Would switching the F11's rears for a staggered set up impact negatively in any way? Why are they skinny on the touring? Would I need to have the Integral Active Steering recalibrated? I'm bored of spinning my wheels... wait, no, that's not me! ...when launching.
BMW and M Power Owners
- Thread starter panthro
- Start date
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
The staggered setup on the F10 is totally pointless though, it makes almost no difference to anything and doesn't even look wider like it did on the E39. All it does is increase your tyre costs.
Just make sure you've got decent tyres and stop expecting limitless grip on damp winters days
Question around Park & handbrake - do any of you just use the park option (providing you have an auto) and not use the handbrake? Mine is likely to be sitting for a few weeks as I won't be driving anywhere over Christmas and I was told by someone just to put it in park and leave the handbrake in case brake disks seize up?
Caporegime
I use the handbrake on my Auto e38 only on hills after being told (rightly or wrongly) that whilst Park will hold it on a hill, it’s bad for the transmission to do this.
I don’t use it anywhere else and have never had an issue.
On the other hand, my dad never used the handbrake on auto’s, his e39 regularly failed its MOT because the handbrake just seized up through lack of use, he’s now getting the same issue with his Mercedes C class....
I’d be surprised in your case if a few weeks of it on or off caused any problems.
Yes. Don't leave the handbrake on for an extended period of time. 'Park' will hold it just fine.
Soldato
I always use my handbrake on an incline. Belt and braces, 'n all that. It's good practice to leave a manual gearbox in gear if you're parked on an incline and the same extends to automatics. Also, I expect most cars with electronic handbrakes will apply it automatically whenever you park. It's not going to seize up on a modern car over a few weeks.
Maybe it’s the photos. They look right for the wheel now rather than the tread too narrow and almost that Euro look.
Whether it was intentional or not I don’t know. But the M3 GTS had 275 rears.
Fronts are wider too, 255 rather than 245.
Caporegime
Ticked over 200,000 miles in the old E30. Cleaned the injectors and now she's running sweet again. 
My F10 doesn't automatically apply the handbrake. I was also told by the BMW dealership that the reason my car is vibrating under braking is because I left my car with the handbrake on for 2 weeks. I called BS but who I've not done it since.
Soldato
Other than the need to have some tyre weld, is there any negative in switching away from run flats on a tyre change? I've done a bit of reading and there seems to be a lot of people with the view that the ride is improved going away from runflats and there aren't really any negative impacts to the car. I've got a 2013 520d with staggered wheel sizes.
Caporegime
I've moved away from rfs on all three of mine and never had an issue. I've had a puncture repaired which would have scrapped an rf. Ride comfort was definitely improved on my 320d and 328i. Not sure on my 640d tbh although I've only switched the rears out on thst. Tyres are cheaper too.
It does if you use the Auto Hold functionality.
I had non RFT's on my last F10 with 19 inch wheels. My current F10 has 19 inch RFT's. To be honest the difference isn't massive, such that I ended up just buying 2 RFT's when I needed rears recently.
I'd never pick them out of choice, we've recently ordered a new Mini and was very pleased to see RFT's are on the options list, but unless you need 4 new tyres in one go I'm not sure its night and day enough anymore to warrant big expense changing. Whereas when I changed the old Mini from Potenza RFT's to Contisport Contact non RFT it was like driving a different car...
Bizarrely this time my Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 RFT was cheaper than the cheapest non RFT version of the same tyre
Soldato
Finance offers on new ones mean you have to go a bit older than nearly new if you are looking at the monthly payments. And then you get to order exactly what you want.
I know all that, but Fox has always been an advocate of the nearly-new and low interest rate personal loan approach. I saved almost £5500 compared to a discounted new car when I bought a 6 month old Cooper S with 3400 miles earlier in the year.
Soldato
True, but woman.
I spent 9 months trying to find a year old one and failed. They are either crap spec or stupid money. It actually worked out cheaper than any of the suitable year old cars. Ah well
I much prefer something a year old at a tidy discount but alas it doesn't seem to work like that with them.
Plenty of tidy deals on Cooper S mind, just not on the lesser models.