Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[vmamidi]

Hi all..this may sound a bit odd but I hit a pot hole recently and busted my front passenger summer tire on my 328xi. I have two sets of wheels for my car..the factory wheels which are 205/55/R16 and my after market summer wheels which are 235/35/19. It will take a week for my replacement summer tire to arrive so in the meanwhile I switched out my two front wheels from 19in to the factory 16in wheels. I left the rear summer wheels on it for the time being since this is only a temporary fix for the week. Is it safe to drive my car with this config? Check out the pics below. Thanks

[moonsin]

oh boy...i dunno how good this will be for the transfer case...i would just switch out all 4 wheels..rolling diameter difference (?) will be way off from recommended specs (less than 1%? i think)

[vmamidi]

This config would only be for a week and I only drive 15miles per day and I will only be driving for 5 days tops..will it damage the car in any way?

[e90Cam]

Originally Posted by moonsin

oh boy...i dunno how good this will be for the transfer case...i would just switch out all 4 wheels..rolling diameter difference (?) will be way off from recommended specs (less than 1%? i think)

+1 switch all four wheels back to stock. If you can't the two stock wheels won't be that big of a problem, same problem happened to my old 03 MDX and switched it out for waaay smaller wheel. In any case just drive like a grandma with that set-up until your wheels are fixed

[zipstic]

I would definitely change out your rear wheels. Do you know what the rolling diameter is on your 16's vs 19's - also taking into account the current wear on your tires? You're rolling diameter variance will likely be in the ~2.3% range and you need to be at 1% at the very max. Even driving 15 miles per day for 5 days could damage your transfer case with the rolling diameter off by that much. It would be working non-stop and put unneeded wear and tear on it. No need to do that when it's so easy to put on your back two wheels.

[moonsin]

I wouldn't even risk driving around like that (espeically if i have extra set of wheels sitting at home). Better to be safe than paying $$$ to repair transfer case later on.

[vmamidi]

Great. Thanks for the reply guys..I will try to drive my car as little as possible for the time being. I really hope by new tire comes in by the Tuesday or something!

[vmamidi]

Hi Zipstic..my rolling diameter for 16 is 631.9 and 647.1 for the 19's. I guess I should reconsider to putting my 16's in the rear too!

[parabola]

If your rolling diameters are off by more than 1% you're risking damage to the xDrive system, transfer case in particular.