I finally did it. For those of you who will wonder why I did a double stagger, it is because I wanted to maintain light weight up front for handling response, mpg, and enough sidewall height that I still have a very comfortable ride, while also filling out the larger tire/fender gap in the rear. The wider rear tires and aggressive rear offset also push the tires & wheels out to the edge of the fenders, which IMHO looks great with the large flaring of the rear quarter panels. I've always liked the old school chopped-top look of the 2nd-Gen xB, and I think the staggered diameters and widths fit right in with that theme. The tire/fender gap is now almost the same front & rear, and the sidewall heights also match very well, due to the staggered width & diameter of both the wheels & tires. I'm extremely happy with the outcome, and as the de facto tire & wheel fitment Guru, you had to know that I wouldn't do anything conventional.

While I know that staggered tire widths can add some understeer, my next plan is for a stiff rear sway bar to help with rotating the rear-end in turns. I am hopeful that Hotchkis will sell my their rear TVS sway bar separately, because I think the front stock sway bar will be plenty combined with the Hotchkis rear for my very non-conventional set-up. My xB is a daily driver that sees the majority of its miles on the freeway, so I'm not worried about trying to perfectly balance the handling characteristics, just do the best I can with the decisions I've made. Additionally, since I went with the Falken 912 tires, I can rotate from side-to-side (just not front-to-rear) even with the double stagger. BTW, the lug nuts are black spline tuner lugs, and I plan on doing something in black for the face of the center caps also.

So on to the specs and the pics; I hope you enjoy:

MB Weapon wheels and Falken Ziex ZE-912 tires.
Front: 17x7 +43 wheels and 225/45-17 tires.
Rear: 18x8 +30 wheels and 245/40-18 tires.






Thanks for looking. :D

 

Congratulations....I like the wheels a lot..they compliment your vehicle well.

 

somebody needs to make a body kit or visor/window vent combo that will accentuate the chop top old school lines. maybe teardrop led tailights with the blue gem in the center

 

lookin good sir!

 

those are looking good. I'm glad you finally got yourself some wheels. after all the help you give everyone else, it was your turn. do you know what those wheels weigh?

 

Looks great cionide! Glad to see the offset worked for you. i like the color too, looks almost like a blue tint with the lighting.

Washin' and waxing the box today so ill get those pics of mine up hopefully ;)

 

Thanks for the nice comments. It took a long time to pull the trigger, and I was a bit worried about the rear offset, but so far no rubbing.

I didn't weigh them myself, but supposedly 18# front and 22# rear.
The tires are 24.8# front and 27.5# rear.

The blueish tint is just the pictures, I had to edit the exposure down or the CSM xB looked almost white from all the light reflection (I need a better camera).

 

Those MB Weapons looks great on yr ride, dude! I'm still waiting 4 the tires to wear out on mine and undecided on the rims.

 

I forgot to mention that I have the Hotchkis Sport f&r sways installed by our good friend Gabe. What a difference it made! :D

 

setup looks really good man.. your making me jealous now! i can't wait to get home and put my oni's on. sweet ride!!

 

Congrats on the new setup! Nice going with the double stagger too! I'm sure everything was well worth the wait.

...interested in how your MPGs get affected (if at all).

 

Thanks rtb, not expecting much loss in mpg since overall diameter & weight of the drive wheels is about the same as stock. I'll probably lose a little due to wider tires and the fact that a little more of the mass is further out in the diameter, but shouldn't be too much. I'll keep you posted after I've run a few tanks through it.

 

Looks better than I expected! The gunmetal pairs really well with the CSM!
I thought the larger OD wheels in the rear would look funny, but it's barely noticable!

 

Yea, if you look at the side view and see how the crease in the body line angles down from the back of the rear doors to the headlight, I think the 1" staggered diameter is just enough to compliment that rake without looking goofy... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

nice, very nice.

 

Nice, the offset isn't noticable till you look at a stock 2n gen.

 

looks great!

 

woot woot! what is this the second year on this site and ive finally seen you on new wheels!

not bad on the l33t super staggered wheels!

 

Well done. You're probably going to start a "double staggered" trend.

 

Happy bday CIONIDE! Looks like you, me, and OJ Simpson have something in common.