in the front as well, do the wheels stick out more or less than stock 7.5" ones?

I tried taking a picture but the picture looks no different than stock. Measuring the wheel, using the weighted-string taped to the fender and ruler method, the wheel sticks out 7/16" more than stock, but visually you would be hard pressed to tell a difference.

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by mdputnam

I tried taking a picture but the picture looks no different than stock. Measuring the wheel, using the weighted-string taped to the fender and ruler method, the wheel sticks out 7/16" more than stock, but visually you would be hard pressed to tell a difference.

Did you need a spacer? Wondering if the wheel will touch the strut or not.

[msej449]

OP: I'm really puzzled that you are getting understeer, even with a square 7.5J setup. My first thought is that you should go for a European staggered factory setup before opting to change to anything more extreme.

I have a 2016 M235i and the stock setup here in the UK was staggered:

Front
Wheels: 7.5Jx18
Tyres: 225/40 R18 88Y, Conti Sport 5

Rear
Wheels: 8.0Jx18
Tyres: 245/35 R18 88Y, Conti Sport 5

I would have thought that Californian weather was suited to the Euro summer setup as above. If you're in the mountains, then go for a separate setup for winter.

Your factory setup is quite odd to a European - basically it's what we'd regard as a winter spec'. And there's a lot of controversy here about the efficacy of all-seasons: in the UK many people, especially in the warmer south, feel that the summer setup is OK for our relatively warm winters. But note that of all the various upgrade options from BMW, none use 8Js on the front (at least in the UK) and even the 19" wheels are 7.5J front. A few people seem to like 8J fronts, but I think you'd need a very clear dissatisfaction with 7.5J fronts before making them wider, and first have swapped the rears to 8J to see how differently it handles.

So basically I suppose what I'm saying is get it into the 'standard' Euro warmer-weather configuration as above, come off the all-seasons, and then see how you're doing.

[mdputnam]

Originally Posted by mdputnam

I run square 245 35 MPSS tires on a set of 4 stock rear wheels (Wheel Style 436, 8 inch rims) with a 12.5 mm spacer on the front. In normal driving around town there is no perceptible difference between my setup and stock. For the street the big advantage is in being able to rotate the tires front to back as the backs tend to wear on the inside and the fronts wear on the outside, rotating the tires significantly increases tire life.

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

Did you need a spacer? Wondering if the wheel will touch the strut or not.

Yes, a 12.5 mm spacer. (see the above quote). With the spacer the wheel on the inside is almost exactly the same distance from the strut as the stock front wheel, so no change on the inside. You could probably use a thinner spacer like 8 mm and shave some inside distance off, but 12.5 was the thinnest that I could find that had a hub-centric ring.
With the stock rear wheels and a 12.5 mm spacer on the front, the look from the outside is totally stealth, the only way to tell the difference is reading the tire side wall's tire size.

[mdputnam]

You can play what if analysis at WillTheyFit.com. Here is a comparison of the tire setup I have on the front with the stock wheel. You can see it is 0.3 mm closer to the strut and pokes out 13 mm.